Grant-Kohrs Ranch Historic Structures Report

B. 1883 Bird's-Eye View of Deer Lodge City: "The Stoner Picture" [4]

Many of America's communities appeared in the Stoner "Bird's-eye view" sheets in the 1880s, and Deer Lodge, Montana was one of them. The pictures displayed the communities as a unit, providing both a pleasant picture of their home town for the residents of the 1880s and an invaluable historical document for those who would be studying the town in the 1970s. The view is a low oblique one, showing the town and its structures and their general outline. Usually even the detailing of each building is fairly accurate.

The whole project probably involved an advance man selling subscriptions, followed by the preparation of the bird's-eye view once enough funds had been collected. Customarily, those who wished to pay an extra fee could ensure a prominent position for their home, usually with an inset around the border. Presumably this accounts for the Kohrs and Bielenberg Ranch. inset in the left margin of the 1883 Deer Lodge drawing.

Almost as if it were done for the benefit of future researchers, the detail in the drawing is quite complete. As with all of these bird's-eye views, the vertical perspective is stretched and generally all of the buildings are made to appear somewhat more imposing than they actually were. Nevertheless, the positioning of the structures is accurate, and their detailing is good.

By the time the 1883 scene was drawn, the ranch house had undergone some changes. The front and sides had been landscaped with what appear to be poplars or cottonwoods. The trees seem mature in the picture, indicating they were planted at least in the mid-1870s. Because of the perspective (from the southeast), a third chimney to the rear of the house shows in this drawing. It did not show in the earlier 1865 Stuart sketch, but perhaps this was due to the angle from which Stuart chose to present the structure.

A front porch had been added by 1883. It shows prominently in the sketch, and the porch roof appears to be supported by at least four pillars.

The bunkhouse, Historic Structure 2, appears in about the same position as the log buildings at the Grant Ranch drawn by Stuart. It has a new peaked roof however, replacing the sloping flat roof it had in the 1865 drawing.

Immediately to the east of the bunkhouse, and in line with. it, is a sloped-roof structure higher than the bunkhouse with five large doors. This is obviously the buggy shed, today the easternmost part of Historic Structure 2. It was then a separate building.

Generally parallel to the bunkhouse and buggy shed, but behind them (to the north of them), a large barn shows quite clearly. This might he today's Historic Structure 7, a draft horse barn, or Non-Extant Structure E, a cow barn. Whatever its exact number or title, the barn is a large one with a peaked roof and what appears to be board and batten construction. A hayloft door is shown on the east side as well.

There is a corral, with a double-hung gate at the east end, between the back of the buggy shed and the bunkhouse on one side, and the face of the barn just described on the other, with the other two sides completed by a fence. This is about where a corral is today, and could well be one used in working cattle in the immediate area.

Three other buildings appear as well, somewhat more easily identified. They are long and tall sheds generally north-south in orientation and parallel to the railroad tracks. The easternmost building is Non-Extant Structure D, labeled "Cow Stable" on a later map. On the east side of this cow stable sits what is apparently an open-sided stock shelter, the closest of all the buildings to the railroad track. It appears to be constructed of logs, with a straw or board sloping and flat roof. To the west of Non-Extant Structure D is a third building, probably what is currently called Historic Structure 11, horse barn.

Shown, then, in sum, are the ranch house and five ancillary buildings: the bunkhouse, the buggy shed, a cow stable, a horse barn, and an open stock shelter. It is significant to note that the thoroughbred barn, one of the most important utility buildings at the ranch, is not shown. This argues strongly that it did not exist at the time. If it had it surely would have been included (if the argument that Con Kohrs helped subsidize the drawing is accepted). Neither Con nor John Bielenberg would have allowed such an imposing structure to be neglected in the drawing.

The salient feature of the drawing, when considered as a whole, is that the ranch had become somewhat pretentious by this time, with wagons and buggies enough to warrant a buggy shed. The bunkhouse had been reroofed and possibly refurbished in other ways, and three other major structures had been built, plus at least one corral.

There was, by this time, possibly more to the ranch as well. Four buildings show on the drawing just above the inset illustrating the Kohrs and Bielenberg Ranch. Their exact relation to the ranch is not clear, but they appear to be just across the railroad track from the ranch complex and a bit further south, toward the outskirts of town. If this is so, these are probably the buildings in what is today the Tom Stuart Field, where the park's visitor service facilities are located. The grouping consists of a major dwelling, one outbuilding to the southwest, probably a privy, and what seem to be two other smaller dwellings to the north and west. The major dwelling might be what has come to be called (incorrectly) the Tom Stuart Cabin. The grouping contained much more than a cabin. [5]

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