Crail Ranch Buildings facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Crail Ranch Buildings
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Crail homestead, original one room cabin in 1910 (Historic Crail Ranch archives)
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| Location | Big Sky, Gallatin County, Montana |
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| Built | 1902 - 1910 |
| Architect | Frank Crail and Family |
| NRHP reference No. | 82003167 |
| Added to NRHP | April 15, 1982 |
The Historic Crail Ranch Buildings are two old cabins in Big Sky, Montana. They are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. These cabins are what's left of a homestead started in the late 1890s.
A homestead was a piece of land given by the government to people who promised to live on it and farm it. The Crail Ranch buildings are now part of the Crail Ranch Homestead Museum. This museum shows what life was like for homesteaders in Big Sky from about 1896 to 1970. It has old items, photos, and papers from the family who first lived there.
Contents
Frank Crail's Early Life
The Crail Ranch began in 1902. It was started by Augustus Franklin "Frank" Crail (1842 - 1924) and his family.
Frank Crail was born in 1842 in Indiana. He was the second son in a farming family. In 1865, when he was 22, Frank traveled alone to Missouri. He joined a wagon train heading to the Montana Territory. By 1868, he was working in a mine near Helena, Montana.
Frank didn't like mining. He also found hauling goods through Native American lands too dangerous. So, he decided to try homesteading. This was based on the Homestead Act of 1862. This law let people claim land if they lived on it and improved it.
In 1871, Frank worked with two other ranchers. They started a homestead in the Bridger Mountains, near Bozeman. Some of the cabins and buildings Frank built there are still standing today.
Frank's Family and New Home
In 1886, when he was 44, Frank Crail married Sallie Lorrie Creek. She was 22 and had moved to Montana with her family. Frank and Sallie had three children: Eugene (born 1887), Emmett (born 1888), and Lilian (born 1896).
By 1896, Frank had stopped farming for a while. He was working as a clerk for the court in Bozeman. In 1901, after an election, he bought a 160-acre homestead for $150. This land was in the area now known as the Big Sky, Montana resort.
In the spring of 1902, Frank was almost 60 years old. He brought his family up a rough logging road along the Gallatin River. They moved into a small cabin that was already on the land.
Building the Crail Ranch (1902-1968)
Starting in 1902, Frank Crail and his family worked hard on their homestead. They "proved up" their original 160 acres. This meant they showed they had lived on and improved the land, as required by the Homestead Act. They also bought five more pieces of land. This made their ranch 960 acres in total.
By 1910, they had built a two-story, four-room cabin. They also added many barns and other buildings. The family raised horses, cattle, and sheep. They also grew a lot of hay to feed their animals.
Frank Crail even tried growing a special type of wheat. It was made to grow well in the high areas of the American West. He called his wheat "Crail Fife." He sold his wheat to farmers in Montana and Colorado.
In 1914, Sallie Creek Crail passed away at age 50. In 1918, Frank's oldest son, Eugene, went to fight in World War I. Around the same time, his daughter Lillian left Montana to study nursing in Chicago. She did not live on the ranch after that.
Augustus Franklin Crail died on his ranch in 1924. His son Emmett continued to run the ranch. He kept it going through the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s. In 1950, after almost 50 years, Emmett Crail sold the property. A couple from California, Jack and Elaine Hume, bought it. They made the ranch even bigger, to 1440 acres. In 1962, they sold it to a cattle rancher named Sam Smeding.
Big Sky Resort Arrives (1968-1980)
After Sam Smeding bought the Crail Ranch in 1962, the land was used for grazing cattle. The buildings were mostly used for storage. Then, in 1968, a retired newsman named Chet Huntley and other investors started planning the Big Sky Ski Resort.
One of the first pieces of land they bought was the Smeding property, which included the old Crail Ranch. From 1970 to 1980, the resort company removed many of the old ranch buildings. They turned the meadows and hay fields into the Big Sky golf course. The original small cabin and the larger main cabin were used as bunkhouses for workers.
Crail Ranch Becomes Historic (1980-Present)
Around 1980, the Big Sky Resort stopped using the Crail Ranch buildings. People in the area became interested in saving a part of the ranch. They wanted it to be a reminder of the homestead era before the resort was built. In 1982, thanks to the Gallatin Canyon Historical Society, the two original Crail cabins were listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, local groups convinced the Big Sky Resort to give a one-acre piece of land with the two cabins to the Big Sky Owner's Association. The Gallatin Canyon Woman's Club helped clean the cabins and get the grounds ready. The property and cabins opened to the public in July 2001.
Soon after, the Big Sky Community Organization, a non-profit group, took control of the buildings. In 2006, they created a group called the Historic Crail Ranch Conservators. In October 2012, because the community wanted a museum, the Conservators officially named it the Crail Ranch Homestead Museum.
The museum is located off Spotted Elk Road in Big Sky. The grounds are open all year. The buildings are open on weekends from late June until mid-September.
Images for kids
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Crail homestead, original one room cabin in 1910 (Historic Crail Ranch archives)
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Frank Crail on his ranch about 1920 (Historic Crail Ranch Archives)
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Pack train leaving Crail Ranch in about 1955 (Historic Crail Ranch archives)
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Crail Ranch Buildings in 2016
