Cedarvale, also known as Hillsboro Ranch, was a
dude ranch
A guest ranch, also known as a dude ranch, is a type of ranch oriented towards visitors or tourism. It is considered a form of agritourism.
History
Guest ranches arose in response to the romanticization of the American West that began to occur ...
and working ranch in
Carbon County, southern
Montana, United States. The ranch was established about 1903 by prospector Grosvener W. Barry on the South Fork Trail Creek. Barry used the ranch as a home for his family and as a base for his mining ventures, all of which failed. His most lucrative venture was the conversion of Cedarvale from a working ranch to a dude ranch, marketed through an arrangement with the
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad
The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad was a railroad that operated in the Midwestern United States. Commonly referred to as the Burlington Route, the Burlington, or as the Q, it operated extensive trackage in the states of Colorado, Illin ...
. It was the first dude ranch in the area.
Barry introduced powered boats to the
Bighorn River to carry dudes to the ranch from the railhead at
Kane, Wyoming Kane is a ghost town that existed south of the confluence of the Shoshone River and the Bighorn River in Big Horn County, northern Wyoming, United States.
Kane started as a lumber shipping point. In 1832, wagon trains of Captain B.L.E. Bonnevill ...
. As a publicity stunt Barry, his stepson and a neighbor piloted the motorized ''Edith'' from the Hillsboro landing down the Bighorn,
Yellowstone,
Missouri and
Mississippi rivers, leaving on May 31, 1913 and arriving in New Orleans on August 1. One of Barry's boats, the ''Hillmont'', is on display at Barry's Landing.
Doc Barry
Grosvener W. Barry started life in New York and moved west with his wife Edith and her son from a previous marriage, Claude St. John. Known as "Doc, " Barry promoted a number of mining schemes. His most ambitious effort raised $50,000 to ship a
gold dredge to work a claim on the Bighorn River at the mouth of Trail Creek, which never recovered its costs. Barry died in
Billings, Montana of a brain tumor on January 25, 1920. Edith and Claude St. John continued to manage the dude ranch after his death. The ranch eventually reverted to a working cattle ranch, continuing into the late 1950s
Description
The historic district comprises what amounts to a small town, including the 1-1/2 story log Hillsboro Post Office, the log Big Chicken House, the Small Chicken House, a milk house and a root cellar. Hulbert's Shop and the Dude Cabin are in two sections of the same small log structure. A barn, corral, and the Hulbert Cabin complete the ensemble. Nearly all of the buildings had sod roofs.
The post office opened in 1915 and lasted until 1945. The main ranch house burned during the winter of 1947-48, and its replacement burned some years later.
[
Cedarvale was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on August 19, 1975.][
]
References
External links
Hillsboro
at Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area.
at Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area
{{authority control
National Register of Historic Places in Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area
Buildings and structures completed in 1903
Dude ranches in Montana
Ranches on the National Register of Historic Places in Montana
1903 establishments in Montana
Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Montana
National Register of Historic Places in Carbon County, Montana