Ranch Repair Shop

A variety of blacksmith and carpentry tools are on display inside of the historic ranch repair shop.

NPS/D Shook

Quick Facts

Location:

Grant Kohrs Ranch

Significance:

Historical Structure

Designation:

National Historic Site

Amenities

14 listed

Accessible Rooms, Accessible Sites, Automated External Defibrillator (AED), Benches/Seating, Cellular Signal, Fire Extinguisher, First Aid Kit Available, Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits, Information, Restroom - Seasonal, Toilet - Flush, Trash Dumpster, Water - Drinking/Potable, Wheelchair Accessible

This repair shop was built in 1935 by Conrad Warren and was used for maintaining and repairing ranch equipment, machinery, and vehicles. The shop was instrumental in the economic stability of the ranch throughout the nation’s economic depression and during wartime when it became vital to a rancher’s finances to be able to maintain and repair their own equipment.

The building was originally divided into two spaces. The north end contained a garage area with three large overhead doors and housed automotive equipment. The south end was a multipurpose ranch repair shop and included a forge, blacksmith tools, line shaft, grindstones, acetylene welding setup, wood working equipment, and some accommodations for shoeing and branding livestock.

There were no professionally trained blacksmiths or carpenters working inside the shop. The work was done by cowboys and ranch hands who were not formally trained, but possessed skills in managing livestock, shoeing horses, repairing machinery, and working with wood and metal. Through hard work and repetitive practice, they were able to create or repair almost anything that the ranch needed.

Some of the work done in the repair shop included:

· Sharpening sickle bar blades and other tools

· Drilling

· Rough Carpentry

· Acetylene and forge welding

· Blacksmithing

· Shoeing

· Branding

· Oiling and greasing machinery

Although the blacksmithing history associated with Grant-Kohrs Ranch began in the early 1860s there were no professional blacksmiths working on site. Most Montana ranches were located several miles away from populated areas, but this ranch has been located adjacent to the town of Deer Lodge ever since the mid 1860’s. Historically there would have been numerous blacksmith shops located in Deer Lodge where horses could be shod, iron work could be ordered, and machinery could be repaired. Johnny Grant stated in his memoir that he once owned a blacksmith shop, but it was likely located in somewhere in town and the finical records of Conrad Kohrs note several payments to local blacksmiths for shoeing and iron work.

This repair shop also reflects a change in the agricultural and business operations of the ranch in the early 20th Century. The Open Range Era largely depended on animal and human labor to make a profit, but as ranching evolved it quickly relied on the effectiveness and use of modern mechanized machines and equipment. Conrad Kohrs once observed that “the changes of the past have been many; and those of the future may be of even more revolutionary character." His prediction came true as the shop became vital to the economic stability of the ranch as agricultural and business operations changed across the west.