The earliest Euro-American settlers of the Red Feather Lakes region tended to be entrepreneurs looking to create an economy based on ranching and tourism. The Hardin family built a cabin along South Lone Pine Creek in 1871 and are considered by local historians to be the first Euro-Americans to settle in the valley. John Hardin raised cattle and hauled lumber to support his young family. Bill Creedmore, a trapper and hunter, lived in the valley next to the lake that is now known as Creedmore Lake. George H. West, a prominent businessman in Greeley, built a small hotel, known as Elkhorn House, south of the Hardin ranch in 1879 to accommodate travelers, miners, and summer vacationers. The hotel operated until 1890 when it burned down.

Throughout the 1880s, more ranchers and lumberers settled along Lone Pine Creek. Getting access to drinking water, draining hay fields, and digging lucrative fishing lakes became priorities for residents of the valley. In 1888, Jake Mitchell dug a series of irrigation ditches from the upper North Lone Pine Creek to present Lake Hiawatha, establishing the water claim from which the current lakes system evolved. Throughout the early 1900s, a number of people formed companies to purchase these ditches, reconstruct them, and build more reservoirs, lakes, and dams to enlarge overall capacity.

The construction of hydraulic systems like ditches and dams needed capital provided by business as well as labor. An owner of one of these companies, Myron Akin, hired Japanese laborers to repair two dams one summer in the early 1900s. In 1907, Akin and his partner, Jesse Harris, merged their assets with the Laramie-Poudre Reservoirs and Irrigation Company, bringing the Lone Pine reservoirs into a larger irrigation system intended to divert more water into the Cache la Poudre River. The company faced legal opposition against their irrigation plan and was eventually forced to close in the 1920s. At this point in time, Akin held rights to House, Horseshoe, and South Lakes (now Ramona, Hiawatha, and Red Feather Lakes respectively), while the irrigation company controlled Erie, Snake, and Letitia Lakes.

As local irrigation companies and governments argued over and developed the valley’s irrigation system, more and more people moved to the valley to harvest timber used in constructing the nation’s growing railroad lines. By 1900, at least five sawmills operated in the area. In 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt established the Arapaho National Forest (eventually named Roosevelt National Forest) that included land directly bordering the west of the lakes in the valley, raising concerns about water rights. Several sawmill operators opposed the creation of the National Forest, but most locals’ daily life was not affected by the decision.

While many area residents focused on ranching to make a living, a few select citizens saw tourism and recreation as the future of Red Feather Lakes. According to Red Feather Lakes: The First Hundred Years 1871-1971, “the only people who were thinking about the recreational aspects for a wider public were the Akins.” The family encouraged the Fort Collins YMCA to establish a summer camp for boys along the North Lone Pine in 1919. In 1921, the camp moved to nearby Lake Erie. Over time, more residents welcomed the Atkins’ idea that tourism could bring prosperity to the area.