Images of Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site – Western Montana, taken in July 2021.

The remnants of the height of the open-range cattle industry and the rise of the pioneer ranch are preserved at the Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site.

During the open-range era Conrad Kohrs cattle grazed over 10 million acres across the Montana, Idaho and Wyoming wilderness. After the disastrous winter of 1886-87 many ranchers lost 90 percent of their herds with Kohrs losing 60 percent. Ranchers began to realize the need to raise feed to protect their cattle in difficult times and the pioneer ranch era was born.

Today the Grant-Kohrs Ranch is an active working ranch of approximately 1,600 acers and through the Park Service tells the story of the ranchers, settlers and cowboys, who made a living on the range in the frontier west.

As an aside, I noticed a bird on the ranch grounds acting strange and followed it to get a picture. It was a Killdeer and when a park volunteer noticed my interest in the bird, she came over to let me know that the bird was trying to lead me away from its nest. As we approached the nest the male Killdeer began to flop around and act as if it was injured. This is something I had only seen on wildlife programs and as we got closer to the nest the female darted away from where the nest was and began to act in a similar fashion. It was fascinating to watch and is represented by the last five images in this gallery.