As sad as we were to leave Glacier, we had plans to explore more of the great state Montana! As we traveled south, it was just beautiful {I think we all said “beautiful” on this trip about 1,000 times each}. Every couple minutes it seemed we would pass another lake and it was just gorgeous.
We drove a couple hours and arrived at Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site. This place is ALL about the cowboy! It commemorates the cattle industry in to the west from the 1850s to present day. It is STILL a working cattle ranch!
This place is surrounded by wide, open spaces and you can almost imagine what it must have been like to be in the environment during its hay day.
The ranch was started by a fur trader named John Grant and it was transformed by Conrad Kohrs who expanded it and made a cattle empire. This was once the site of a 10 million acre cattle industry! It’s incredible to imagine.
The timing of our arrival ended up being kind of perfect. Right when we got there we were told that a ranger was beginning a program about the cowboy. So we hustled over to the barn and were able to listen all about the cowboy. It was a little long for our crew but they did fantastic.
After that, it was all about EXPLORING.
The original main house is available for tours normally but because of COVID it was not available. However, ALL of the other buildings were open and so we still had a great time exploring.
You can visit the bunkhouse, blacksmith shop, horse barns, cattle sheds and other buildings – some of which date back to the 1860s. We all got in touch with our inner cowboy and cowgirl and tried our hands at lassoing. We had some good laughs and were even victorious a couple times with our wooden cows 😉
The highlight for Benjamin was definitely the animals. They had a few horses and chickens and he was all giggles. This boy has always loved tractors and animals and being outside “working”…so basically he just needs a farm! He was right at home on the ranch!
It was fascinating learning about cowboy culture and how the industry has evolved over time. We also loved looking at the dozens of machinery and cars and buggies that they had on display from the original family.
This place is a gem. It isn’t flashy or anything and that is part of what makes it great. It is simple and just takes you back to a different time. Another stamp in our books – and the kids became official Junior Rangers of the site!
Wow! What a great place for all of you to see. Many of the out buildings look like the sheds and other buildings, even the chicken wire fence are familiar from what my dad had at our farm and ranch. It was a hard life, but a good one.
I’m glad you enjoyed it. Love
I wish I could have seen the farm and ranch of your parents. My Dad has only positive memories of his time with them. It definitely doesn’t sound like an easy life but I am sure it was fulfilling in a lot of ways.