Emily and Henry Oliver had two sons, Harry and Bucky. Henry, like those before him, ran a cow-calf operation. The land came with what's called a "Range Right". This means that cattle raised on the ranch could spend the summer on federal land in the mountains. During the summer months they would bring their herd to the mountains, which allowed them to raise hay on the land. The herd would come back to the Ranch for the winter and be fed from the hay produced there in the summer. However, the main reason the Oliver family used the property was for the world-class fishing.
Henry Oliver passed away in 1977 and the property transferred to his wife. In 1980, Harry and Bucky formed a corporation and purchased the property from their mother. The brothers decided to sell the cattle herd since the operation did not produce income. They held onto the property for 22 years and continued the tradition of using it as their own private fly-fishing ranch. Harry and Bucky Oliver made the decision to sell the Lower Ranch in 2002 and it has now become the beautiful 3 Creek Ranch private golf course and fly fishing community.
In 1966, Emily Frew Oliver sold the Upper 4 Lazy F Ranch
to the United States National Park system, retaining a life
estate. Emily is now 97 and still spends time there. Harry
Oliver is retired from running an aviation company specializing
in fighting forest fires. Bucky Oliver currently sells corporate
aircraft in North Carolina. We thank Bucky for working with
us on these details. When we asked him about the prospect
of sharing some memories and stories from the ranch, he
said that he had plenty to tell and they would be best served
sitting down with a six-pack of beer. We look forward to
that opportunity and will keep you posted.