“Nottingham had traveled from Iowa to the Rocky Mountain valleys with his wife and five small children in 1882. He’d met Ernest Hurd and a third settler near the town of Redcliff, and the three men proposed a ranching partnership. The trio bought 480 acres, brimming with all the excitement and hope that a new business venture in the Wild West brought. But soon tragedy overshadowed the enterprise when the third partner committed suicide. Nottingham and Hurd began Read More …
“It’s late at night and I still have three or more hours of driving before reaching the Siddoway Sheep Ranch. I haven’t seen another car for some time now, and I’m road weary. Rounding a bend in the road, I notice light coming from a lone motel in a small Idaho town. It’s either stop here for the night or risk falling asleep behind the wheel and ending up in a cold ditch somewhere, so I pull in.” Read More …
“Rod’s German grandfather, Matt Froelich, was just nineteen years old when his family immigrated to North Dakota from Russia. Catherine the Great had promised German farmers wealth and privilege if they would come and cultivate farmland along the lush Volga River valley. But the promises proved false, and in the early ears of the twentieth century, thousands of German families in Russia risked everything to move to America.” – Jim Keen, Great Ranches of the West Author & Read More …
“Two hundred years ago, Comanche Indians hunted plentiful buffalo on this grassland prairie. The tough limestone soil was – and still is – high in calcium and perfect for grazing. Today the Bonds Ranch near Saginaw, Texas, finds itself surrounded by roads. Not your average rocky, pockmarked ranch roads but busy streets and intersections teeming with activity in the form of semi-trucks, construction vehicles, and buzzing commuters. Suburbia is encroaching, an urban world threatening to devour this originally Read More …
“Buffalo require a special alertness and special constraints. They’re fast sprinters, and can surprise you in amazing ninety-degree turns by jumping straight up and switching direction. Fences must be built at least six feet high. The beasts are too ornery to be herded by horses, so the Duff Ranch crew uses pickups. My advice after observing some buffalo-herding: Never buy a used pickup from a buffalo ranch!” – Jim Keen, Great Ranches of the West Author & Photographer Read More …
“The White Ranch, at about four feet above sea level, suffers from a host of issues never faced by northern operations – such as alligators and tropical storms. Mosquitoes are such a plague that every cowboy on the ranch includes an arsenal of insect repellent on his saddle from March to October. I’m slapping at them now, swarms of bugs in the humid air. Then, there’s violent weather. During Hurricane Rita, the White had to move all their Read More …
“My journey to Utah’s Redd Ranch takes place the day before Thanksgiving. The drive northward through Monument Valley and along the edge of Canyonlands National Park takes my breath away. These kinds of spectacular views don’t encourage a photographer to be in a hurry. In fact, the landforms are so amazing that I have to pull over time after time, and begin to wonder how late it’ll be when I finally arrive at the ranch headquarters.” – Jim Read More …
“Ralph and Darla have never forgotten the dustbowl lessons of how fragile this land is. Before Ralph took over ranch operations from his father, wildlife had been scarce for the previous sixty years, killed off by homesteaders and unstable environmental practices. Now whitetail deer, birds, wild pigs, and other creatures native to this Oklahoma region flourish where the Chains have taken the time to create specific habitats for them on the ranch. ‘My goal is to put this Read More …