Ranch History, Geology and Ecology
History of the Ranch
Homo Sapiens first arrived on the North American Continent 16,000 years ago and most likely arrived in Western Montana around 14,000 years ago. These first residents of Montana were likely ancestors of the Kootenai, Flathead and Nez Perce tribes which inhabited lands west of the Continental Divide, traveling seasonally to the east side of the divide for buffalo hunts. An important Indian trail traveled along the Blackfoot River with evidence of numerous skirmishes and ambushes between the Blackfoot Indians from east of the divide and tribes from the West. The Blackfoot believed they were intruders. One can only imagine these intense struggles for survival as you stand on the hills overlooking the valley.
The first recorded white man in the area arrived in 1806 when Colonel Meriwether Lewis (of Lewis and Clark expedition) and his 10 soldiers traveled up the north side of the Blackfoot River on their first return trip from the Pacific (starting at Travelers’ Rest near Missoula, Clark had taken a different route just to the south up the Clark Fork River.) While directly across the river from the ranch, Lewis’s journal specifically mentions the topography of the surrounding lands and commented on its beauty and the “knobs and kettles” resulting from glacial deposits.
The first settlers to the upper Blackfoot Valley in the vicinity of the ranch didn't arrive until the 1870s, and the post office in Ovando opened in 1883. For several decades Ovando was a thriving little town driven by the expectation of becoming a major stop on the railroad. The railroad never arrived and a fire in 1919 destroyed most of the town. 100 years later, the town is more sleepy and laid back than ever, though a much appreciated treasure nonetheless.
The valley and mountains around the ranch were heavily logged from 1900-1930 and there is evidence of a large sawmill operation on the property as well as rail tracks that transported logs into the river. Logs would have been floated down to the mill at Bonner at the confluence with the Clark Fork River.
The original ranch structures were built just to the west of the ranch ponds in the 1930s and 1940s as part of a guest ranch called the Circle W Ranch. Unfortunately the ranch opened in 1932 just as the Depression began, and the business collapsed despite being known as “the most beautiful ranch in the West”. You can still see the original fireplace from the main lodge located in the field to the west of the ponds.
For a time in the 1940s the ranch operated as a camp for wayward boys. Dude ranching and cattle ranching mostly ceased in the early 1970s when Montana’s very first conservation easement was put in place by Paul Brunner who owned the land from the late 1960s through the 1980s.
Brunner sold the ranch in 1996 to a Tennessee family who then carefully moved four of the original cabin structures to their current site as part of a larger main lodge. The current owner purchased the property in 2015 with a continued focus on conservation, stewardship and development of a modern, upscale guest ranch for small groups. Three new cabins were constructed in 2018 and, while fully preserving the original 1930 cabin structures, the ranch main lodge was fully renovated and expanded in 2020.
Geology of the Ranch
When hiking above the Ranch, look below and envision that only 50,000 years ago there were three major glacier systems terminating in the land below you. To the east was the Blackfoot glacier pressing down from the Continental Divide and ultimately creating the Blackfoot River. To the north, the Monture Glacier spilled out of the Bob Marshall Wilderness into the large valley just across the river. Finally, less than 10 miles to the Northwest, yet another massive glacier system encompassed the entire Clearwater River Valley.
During this most recent Ice Age, the area immediately around the ranch was actually a lake, and in fact, was the very eastern and shallow edge of the Great Missoula Lake that ultimately flooded dozens of times to shape the Columbia River. Massive boulders were cut away by the glaciers, floated on icebergs though the Blackfoot Valley and across the Scablands of Eastern Washington. From there they were deposited all the way back in the Willamette Valley in Western Oregon.
Today, we find evidence of the recent ice age in many places. Dig just three feet into the north side of the cliff face and you’ll reach solid ice even in the summertime. These are the remains of an ancient glacier. Our fields are littered with rocks that long ago were at the bottom of the lake and one can easily see how the valley benches were formed by the erosion from the glacial lake. A mile or so to the west of the Lodge are two beautiful kettle ponds that were formed at the end of the ice age by large chunks of final glacial deposits.
The massive cliff outcroppings that hold court over the entire ranch are actually from a much, much earlier era. The cliffs are known as sedimentary Belt Rock — 1.4 billion years old. It was buried deep within the earth until about 80 million years ago when colliding plates thrust it upwards throughout Western Montana. It is this same rock that formed the mountains throughout Glacier National Park and is the source of the beautiful colored rocks you see at the bottom of the local rivers and lakes.
Ecology and Conservation
Here’s what The Nature Conservancy has to say about our land and recent conservation efforts:
“ The Blackfoot Valley has become a national model for community based conservation. Lying along the southern edge of the crown of the continent, it’s an extravagant mosaic of wetlands, potholes and land forms created by the retreat of once vast glaciers. The result is a great diversity of plant and animal life.
The pine, fir and western larch forests are home to a broad range of rare plants and animals, and the rich wetlands attract breeding and migratory birds such as Sandhill Cranes and Trumpeter Swans. Bald Eagles nest and forage along the legendary Blackfoot river, which also supports rare west slope cutthroat and bull trout.
This area provides critical connections between wildlife habitat on the crown and the mountain ranges to the south. The continuity of these links is vital and the Blackfoot community has been a pioneer of community conservation. At their urging, The Nature Conservancy helped negotiate legislation and, in 1976, accepted the state’s very first conservation easement- along the Blackfoot River. From the Blackfoot, this extraordinary conservation tool took hold across the state.
Collaboration with the community is essential to the conservation in the Blackfoot, and is the guiding premise for the Conservancy’s local efforts. The core of this success is the diverse assemblage of the people and groups, including the conservancy, who are working in partnership to protect this special place. Today more than 110,000 acres of the Blackfoot have been secured by the conservation Easements- and 47 miles of the river are protected.
The 1976 easement mentioned above was, in fact, the easement for the Cliff Ranch and everything that has happened since at the ranch has been protected under conservation law and stewardship. The Cliff Ranch works in close partnership with The Nature Conservancy to share this important responsibility and stewardship.