Herard Homestead

Ulysses Herard as a young man, seated on the porch of the Herard Homestead in Medano Canyon above the dunes. This cabin burned to the ground in the 1980s; only foundations are still visible in a meadow in Medano Canyon.

Courtesy the Herard family

Four generations of the Herard family defied the odds in remote Medano Canyon above the dunes, successfully maintaining a homestead there. Jean Francois Herard was born in France in 1833, and his wife Julia Babey Herard was born in French Switzerland in 1841. After serving in the Civil War, Jean and Julia came west on the Santa Fe Trail, and likely entered the San Luis Valley via Mosca Pass. They had a daughter, Eupphrasia, and son Ulysses. Tragically, Eupphrasia died at the age of 10 in 1872, the year they arrived in the valley.

After moving around the valley for a few years, the family eventually settled in Medano Canyon, where they built a large log home, cabins, corrals, a blacksmith shop, and some outbuildings. They raised cattle in the meadows there, and trout in holding ponds they built.

As a young adult, Ulysses took a trip to Texas to purchase horses, where he met and married Mary Dickerson. They had one daughter, Julia, who grew up at the homestead. She had two sons, Jack and Bill Williams, who also spent parts of their lives at the Herard Ranch. Though Julia and then Jack and Bill went to school and had careers in area towns and regional cities, they continued to maintain and live at the homestead when possible.

 

Julia Herard with her father Ulysses on the dunes, circa 1910

Courtesy the Herard family

The Herard family fished and hunted deer to supply their needs, but they were also conservationists of their time, and would not allow the killing of Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep in the canyon. Instead, they hand-fed salt and minerals to the sheep. To this day, the most common place to see bighorn sheep at Great Sand Dunes is beside the Herard homestead site, as if the sheep remember this family’s kindness across the generations.

The prominent dome-shaped mountain above the dunes is named Mount Herard in honor of this pioneering family.

 

Julia and Mary Herard beside Medano Creek, circa 1930

Courtesy the Herard family

The Herard family enjoyed Medano Creek's seasonal flow around the dunes, just as visitors do today. However, it was a much more challenging trip to travel to and from their homestead. The road from Alamosa to the dunes was very rough until improvements were made in the middle of the 20th century. And then they had to to navigate the remainder of the trip on the Medano Pass Primitive Road, through soft sand, creek crossings, and rocks.