Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site Offers Window Into the 19th Century
A signature triplet staccato rings sharply across the ranch compound from the smithy's anvil in the blacksmith shop, signaling another creation from fire and iron. Though only symbolic these days, the hammering at Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site recalls perhaps the greatest cattle baron America ever produced and captures a moment in history depicted in Lonesome Dove.
A self-taught smithy, Lyndel Meikle can hammer you out a hoof pick in minutes, or offer you a slice of lodgepole pine tree trunk bearing the ranch's G-K brand even quicker. All the while the National Park Service interpreter not only stokes the fires but she keeps up a running dialog that takes you back into the late 1800s when Conrad Kohrs oversaw a 10-million-acre empire that fed his cattle on the open range in four states and two Canadian provinces.
That there's even a story to tell is just as mind-boggling as the size of the ranch. When the brutally cold and snowy winter of 1886-87 swept through the Rockies, it crippled many of the West's cattlemen. For Conrad Kohrs, however, his banker in nearby Butte, Montana, provided him with a $100,000 handshake loan that enabled him to rebuild the largest cattle empire the country has ever known....
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A self-taught smithy, Lyndel Meikle can hammer you out a hoof pick in minutes, or offer you a slice of lodgepole pine tree trunk bearing the ranch's G-K brand even quicker. All the while the National Park Service interpreter not only stokes the fires but she keeps up a running dialog that takes you back into the late 1800s when Conrad Kohrs oversaw a 10-million-acre empire that fed his cattle on the open range in four states and two Canadian provinces.
That there's even a story to tell is just as mind-boggling as the size of the ranch. When the brutally cold and snowy winter of 1886-87 swept through the Rockies, it crippled many of the West's cattlemen. For Conrad Kohrs, however, his banker in nearby Butte, Montana, provided him with a $100,000 handshake loan that enabled him to rebuild the largest cattle empire the country has ever known....