Yesterday, the two legged ones spent a few hours at the Grant-Kohrs Ranch. My dad had originally wanted to head off to the Frontier Prison Museum. However, the ladies in the house decided that a prison tour was too dreary and depressing. It was a nice day, so they decided to hit the ranch. Judging from the talk afterword it must have been pretty cool.
Here are a few pictures:
The story goes something like this. Conrad Kohrs and Johnny Grant were amongst the first western cattle barons. They developed a pretty smart business consisting of taking worn out cattle that had made the trek west and trading settlers 2:1 for healthy cattle. Western pioneers were happy to dump off two sick/weak steers or cows for a healthy one. Conrad and Johnny got two heads of cattle that they usually could nurse back to health and trade again 2:1. Over time, this business allowed them to amass 35,000 healthy animals. They leveraged this wealth into mining and irrigation systems and became pretty big deals in their time. This house was built to house the enterprise.
The tour also featured bunk houses for cowboys (house rules included a mandatory weekly bath), an ice house and other assorted buildings. At one point the ranch consisted of over 30,000 acres and the cattle grazed over 11,000,000 acres of public lands. The ranch was donated to the Federal Park System in the 70s. The 4,000 foot ranch house has been fully (and beautifully) restored with original furniture donated by the Kohrs family.
The rest of the day went pretty well with one minor exception. When Pepper gets back to civilization, I believe she is going to file a suit for canine racial discrimination against the State of Montana. First off, she is fuming over the phrase “Punch them Doggies”! She thinks if humans walked around yelling “Slap some Swiss!” or “Beat a Canadian!” it would probably land them in jail for domestic terrorism/hate crimes. She is probably right. Secondly, dogs are banned from stepping foot on most park ground and must be leashed at all times. Pepper asked...What about the out of control kids not on leashes? I have to agree.
It is time for a nap. All this Pepper drama and riding in this aluminum sided and wood paneled monstrosity makes me sleepy.
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