Mink farm in/around colorado springs (Black Forest, Monument: home, suburb, rated)

[mabeha]

Does anyone know of or remember a mink/fox ranch in the Springs around 1935 or so? My grandfather worked there when he was 15 or 16 y/o...and he swears it was hear but it wasn't called Colorado springs at the time...

[otowi]

Well, Colorado Springs was definitely called Colorado Springs in 1935. Perhaps he means it was outside of the Springs area but near it in a place called something else? But no, I personally do not know anything about it.

[Marcy1210]

In the 1930's there were a lot of Fox farms--mink were too expensive to raise, and chinchilla hadn't quite caught on yet, so Colorado became home to some of the nation's largest silver fox farms. One of the biggest farms in the country operated from 1928-1952 in Black Forest which is northeast of Colorado Springs a little bit. It's kind of like (but isn't) a suburb of Colorado Springs. Maybe that's why he said it was Colorado Springs but not called that? It was called Black Forest Fox Ranch. In the late 30's Mink started to take over as the fur of choice and many of the fox farms became mink ranches, which later became chinchilla farms as the fads of fur evolved.

Cathleen Norman has a blog called Cat on the Road which has this information in it. Cat on the road...

[wkc91150]

The largest fox farm west of the Mississippi was in Monument. My parents and grandparents worked on the farm before I was born.