Big Sky, Montana
406-995-2160
A Brief History of the Crail Ranch
Note: Material on the early history of Gallatin Canyon and Big Sky is from Montana's Gallatin Canyon, a Gem in the Treasure State, by Janet Cronin and Dorothy Vick, Mountain Press Publishing Company, November 1992.
Historic Crail Ranch is operated and administered by the Big Sky Community Corporation, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization which exists to promote, acquire, preserve, and maintain land, parks, trails, and easements for the use of the people of the Big Sky Community and general public.
Member:
Homesteading in Big Sky in about 1906
Members of the Crail family, with Lone Peak in background
(l-r) Lilian Crail (on horse), Augustus Franklin Crail, Sallie Creek Crail, Sallie's father (seated)
Members of the Crail family, with Lone Peak in background
(l-r) Lilian Crail (on horse), Augustus Franklin Crail, Sallie Creek Crail, Sallie's father (seated)
Established as a homestead by Augustus Franklin Crail starting in 1902, and occupied by Crail family members for nearly 50 years, the Historic Crail Ranch remains as a tangible reminder of the life of the earliest settlers in the Big Sky area.
First visitors
The Big Sky area and the Gallatin Canyon were first explored by nomadic tribes such as the Shoshone tribal band known as the "Sheepeaters," who made the Yellowstone Basin and Gallatin Canyon their home.
Beginning in the late 18th century Spanish, French and British trappers left their mark on the area with place names like Spanish Peaks and Yellowstone (from the French roche jaune).
In the early 1800s, Lewis and Clark discovered the confluence of rivers that formed the Missouri River near what is now Three Forks, Montana. They named the easternmost river the Gallatin after Albert Gallatin, the Secretary of the Treasury who had worked to fund the expedition. Neither Lewis nor Clark explored the Gallatin River far enough to reach the Gallatin Canyon or the Big Sky area.
In the first half of the 19th century a few "mountain men," such as John Coulter and Jim Bridger, passed through the Big Sky area in search of streams and rivers to trap beaver, mink and other fur-bearing animals.
The Park, the railroads, the loggers, and the National Forest
With the establishment of Yellowstone Park in 1871, and the coming of the railroads to the Bozeman area in the 1880s, the move to open up the Gallatin Canyon at last gained momentum. The first roads were cut to facilitate logging of pine trees for railroad ties. The loggers would dam up the small feeder streams in the fall and early winter and float logs into the ponds. When the spring runoff came, they would blow their dams and let the water carry the logs downstream to "Salesville," which is now Gallatin Gateway.
By the 1880s, ranchers began moving herds of sheep and cattle up the logging road in the summer months, seeking the meadows in what are now Big Sky, 320 Ranch, Taylor Fork, Daily Creek, and Black Butte drainages. At about the same time, President Theodore Roosevelt, recognizing the value of preserving wild lands, set up the Gallatin National Forest in the Canyon, carefully leaving flat meadow lands, including much of what is now the Big Sky Meadow Village area, available for homesteading. By the late 1890s, under the provisions of the Homestead Act, a few ranchers had begun the process of building cabins and establishing 160-acre homesteads in the Big Sky area.
> Crail Family History
First visitors
The Big Sky area and the Gallatin Canyon were first explored by nomadic tribes such as the Shoshone tribal band known as the "Sheepeaters," who made the Yellowstone Basin and Gallatin Canyon their home.
Beginning in the late 18th century Spanish, French and British trappers left their mark on the area with place names like Spanish Peaks and Yellowstone (from the French roche jaune).
In the early 1800s, Lewis and Clark discovered the confluence of rivers that formed the Missouri River near what is now Three Forks, Montana. They named the easternmost river the Gallatin after Albert Gallatin, the Secretary of the Treasury who had worked to fund the expedition. Neither Lewis nor Clark explored the Gallatin River far enough to reach the Gallatin Canyon or the Big Sky area.
In the first half of the 19th century a few "mountain men," such as John Coulter and Jim Bridger, passed through the Big Sky area in search of streams and rivers to trap beaver, mink and other fur-bearing animals.
The Park, the railroads, the loggers, and the National Forest
With the establishment of Yellowstone Park in 1871, and the coming of the railroads to the Bozeman area in the 1880s, the move to open up the Gallatin Canyon at last gained momentum. The first roads were cut to facilitate logging of pine trees for railroad ties. The loggers would dam up the small feeder streams in the fall and early winter and float logs into the ponds. When the spring runoff came, they would blow their dams and let the water carry the logs downstream to "Salesville," which is now Gallatin Gateway.
By the 1880s, ranchers began moving herds of sheep and cattle up the logging road in the summer months, seeking the meadows in what are now Big Sky, 320 Ranch, Taylor Fork, Daily Creek, and Black Butte drainages. At about the same time, President Theodore Roosevelt, recognizing the value of preserving wild lands, set up the Gallatin National Forest in the Canyon, carefully leaving flat meadow lands, including much of what is now the Big Sky Meadow Village area, available for homesteading. By the late 1890s, under the provisions of the Homestead Act, a few ranchers had begun the process of building cabins and establishing 160-acre homesteads in the Big Sky area.
> Crail Family History
Open to visitors
July - August
Saturdays & Sundays
12 noon - 3:00 PM
FREE TOURS
Saturdays & Sundays
12 noon - 3:00 PM
FREE TOURS
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