The billionaire son of a Texas oil tycoon is clashing with descendants of the original settlers after he built 20 miles of barbed wire fence to keep them away from his $105 million ranch.
William Harrison, 37, purchased the 88,000-acre tract of land, called Cielo Vista Ranch, that stretches across Colorado’s San Luis Valley in 2017.
Hundreds of locals, who descend from original Mexican and Spanish settlers, claim to be entitled to legal access to the property under an 1844 agreement that allows them to graze their livestock, hunt and harvest timber.
But after purchasing the property, Harrison began building a barbed wire fence several miles long and eight feet high, claiming it was necessary to contain his bison herd and keep out intruders.
Locals say the fence is like a prison yard, separating deer from their fawns and destroying an irrigation system, as one man, Joseph Quintana, said. told the Colorado Sun: “It is a way of marking the territory of your prized possession, a matter of vanity.”
William Harrison, 37, bought the tract of land, called Cielo Vista Ranch, that stretches across Colorado’s San Luis Valley in 2017.
Hundreds of locals claim to have the right to legally access the property under an 1844 agreement.
Since Harrison purchased the land, the community has been embroiled in a series of lawsuits, arguing over access and use rights.
He built 20 miles of fence before a group of residents, descendants of the land’s original settlers, convinced the state district court to order a one-year moratorium on fence construction.
The ban expires in September, and a trial will be held in the fall to decide whether the existing structure will need to be torn down.
Shirley Romero Otero, whose Jicarilla Apache ancestors were among the valley’s first settlers, told the Colorado Sun: “What is difficult for those of us who live here daily to internalize and verbalize is the psychological impact.
‘He is doing this to us because he has always treated this community like second class citizens.
“The bottom line is that he wants to prevent us, the access holders, from accessing our rights, and that is never going to happen.”
Residents say cameras and drones monitor the fence while armed security guards watch the gates, meaning even those with keys to the gates have allegedly been harassed.
One resident, who claims to have legal access to the land as a descendant of the original settlers, told the Sun that he was allegedly threatened with a $100,000 fine after arriving on the land with his wife.
He built 20 miles of fence before a group of residents, descendants of the land’s original settlers, convinced the state district court to order a one-year moratorium on fence construction.
Residents say cameras and drones monitor the fence while armed security guards watch the gates.
Harrison’s attorney, Jamie Cotter, told the Colorado Sun that Harrison has been demonized, saying, “There has been a constant attempt to dehumanize and demonize Mr. Harrison since he purchased the ranch.”
“It makes it a lot easier to hate someone when they’re not considered human.”
He added: “The fence is not designed or functioning to keep out people who have valid access rights.”
But residents say the fence has led to fewer elk and deer, trapped mountain lions and smaller animals, as well as erosion and irrigation problems.
They say that tearing down the 20-foot-wide strip for the fence to run along diverted water into gullies, which are now deepening and turning into canyons in the sand instead of spreading evenly as irrigation.
In addition to the ecological impacts, residents say the fence has had a major impact on community traditions, enclosing a cemetery and blocking a popular route used in a Catholic Good Friday parade.
Harrison organizes private elk hunts on the land, charging up to $10,000 for five days, and charges hikers $150 a day to climb a peak inside the fence.
Harrison’s attorney, Jamie Cotter, told the Colorado Sun that Harrison has been demonized.
Harrison organizes private elk hunts on the land and charges up to $10,000 for five days.
It also charges hikers $150 a day to climb a peak inside the fence.
He purchased the land from a group of Texas investors who, in turn, had purchased it from Enron’s disgraced CEO Lou Pai. Residents say there is never any sign that he is living there, except for the arrival and departure of his helicopter.
The intense dispute is just the latest in a century-long dispute between a series of wealthy landowners and the descendants of the original settlers.
Previous ranch owners had their homes shot and burned, while residents were beaten and dragged to court.
A 1981 case over access to land with a previous owner became Colorado’s longest lawsuit, lasting 19 years and ending in 2002 with a ruling that approximately 5,000 original Spanish and Mexican settler residents had access rights. and land use.
Local Joseph Quintana told the Colorado Sun that Harrison’s new fence has been built “in the most destructive way possible.”
He added: ‘There is no rational reason for that type of fence here. My theory is that he put up the fence because he’s a billionaire.
