The M L Ranch was established by Henry Clay Lovell and his financial backer Anthony Mason in

Wyoming Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...

Big Horn Basin The Bighorn Basin is a plateau region and intermontane basin, approximately 100 miles (160 km) wide, in north-central Wyoming in the United States. It is bounded by the Absaroka Range on the west, the Pryor Mountains on the north, the Bighor ...

in the late 1870s to the south of the present location. The second and final location was established farther north as a cattle line camp in 1883 to be closer to markets in

Billings, Montana Billings is the largest city in the U.S. state of Montana, with a population of 117,116 as of the 2020 census. Located in the south-central portion of the state, it is the seat of Yellowstone County and the principal city of the Billings Metrop ...

. In 1884 it became the headquarters for a ranch that reached in area. The bad winter of 1886–87 killed half the livestock on the ranch, more than 10,000 head., but the M L fared better than most. Mason died in 1892. Lovell died in Oregon in 1903.

Lovell, Wyoming Lovell is the largest town in Big Horn County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 2,360 at the 2010 census. History Lovell was named for Henry Lovell, a local rancher. Built in 1925, the EJZ Bridge over Shoshone River is listed on th ...

was named in his memory. The Lovell family ran the ranch until 1909. In the early 1960s the ranch was purchased by the

Bureau of Reclamation The Bureau of Reclamation, and formerly the United States Reclamation Service, is a federal agency under the U.S. Department of the Interior, which oversees water resource management, specifically as it applies to the oversight and opera ...

as part of the

Bighorn Lake Bighorn Lake is a reservoir behind Yellowtail Dam within the Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area, located in northern Wyoming and extending into southern Montana. Geography The reservoir is south of Billings, Montana. It stretches the ent ...

reservoir project. In 1966 the headquarters site was transferred to the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...

as part of

Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area is a national recreation area established by an act of Congress on October 15, 1966, following the construction of the Yellowtail Dam by the Bureau of Reclamation. It straddles the border between Wyomin ...

. The M L Ranch was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

on July 15, 1992.

References

External links

Mason-Lovell Ranch
at Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area
Mason-Lovell Ranch
at the Wyoming State Historic Preservation Office {{authority control National Register of Historic Places in Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area Ranches on the National Register of Historic Places in Wyoming National Register of Historic Places in Big Horn County, Wyoming