When Ron Sherman saw a recent Side Streets column about a landscaping pond on the Briargate Business Campus, he flashed back to his youth when he used to fish that pond on the Reverse J Diamond Ranch.

In fact, he spent much of his boyhood on that ranch because his grandfather, E.O. Sherman, was foreman and lived there with Ron’s grandmother, Icle.

Ron even created a photo book about the ranch with historic pictures of cattle grazing, antelope being rounded up and jamborees for thousands of Girl Scouts in 1959 and Boy Scouts in 1960 – a gathering that even attracted President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Historic photos are juxtaposed with more recent images of the tracts of modern houses, golf courses and four-lane boulevards that now populate Briargate.

“My grandpa worked that ranch from back in the ’30’s,” Ron said as he walked me through his Palmer Park-area home, which is filled with artifacts from the ranch, including antique bottles, an old metal milk can stamped with his grandfather’s name, lanterns and even an old airplane propeller found in a field.

“My dad was raised there as were me, my sister and brother,” Ron said. “And when I saw that pond, I thought about how I used to fish that pond and pull catfish and perch from it.”

The pond – now threatened with development if the owner can’t get the city to take ownership and maintenance responsibility – was part of the sprawling ranch owned by Daisy and R.E. Johnson, who was president of the State Savings Bank until 1918 and Realtor of the Year in 1934. His holdings included the Reverse J Diamond, which Sherman said covered about 4,500 acres. The ranch stretched from what is now Dublin Boulevard north to Old Ranch Road, east of what is now Interstate 25. (Black Forest Regional Park was part of the ranch until Johnson donated 240 acres in 1944.)

When Ron read about the possibility of the 7 acres with the pond along Chapel Hills Drive perhaps being developed, he scoffed.

“There’s a spring there,” Ron said. “It was a swamp until my grandpa had the Army Corps of Engineers come in and dam it around 1950.

“There were four other ponds on the property just like it. All spring-fed.”

Ron said his family lived in a ranch house at the site of the current Kettle Creek Ranch, on Old Ranch Road near Powers Boulevard. His photos show huge barns and Hereford cattle, which were raised on the ranch.

Besides E.O. and Icle, the ranch was home to Ron’s parents, Lee and Esther, as well as Ron’s siblings, Donna and Dan.

The scout jamborees provided an exciting change of pace to raising cattle.

Newspaper stories from 1960 describe how Johnson donated use of 2,500 acres across from the new Air Force Academy for the Boy Scout jamboree. From July 22 to 28, it was transformed into Colorado’s third-largest city, albeit the tent variety, as 56,400 Scouts from 50 states and 26 foreign countries descended. They had running water, electricity, a post office, bank and even a newspaper.

Everything changed later that year, however, when Johnson died. Eventually, the ranch was sold for a new master-planned community called Briargate.

“We lived there until 1961, when my dad built this house,” Ron said.

But he still has plenty of memories, lots of ranch artifacts and great photos of the ranch.

He even has an interesting keepsake from the jamboree.

“Each Scout troop had a picnic table, and when they left, there were thousands of picnic tables left behind,” Ron said. “We got them and sold a lot of them for $2 apiece.”

And what about all the rest?

“We took them apart and used the lumber,” Ron said proudly. “My dad built this garage out of wood from those picnic tables.”

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Ron Sherman, 63, displays a photo book he created documenting R.E. Johnson’s 4,500-acre Reverse J Diamond Ranch where his grandfather, E.O. Sherman, served as foreman. Sherman spent much of his boyhood on the ranch, which eventually was developed into the Briargate community. Bill Vogrin / The Gazette

Bill Vogrin – Side Streets

To eliminate a chronic swamp, E.O. Sherman, foreman on R.E. Johnson’s Reverse J Diamond Ranch, had a dam built around 1950 to create a stock pond. This undated photo was taken shortly after its constructoin. Today, the pond is at the intersection of Chapel Hills Drive and Criterion Drive on the Briargate Business Campus. Photo courtesy Ron Sherman.

To eliminate a chronic swamp, E.O. Sherman, foreman on R.E. Johnson’s Reverse J Diamond Ranch, had a dam built around 1950 to create a stock pond. This undated photo was taken after Sherman planted trees around the pond. Today, the pond is at the intersection of Chapel Hills Drive and Criterion Drive on the Briargate Business Campus. Photo courtesy Ron Sherman.

And undated, historic photo of a windmill and cattle watering trough next to a modern view of the old windmill. The windmill was a familiar landmark on R.E. Johnson’s 4,500-acre Reverse J Diamond Ranch, which was eventually developed into Briargate. Photo courtesy Ron Sherman.

E.O. Sherman, foreman of R.E. Johnson’s sprawling Reverse J Diamond Ranch, herds Hereford cattle across Old Ranch Road near what is now Lexington Drive in this undated photo. The 4,500-acre ranch eventually was developed into Briargate. Photo courtesy Ron Sherman.

A modern view of Old Ranch Road near what is now Lexington Drive. This is the same spot where E.O. Sherman, foreman of R.E. Johnson’s sprawling Reverse J Diamond Ranch, herded Hereford cattle from one pasture to another. The 4,500-acre ranch eventually was developed into Briargate. Photo courtesy Ron Sherman.

A spring-fed pond on R.E. Johnson’s Reverse J Diamond Ranch is seen in an undated photo, top. On the bottom is a view of the same pond at what is now the intersection of Chapel Hills Drive and Criterion Drive on the Briargate Business Campus. Photo courtesy Ron Sherman.

E.O. Sherman, foreman of the Reverse J Diamond Ranch, is seen in an undated photo, circa 1959, with his grandchildren Donna Sherman, left, and her younger brothers Dan, sitting on the fencerail and Ron, far right. Photo courtesy Ron Sherman.