The Cottonwood Ranch is an historic site near Studley in Valley Township

Valley Township, Sheridan County, Kansas

Valley Township is a township in Sheridan County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 109....

, Sheridan County

Sheridan County, Kansas

Sheridan County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kansas. As of the 2010 census, the county population was 2,556. Its county seat is Hoxie. The county was named in honor of Phillip H...

, Kansas

Kansas

Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. The ranch is now preserved as a Kansas State Historic Site.

The ranch was built by Abraham Pratt, an Englishman who first came to the United States during the years of the Colorado Gold Rush

Colorado Gold Rush

The Pike's Peak Gold Rush was the boom in gold prospecting and mining in the Pike's Peak Country of western Kansas Territory and southwestern Nebraska Territory of the United States that began in July 1858 and lasted until roughly the creation of the Colorado Territory on February 28, 1861...

. After returning to England, he immigrated to Kansas with his sons John Fenton and Tom and settled in the Studley vicinity. Beginning in 1885, the men built a one-room stone house with a sod roof

Sod roof

A sod roof or turf roof is a traditional Scandinavian type of green roof covered with sod on top of several layers of birch bark on gently sloping wooden roof boards. Until the late 19th century it was the most common roof on rural log houses in large parts of Scandinavia...

 and dirt floor. After it proved inadequate for shelter from the winter conditions, it was re-roofed with wood, and it was expanded in later years. Other buildings at the ranch included a sod stable, a sod-walled corral

Corral

Corral is a town, commune and sea port in Los Ríos Region, Chile. It is located south of Corral Bay. Corral is best known for the forts of Corral Bay, a system of defensive batteries and forts made to protect Valdivia during colonial times. Corral was the headquarters of the system...

, and a wood-framed outbuilding with a toilet. A storage cistern

Cistern

A cistern is a waterproof receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Cisterns are often built to catch and store rainwater. Cisterns are distinguished from wells by their waterproof linings...

 was constructed to store water from a natural spring

Spring (hydrosphere)

A spring—also known as a rising or resurgence—is a component of the hydrosphere. Specifically, it is any natural situation where water flows to the surface of the earth from underground...

 on the property.

In 1983, the ranch property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

as the John Fenton Pratt Ranch.

External links

• Cottonwood Ranch State Historic Site, Kansas State Historical Society.