History

The history of the South Valley area (Ken-Caryl Ranch) dates to at least 10,000 years ago. Flake-scarred mammoth bones have been found four miles from the Crescent Rock Shelter.

Sites within the Park have contained evidence from the Folsom, Plano, Archaic, Ceramic, and Protohistoric Stages. The Bradford House was built in 1859 or 1860 and an addition, the Bradford City Hotel, was completed in 1872. Bradford’s 219-acre ranch was lost to the mortgage holder in 1882 and in 1895 the Perley family acquired it. John Shaffer bought the ranch from the Perleys in 1914 along with the adjacent 800 acres to form the Ken-Caryl Ranch.

In the 1930s and 1940s the ranch passed through a number of owners and in 1971 was sold to the Johns-Manville Corporation. The cattle operation was continued in the valley until 1980 and the South Valley was sold to Lockheed-Martin in 1987.

Jefferson County Open Space acquired the first 895 acres that would eventually constitute South Valley Park in 1996. The remaining acreage was acquired in 2009 using Bond Funds.