KINIKINIK RANCH AND STORE 

     The Kinikinik Ranch was headquartered a mile and a half west of the Divisionof Wildlife’s trout rearing unit.  The Ranch was named by early rancher Charles B. Andrews for the abundance of an evergreen plant in the area.  This leafy ground cover with red autumn berries came to identify the property even though the spelling has changed over time.  Andrews acquired all of the homesteads along four miles of the Poudre River by 1885.  He originally intended to raise Shetland ponies for the English market.  This lead him into building a heard of cattle at the same time.  His mark for them was “the pitcher brand”, an image of a cream pitcher that was his Branding Iron.  Charles “Cap” Williams took over Kinikinik at the end of the summer in 1901. Rancher Cap Williams built the Kinikinik Store  across the road from his main Kinikinik Ranch house. They used logs from lodge pole pine cut and snaked down the mountainside on the opposite side of the river.  This was some time in the early 1920s. The Store and surrounding cabins were operated as a resort complete with gas station and post office into the 1950s.  The resort proprietors came and went since the property was owned by the Williams Family who leased it out to different people to run the resort.  The old Kinikinik ranch house and the Kinikinik store have both been nominated as candidates for the National Register of Historic Places.  Dig out your old corn cob pipe and get ready to pose for your Kodak Moment next to this Historic Lodge Pole Store.