Ranching in Montana began in the middle of the 19th century. The first ranchers settled in the mountain valleys of the western part of the state. Sheep and cattle arrived in Montana during this period. Over time cattle emerged as the focus for most ranchers.

Driving cattle to Montana during the early exploration of West was difficult. Montana winters can be fiercely cold, with biting winds - hard on both livestock and people. In Montana there was less snow, and the high winds cleared grass of the snow that did fall. As a result, open range grazing was in many ways superior to the lands in Wyoming and Colorado.

Open range ranching was difficult. Hot, dry summers lead to dangerous wildfires. Rustlers and predators such as wolves and bears found easy targets on the wide-open plains. There was also confusion of ownership. Cattle could move freely in this environment and herds intermingled. Cowboys became a thing of legend, protecting herds from the elements and predations of man and beast. Early cattle ranchers depended on local trappers, miners, and settlers as customers. When the discovery of gold in the early 1860s brought more hardy souls to the west, they came with big appetites. The small ranching industry grew right alongside the gold rush. Of note was Nelson Story, a gold miner who hit it big at Alder Gulch. Nelson used his mining profits to invest in beef. He drove a herd of several thousand cattle north from Texas all the way to Montana in 1866. This story might sound familiar. Parts of it inspired the fictional work of Larry McMurtry in the novel Lonesome Dove.

The ranching industry continued to spread across the state. Far away investors made fortunes competing with smaller, local operations. Herds grew larger, as did ranches. Cattle grazed from the mountain valleys in the western part of the territory into the wide-open spaces of central and eastern Montana. Texas ranchers also drove their herds to graze in Montana. Despite what seemed like access to an infinite open range. Native Americans involved in cattle ranching faced even more difficulties. In response to white ranchers’ growth, the federal government repeatedly shrank Native American boundaries.

Before the railroad came through ranchers journeyed hundreds of miles on cattle drives. Risking their lives and livestock, they drove cattle to Utah or Wyoming for sale. The Northern Pacific Railroad reached the Yellowstone River in 1881, and with its completion began changing the industry in Montana by 1883. The Montana Stockgrowers' Association formed in 1884. This association helped ranchers navigate the hardships of ranching. One such hardship was cattle rustlers, often dealt with through harsh frontier justice. By 1885, an estimated half a million cattle roamed the fields of Montana.

Montana weather soon proved problematic. A hot, dry summer hit in 1886 followed by a cold, icy winter into 1887. Without shelter, tens of thousands of cattle perished during storms - estimates run as high as perhaps half the cattle in Montana. The early days of the Montana open range cattle rancher were ending. The harsh 1887 winter drove many ranchers out of the business. The ranchers who remained cordoned off their holdings with barbed wire fencing. This brought the end to open range roaming. The ranching focus shifted to smaller herds. They also started incorporating land preservation and preparation for future hard winters.

Sheep endured the difficult 1887 winter somewhat better than cattle. By the turn of the 20th century, sheep vastly outnumbered cattle in Montana. Soon, Montana was the top sheep producing state in the nation. Sheep ranchers formed their own organization, the Montana Wool Growers Association. Competition emerged from rival ranchers and farmers as they expanded to the west. Competition for prime land became fierce.  The rush of homesteaders to Montana in the early 20th century (read more about homesteading in Montana here) further strained the ranch economy.

Ranching of all types continued through the 20th century and into today's Montana. Today, cattle remain king, but sheep, horses, and pigs make up a large percentage of Montana livestock. Dude ranches in the tourism industry throughout Montana continue to introduce the ranching lifestyle to visitors who want to learn more. Ranching is still a hard life, one that is interwoven with the story of Montana.


Above photo: Cattle on the H.W. Lord ranch, Bitterroot Valley, Montana.

Ranching Collections

The Montana History Portal, in collaboration with dozens of institutions around the state, is pleased to present a wide variety of historical resources on ranching in Montana. Some of these collections are narrowly focused on ranching. Others have a broad focus of topics in Montana history, with selected items related to ranching. This range of collections include large photo collections, diaries, official records, and area-specific histories. We encourage you to browse through them to explore the many stories of early Montanans.

1995 Cattle Drive from Texas to Miles City, MT

AEROs 45 years of impact

Archival Photographs from the University of Montana

Armstead, Montana

Billings - Historic Document Collection

Billings - Historic Photo Collection

Billings - Images of Events

Billings - Images of People

Books, Pamphlets and Ephemera from the University of Montana

Bozeman and Gallatin Valley Photographs

Carbon County Photographs

Carter County Centennial Collection

Central Montana Historical Documents

Central Montana Historical Photographs

Charles M. Russell Research Materials from the James B. Rankin Collection

Charles M. Russell and Joe De Yong Research Materials from Richard J. Flood II

Conrad City History

Diaries, Letters and Ledgers from the University of Montana

Early Agriculture and Homesteading in Judith Basin County

Early Edgerton County and Lewis and Clark County Records

Early Montana Histories

Evelyn Cameron Diaries

Fallon County History and Pictures

From the Beginning - Ulm, Flood, Gore Hill and Riverdale

Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site Photographs

Henry Meloy Drawings

Henry Meloy Paintings

Home Ground Radio Interviews

Jim Annin Photo Collection

Leland Cade Books Collection

Letters, Diaries and Documents from the Montana Historical Society

Lewis-Wedum General Store Ledgers

Livestock Brand Registrations for Montana

Local Histories of Montana

Mapping Montana and the West

Miles City Historical Documents

Montana Historical Society Civil War Era Diaries and Correspondence

Montana in the National Register of Historic Places

Photographs from the Montana Historical Society

Polson Area Historical Photographs - The Paul Fugleberg Collection

Publications and Ephemera from the Montana Historical Society

Range Riders Museum Early Frontier History

Rosebud County Historical Images

Sax and Fryer Collection

Sheep Ranching in Judith Basin County

Sidney-Richland County Library Historical Collection

Tales from Carter County - Oral Histories

Teton County Oral Histories

Tooke Bucking Horse Collection

Voices of Labor

Will James Collection

Winifred Oral History Project

Searching for Ranching Content on the Montana History Portal

Ranching is an important part of Montana's history and present day. As such, the Portal has thousands of ranching related items on our website, from dozens of different institutions around the state. It can be difficult to find everything related to your search. The history collections listed in this research guide are a starting point for you, but only just a beginning. If you have not used the search function on the Portal, we have a guide for Searching for Items on the Montana History Portal. This guide will explain how to filter by item type (images, documents, etc.) and explain other features of our advanced search engine. This search engine will allow you to narrow your selections by date range, which may be helpful to you. If you have a specific collection in mind, and it is too large to browse through each item, we also have a guide for Searching for Items in a Specific Collection. As you use the search tools on the Portal, try to use a variety of different words and phrases in your search. You could try variations on words, such as "rancher" or "ranching." If you know the names of individuals you are researching, make sure to try those. Place names and locations are a great way to narrow results as well.