Art Isgar, who owned one of the biggest ranches in La Plata County, died Wednesday at a Durango care center. He was 94.
A service will be held during the summer.
Isgar, with little money or formal education, was on his own by age 13 but eventually was able to buy 80 acres near Breen, about 16 miles west of Durango.
“It was just hard work on the part of him, my mom and we kids” that led to Isgar’s success, said his son Charlie Isgar of Los Angeles.
He said his parents started with a few acres and raised cattle, sheep, hogs and chickens.
“We worked all of daylight every day,” he said.
Art Isgar said he was lucky to be alive. As a child, he suffered a ruptured appendix. He was dragged once by a mule and once by a horse. He was accidentally shot, had a poisonous coyote trap explode in his hand and was bitten by a rattlesnake.
Isgar was involved in the years- long battle to create the Animas-LaPlata Project (a water-reclamation project), testified before the state legislature to keep the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad in operation and was a force behind moving Fort Lewis College from Hesperus to Durango in 1956.
“He was remarkable because he had so many disadvantages growing up,” said Robert McDaniel, director of the Animas Museum and the La Plata County Historical Society.
“Art had an entire room in his house filled with his collection” of antique tools, pictures, saddles, clippings and other memorabilia, McDaniel said. The historical society honored Art and Anne Isgar in 2007 with the Community Heritage Award for their dedication to the community.
“He was what you wanted a Western legend to be,” said Duane Smith, professor of history and Southwest studies at Fort Lewis College. “He loved reading history and loved taking people through his house to see what he’d collected. He bridged the gap between rural and urban Colorado.”
A dedicated Democrat, Isgar was appointed by President John Ken nedy to the Colorado Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Committee.
He was an excellent marksman, his family said, and he often provided deer and elk meat for work camps. He also served as a guide for hunters on his ranch.
He loved farming and last summer was still riding his four-wheeler around his property.
Arthur Richard Isgar was born Oct. 6, 1915, in Oxford. His mother left when he was 5, and he lived with area families and members of the Southern Ute tribe.
He supported himself by working on farms and delivering mail on horseback between Bayfield and Ignacio.
He married Anne Wise on May 28, 1946.
In addition to his wife and son Charlie, he is survived by another son, Jim Isgar of Hesperus, who served in the Colorado Senate from 2001 until 2009; three daughters, Shirley Alford of Hesperus, Joan Kellogg of Durango and Nancy Bartelt of Providence, Utah; 13 grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren.
Virginia Culver: 303-954-1223 or vculver@denverpost.com
