Grant-Kohrs Ranch Historic Structures Report

D. A Partial Map of Deer Lodge Townsite [6]

This 1907 map is the fourth and final documemat illustrating the first forty-five years of the ranch. Complete and detailed as it is, it only covers the grounds and buildings immediately surrounding the ranch house. Yet for the first time the relative location of buildings and pastures, corrals, and lanes are known, and thus this map serves as a most important document for a study of the stock growing activities there.

The data on the map came from the files of the Northern Pacific Railroad and was printed on Milwaukee Road maps as the Milwaukee was preparing to lay tracks parallel to the ones already there. The solid line cutting through four of the buildings, which runs parallel to the Northern Pacific tracks (double lines), is the line on which the Milwaukee laid its rails.

A total of twelve buildings are shown, along with over ten clearly defined corrals, pastures, or lanes. (In some cases it as difficult to determine the exact bounds of some of the pastures.) The relationship of the buildings to the stock corrals and pastures is revealed clearly.

The "DW'g" (dwelling) is shown in its contemporary configuration, with the 1890 brick addition attached to the rear of the 1862 John Grant House. The addition on the north, which first appeared in the Leeson drawing, is outlined, as is an addition on the south, the solarium. Historic Structure 1, the ranch house, then, has changed markedly since the 1884 drawing.

Immediately to the north, the bunkhouse has also changed greatly in the years since 1884. In the 1883 and 1884 drawings it had appeared in two parts, but in the intervening twenty-three years the buggy house and bunkhouse had been joined by a stable with a hayloft, and the building now has its modern external form.

Between Historic Structure 1 and 2 sits a small, almost square building entitled "Ice House." It is Historic Structure 3 today.

Behind the bunkhouse (north) is a "Chicken House," Non-Extant Structure G. In 1907 it sat on the ground now occupied by Historic Structure 6.

North of the chicken house is a cluster of other buildings, barns or stables, three of them sharing common walls. The largest of the three is a "Cow Barn," and its west wall is the east wall of a "Horse Stable," Historic Structure 7, today's draft horse barn. The north wall of Historic Structure 7, in turn, is the south wall of one of two "Cow Stables" shown on this 1907 map (in actuality a lean-to), considered today as part of Historic Structure 7. A second "Cow Stable" stands alone to the north. The "Cow Stable" that sits north of Historic Structure 7 is today's Historic Structure 10.

Further north is another long, narrow cluster of four buildings. The westernmost is today's Historic Structure 11, a horse barn, called a "Horse Stable" on the map. It touches the corner of another building, Non-Extant Structure C, labelled "Open Cow Shed." The open cow shed has a smaller building touching it on the diagonal, called a "Machine Shed" and numbered Non-Extant Structure B. In the west the "Open Cow Shed'" joins a long building, "Cow Stable," almost 200 feet long. This is Non-Extant Structure D.

Far to the north of the buildings near the ranch house is another long and narrow building, another machine shed, today's Historic Structure 12. (It has been moved from its 1907 site.)

One building stands alone, west of the others. In bulk, it is the largest on the map, and is entitled "Cow Barn." It is today's Historic Structure 15, the thoroughbred barn.

A total of twelve buildings appear on the 1907 railroad map. The impression conveyed by it is that the ranch is a large operation by that date, a historically correct indication. The buildings are large and numerous; obviously this is no minor subsistence ranching site.

Pastures and corrals are delineated on the map as well, among the three groups of buildings just north of the ranch house. The sides of some of these structures and various fence lines outline five separate corrals where cattle could he worked. West of the "Cow Barn" is part of a pasture, with two others north of it. One lane going west from the utility buildings near the bunkhouse is outlined, and a road is shown passing in front of the bunkhouse. The ranch house fenced area appears in its entirety, as does the pasture just south of the house and a small corral joining the southeast corner of the yard.

Fence lines and fence types appear also. A different fence type, delineated by strength lines with regularly spaced dots, is shown around the house. This is no doubt the picket fence. The bulk of the rest of the fences are shown with "Xs," probably denoting jack-leg fences.

This 1907 map confirms the location of many of the buildings shown in the 1883 and 1884 drawings and their relationships to one another and to the various corrals and pastures. The corral shown on both, which included the north wall of the bunkhouse and buggy shed, is drawn exactly, as are such features as the line of the picket fence in the front yard and the pastures on the south side of the ranch house. It is important as well for what it shows that the 1883 and 1884 drawings do not. This is particularly true for the northern "Machine Shed" (Historic Structure 12) and the "Cow Barn" (Historic Structure 15). The appearance of this imposing structure on a 1907 map and its absence on the 1883 and 1884 drawings is instructive. No building of such proportions would have been omitted in either the Leeson illustration or the Stoner bird's-eye view. It is safe to assign this structure a construction date of between 1884 and 1907, thereby supporting somewhat the traditional building date of 1890.

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