Wells Cattle Ranch (Cold Springs Fire - Omak)

My great grandpa, Zoro Babel Wells, started our family ranch in 1920. The house pictured was my Grandfather George Wells' and Ann Wells' house. They raised my father Edwin Wells and Aunt Janice Wells in that house.

I've been contemplating to ask for help since the Cold Springs Fire destroyed most of my family's ranch nearly two weeks ago. It has always been hard to ask for help. The damage done to our property and that of our neighbors' is unimaginable. 

Nearly 50 miles of fence has been damaged or destroyed. The house my grandparents built during World War II, the bunkhouse, the barn, and various equipment has burned to just rubble. Unfortunately the property was not insured since the house was vacant. 

We are blessed to have found most of our cattle, but most of our range land is unusable the remainder of this year. I have moved back to Omak half time to help my parents with the ranch. The herd is small and we lost all of our horse tack in a previous fire, then the rest in this one. It is nearly impossible to round up the remaining cattle on our own. Again we are lucky to have the neighbors to help.

My parents have a place to stay. My father is sick and it is hard for him to do any work on the ranch. I'm concerned about the viability and survival of the ranch. I am in need of fencing material for our cattle. I also need to replace the horse tack that has been lost in order to get our cattle back where they belong.

I am humbly asking for any help in these affairs. Any money received will directly benefit the ranch we have had for over 100 years. I have a rough estimate of $2,000 for saddles and tack. Anything raised beyond that will go toward fencing.