The Mantle Ranch: A Family's Joys and Sorrows in the Beautiful, Remote Yampa River Canyon

by Queeda Mantle

Queeda Mantle was born on a March day in 1933. In anticipation of her birth, her parents started by horseback out of the remote Yampa Canyon in Northwest Colorado. They were headed for Vernal, Utah, where the Mantles had friends with whom they could stay until the baby arrived. When they were 10 miles into the trip, Mrs. Mantle realized that her baby was on the way. Having no choice, they stopped at the ranch house of neighbors and the baby soon arrived. After a few days rest, the parents, now with a baby girl, returned to the ranch. Queeda's parents were devoted to education. They built a school house and hired a teacher so that Queeda and her brothers got their first years of school. All of the children continued their education at schools in Colorado and Utah with Queeda graduating from the University of Colorado, Boulder, in 1954.In recent years, Queeda reviewed her mother's extensive notes and photo collection. Using these, she has given the reader a view of life in the Yampa Canyon, a life that was harsh, yet pleasant, isolated, yet with visits from friends and relatives, and educational in the broadest sense. Today the Mantle Ranch is a private inholding inside Dinosaur National Monument.

295 pages, Paperback

First published June 30, 2005

Reviews

[Sheila Lamb]

The story is amazing- almost unbelievable at times. Tough people living in a tough place.

The writing gets the job done, but is far from professional. That said, I’m thankful to Queeda for sharing her family’s life with all of us.

[Heather]

This book is an amazing story of the challenges of homesteading in our local region. I'm very familiar with the terrain, but hadn't considered the difficulties of living year-round in the canyon with access mainly by horseback. The first part of the book is set in the late 1920's - very recent history considering that my grandparents were around the same age as the Mantles were at that time.
The book seems to be collected from a series of letters and memories collected from different people. It reads a bit like a compilation of years of holiday letters that people send out now and jumps from one subject to the next rather abruptly, but I now have a much greater appreciation of the difficulties of homesteading - something I had fantasized about when I was (much) younger.

[Jeremy Snow]

Very fun read, especially if you're familiar with the area.