Aunt Babe, this one's for you!

Katherine Jensen Lindvig, or Kate Lindvig, also known as the Cattle Queen of Snowmass, was the most famous woman rancher in The Roaring Fork Valley. Born in 1865, in Jutland, Denmark, she came to America in 1889 when she was 25 years old. She came to marry a farmer in Nebraska, but when she saw the farmer and life on the plains, she decided to journey on to Colorado.

She arrived in Aspen in 1891 and was hired as a cook in one of the better homes in town. After saving some money, she opened her own boardinghouse on East Hopkins, where she made up to 400 bag lunches a day for the miners. In 1896, she received a homestead in the upper Snowmass Creek valley in payment for a board bill and from then on she was in business.

Her ranch was called the Snowmass Falls Ranch. She also acquired the neighboring J.M. Tandy place in 1898 and the CM. Pennell ranch in 1915. The three parcels made up a total of 640 acres. She had three old men who helped her out on the ranch. They were given room and board in return for their work. Lindvig had a forest service permit to graze 80 head of Hereford cattle, but rather than shipping them to market, she had two head butchered each week and sold the meat in town. She also sold butter and eggs in town, taking her goods in on a sled or wagon.

In 1925, she expanded her business to include guest cabins, which she rented to fishermen and she offered horses to ride as well as meals. Kate Lindvig remained single despite marriage proposals.

In the 1920's, she leased her place to her niece, Mette Watt, and went to live with her nephew, Jens Christiansen, her sister, Sophia's son. Sophia and her husband, Mads Christiansen had arrived from Denmark in May of 1914. In 1943, Kate sold her ranch to D.R.C. Brown. She moved to San Diego in 1946 and died there in 1957, at the age of 92.

Compiled by Christie Kienast with information from Anne Gilbert's report and from "A History of Capitol and Snowmass Creeks" by Charles Hart, longtime Capitol Creek rancher. (1993)