They tried growing lettuce on the 160 acre homestead. Thomas and Kate Counter Rowse were granted a patent on land along the Grayling Creek in a valley off what is now Highway 287 about ten miles north of the town of West Yellowstone, Montana, in 1919. Thomas was 39 and his wife 33 when they settled on the spread and built a little log cabin near the creek.
The cabin still stands on the ranch today as do many historic buildings that were added in subsequent years by various owners. The land had been used by Bannock Indians to hunt and camp. Montana’s growing season is short; deer, elk and rabbits along with poor soil conditions made it difficult for the homesteaders to grow lettuce or any other crop on the land. The Rowses split up then remarried shortly after settling in the valley. The spread was sold in 1935 to a retired major from World War I, John Rodman.
Major Rodman entertained his friends at the ranch and built cabins for them and a large log home for himself and his wife Marie. Bullet holes are still visible where Major Rodman fired off his gun in the house when he'd had too much to drink. He also raised huskies and used them to pull dog sleds in the snow.
Horses became the main crop. Clear cutting forested lands in the mountains caused snow to melt faster. Grayling Creek, that runs through the property, menaced the cabins during spring thaw. The new owners Clyde and Linda Seely and their partners Bill and Carole Howell reinforced the creek beds with rock hauled from the earthquake slide that rocked the area in 1959.
The earthquake killed 19 people who were camping at the Madison River Campground. Rock slides blocked the Madison River and water backed up behind it creating a new lake. The ranch was untouched save for damage to a large water tower on the place that had to be taken down.
The ranch acquired another 160 acres of pasture for the horses. They have permits to take guests riding into the Gallatin National Forest behind the ranch. Elevation at the ranch is about 6,600 feet. Riders climb along trails to 8,000 feet where meadows and lakes abound with wild game. Dutchman’s Basin offers vistas of mountain meadow surrounded by aspen forest.
Ranch Foreman Rob Sutherland grew up in California. His interest in pre-history took him to Arizona where he helped a friend with pack trips and studied petroglyphs. “I’m lucky enough to have met old cowboys. A lot of ‘em were a little rough. A friend said, ’You‘ll learn to ride a horse if you do it all summer,’” Rob recounted. He’s been working at Parade Rest Ranch on and off for ten years, foreman the last two.
“The original owners realized they had a little gold mine here. We are two miles from Yellowstone Park that way but have to drive over eleven miles to the gate. It’s gorgeous here. The best decision I ever made,” Rob said. He did remark that last February the temperature dropped to 42 degrees below freezing, however.
“Charles Kuralt stayed here often. The Grayling Cabin was his favorite. Right on the creek,” Marge Wanner, the ranch manager, said. Marge lives on the ranch year around with her husband Larry and daschund Lecia. She grew up in Richardton, North Dakota where her parents owned a small motel. Marge studied cosmetology in Bismarck. She came back to Richardton, met Larry when she took archery lessons from him.
“Larry worked for the telephone company. We both loved snowmobiling. We took a trip to West Yellowstone. There were 111 inches of snow in the two weeks we were here. Snowflakes fell the size of fifty cent pieces,” Marge smiled.
“You could count ‘em as they passed the window. The barometer was low, the temperature just below freezing. We decided this is where we wanted to be. It took us three years but we bought a campground and ran that for fifteen years,” Marge said.
Marge became active in the local chamber of commerce and organized snowmobiling events, had a beauty salon in town and met the owners of Parade Rest Ranch through various community functions.
“They said during a bicycle event six years ago, ‘We have a ranch open but nobody to manage it. What are you doing this summer?’ I spent most of my time under the belly of a horse since I couldn’t tighten the cinch,” Marge laughed. She has been managing Parade Rest Ranch ever since.
The remarkable thing about running a guest ranch is observing people. “I watch families pull in. The kids are busy with I pods in their hands, DVDs. They just came through Yellowstone. What could they see? The kids are electronically hooked up. It takes them a while to come down off their high. They have no idea who John Wayne was, the Lone Ranger or Tonto. No experience with the Old West. These are real log cabins and horses,” Marge sipped her coffee in the ranch lodge where a huge stone hearth and blacksmith-made wrought iron hinges on the door, hewn log beams and old fashioned hospitality took fifty years of the calendar.
“The passion and mission of the owners is to preserve the western experience and they expect that of me and the staff,” Marge said. “We do that with relaxed attention. That’s what parade rest means. We take care of their basic needs: comfortable beds, good food, good horses. We try to give them a more relaxed attitude. We’re going into elk bugling season and we’ve seen moose come down to the cabins. It’s nice to see a family go over to the corrals and ride horses,” she added.
The herd of 43 horses include most every size and type and often people who stay for a week or more bond with their mounts and ride the same horse every day. “They are very kind,” Paola Ferraris, a visitor from Milan, Italy said. She had just come back from the four hour mountain trail ride.
“How about a half-hour ride after lunch?” Rob, the foreman asked her.
“I’m too tired,” Paola protested.
“We have to check the fence. Come with us,” he said in the dining room. The staff adopted Paola since she was a solo guest. She ate with them in the lodge.
“I’m not too choosy how they grew up. I didn’t grow up riding horses. We look for wranglers who are good with horses and good with guests,” Rob said, describing his staff.
“We’re taking apart the Grayling double cabin. Charles Kuralt loved that one. The chinking is getting porous and cracked. We removed the cracked chinking and I'll be one of the people chinking today,” Marge said.
“My Dad started out plastering 56 years ago. I’m 56. I grew up around construction, learned to use mud, a transit, saws, hammers. Men seem to think women have an eye for chinking. Guess they figure it is like frosting a cake,” Marge smiled, a glint of mirth glimmered in her eyes.
“Larry and I don’t have any children. Maybe the good Lord had it in mind we would have all these surrogate children,” Marge said. “One of our waitresses worked here five summers. She went on to become a lawyer. The entire staff lives here, plays here. There’s a lot of history in this place,” Marge said.
While lettuce is not an ideal crop for this beautiful valley with mountain ponds and spectacular views of Hebgen Lake, it is a place to relax, enjoy natural surroundings, sleep with the sound of Grayling Creek gurgling outside the cabin.
Put a couple of logs in the antique pot bellied stove or stone hearth in your cabin, kick off yer boots and relax on hand hewn roching chairs on the porch. Listen to the coyote yip, hear elk bugle in rutting season and enjoy mountain rides into the Gallatin National Forest wilderness. Soak in the hot tub after a ride. Parade Rest Ranch is a Montana western experience and that’s good for the soul.
FOR FREE MAPS, BROCHURES AND TOURIST INFORMATION: Contact the West Yellowstone Chamber of Commerce at 406-646-7701 or visit their website at www.westyellowstonechamber.com Travel Montana can be reached for statewide information and free highway maps at 1-800-548-3390 or visit their website at www.visitmt.com. To contact Parade Rest Ranch call them 406-646-7217 or visit their website at www.paraderestranch.com.
