Grant-Kohrs Ranch in Deer Lodge, MT

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

There is so much to see here in Deer Lodge.  We decided to start with the Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site.

Just across the street from the entrance to the ranch was the Powell County Fairgrounds.  Many of the cattle ranch brands were displayed on the side of this building.

This national historic ranch site is a working ranch run by the National Parks Service.  The ranch is currently only 1600 acres.  At its peak the ranch homestead was 30,000 acres. 
In 1859 Grant drove 400 cattle from Deer Lodge to Sacramento, CA.  By the 1880s Kohrs was shipping 10,000 cattle per year by railway to Chicago.

What an awesome view from the visitors center parking lot.

This is the front of the house which was built in 1862 and was 4,000 sq feet.  In 1890, Kohrs added a 5,000 sq ft brick addition including electric lights and running hot and cold water.

In this picture you can see the brick addition.  In the foreground are steer roping dummies and ropes for guests to try their hand.

This flower and herb garden is maintained similar to Augusta Kohrs' original gardens.  

This long white building was called "Bunkhouse Row".  It housed all the hands all the way from the lowest ranked to the ranch manager.  Grant, the original owner, even turned one of the rooms into his office.

As we walked the grounds, there was a chuck wagon set up where we could get a cup of range coffee.  We were even allowed to climb up and get our picture taken.

This is the back of the chuck wagon setup. 

There was a breeding barn full of many wagons, carriages and farm equipment used in the early years.  This was one of the wagons used to go to town for supplies.

This carriage was used to take long trips.  The Kohrs used this carriage for a 7-week vacation to Yellowstone.  It was also used as an ambulance.

This is the blacksmith shop where not only were horse shoes made, but also equipment was repaired and any metal needed was shaped/designed.

This display shows the many kinds and sizes of shoes used at the ranch.  They only put shoes on the horses when the hoofs wore down faster than they grew.  Most range horses were not shod.

The saddle in the forefront was very used.  We liked the high back.  Several of the saddles around had high backs like this one.

The picture above and the 2 below are views from some of the different out buildings on the ranch.

Dusty decided to take a wagon ride pulled by 2 draft horses.
Here comes the wagon.

Off the group goes for their 20 minutes tour around the ranch.

While Tic waited near the blacksmith shop, this cat came to visit him.  By the time Dusty got back, the cat was in Tic's lap.  Cats seem to hunt Tic out.  I guess they can sense he likes cats.

Tic took this picture of the clouds while he was waiting for .  Aren't they beautiful!

See the next post for our adventure to the Territorial Prison Museum on the south end of Main Street.