Grant-Kohrs Ranch Historic Structures Report

Four illustrations of the home ranch graphically portray its development and changes from 1865, when John Grant owned it, to 1907, when the ranch was at its highest level of development under Kohrs's ownership. The first picture is one drawn by Granville Stuart and dated 6 August 1865. The second is the 1883 Stoner "Bird's-Eye View" of Deer Lodge. Many American communities in the 1880s subscribed to this kind of service that resulted in a lithographic view of their town from a low oblique aerial perspective. The one of Deer Lodge includes an inset of the Kohrs and Bielenberg Ranch, although it is not so labeled. The third picture is dated ca. 1884, being no later than 1885, and came from M. A. Leeson's History of Montana. It shows a view of the home ranch in close detail, including stock. The final graphic document is a 1907 map, drawn by the Milwaukee Road as they planned their tracks to parallel those of the Northern Pacific running alongside the ranch. [1] The four documents, when examined in sequence, show an increasing sophistication at the site, reflecting the growing numbers and types of animals there and the affluence of its second owners. A discussion of the four documents follows.

A. The Stuart Drawing, 6 August 1865

Granville Stuart is considered to be the first serious chronicler of Montana's history. His drawings of the areas he visited, such as Fort Union Trading Post on the Missouri and the Grant Ranch, alone would qualify him for the honor as Montana's first graphic historian, since he dated and titled his detailed sketches. But he also left his narratives to the state, and assisted in founding its historical society. Those interested in Grant-Kohrs Ranch, therefore, are but some among the many already indebted to him for his work. His 1865 drawing of the Grant Ranch, like many of his other sketches, shows a great deal.

Paramount is the ranch house, now Historic Structure 1 at the park. It is shown presumably as John Grant built it, without landscaping or additions. The clapboard veneer shows clearly, along with the wood shingle roof and chimneys at either end. The green shutters mentioned in an 1865 newspaper article (see Appendix 1) do not, however, appear in this illustration.

To the right of the ranch house (to the north) are a series of long, low log buildings where today's Historic Structure 2 now stands. Presumably some of those structures or all of them are now part of Historic Structure 2, the bunkhouse. Tradition has it that the older portions of the bunkhouse were built prior to the ranch house and that the Grant family lived there until the ranch house was completed. The illustration confirms at least one structure similar to Historic Structure 2 north of the ranch house as of August 1865. This probably became known as the bunkhouse in later years.

Also shown in the picture are two types of fences. In the foreground is the traditional Montana jack-leg fence, erected in a zigzag manner. But to the left and rear of the house (southwest of the house) is a more standard post-and pole fence. A close examination of the area just to the left of (south and west of) the house shows what might be a garden, or orchard. Possibly the fence is in some way associated with these even rows of vegetation, whatever they are.

In what would eventually become the front yard of the house sit two skin lodges and a set of tent poles for a third. This, too, is consistent with the oral tradition associated with the structure. Near the tepees are three wagons, confirming the inclusion of wagons in the instrument of sale from Grant to Conrad Kohrs a year later (August 1866). [2]

To the left of the house, and in the foreground (southeast of the house), are two structures, both built low to the ground. One appears to be a water trough or possibly a feed trough for cattle and horses. The other, a square, flat, floor-like item, defies easy description. Possibly it was a rack for drying skins or even fish from the nearby Deer Lodge River. Since it rests on the edge of a bluff on one end and on poles on the other, there is space underneath. It is not impossible that this was some sort of stock shelter, although, if it was, it was drawn in poor perspective. Possibly, associated as it is with the trough, it functioned as a floor or base for one of the "hay racks" mentioned by Grant in the 1866 deed. [3]

Introduction
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