Ant Flats Historical Site has gone through many things over the years, Ranger Station, railroad camp, school, etc. There is a office building, two barns, the remnants of a stock loading ramp and a trail nearby. Picnic tables and outhouse too. In 1904, Ant Flat became
one of the region’s first year-round ranger stations. Ample water, land suitable for
pasture and domestic gardens, close proximity to heavy timberlands, and access to the Great
Northern Railroad made Ant Flat an ideal location. President Theodore Roosevelt
appointed his friend Fred Herrig, a decorated Rough Rider, its first ranger.
Imagine with me if you will……It’s 1904 and you have just been appointed district
ranger of the Fortine Ranger District on the Lewis and Clark Reserve. Riding your
dark bay saddle horse with his silver-studded bridle and accompanied by Bruno, your white
Russian wolfhound - you make an impressive sight. You are Fred Herrig, a personal friend
of Teddy Roosevelt, who rode with him and the Rough Riders. You carry the pistol that he
gave you. Now your life will center on being the “government man” for the Forest Service
in northwest Montana.
You choose a beautiful meadow with a small stream running nearby to set up your
administrative site. You, being a man of imagination with a flair for the dramatic, see
your post as one of beauty, with the natural splendors to be further enhanced by clumps of
blooming lilacs. You intend to plant lilac bushes around the log buildings and name the
station “Lilac Hall”. After telling your plan to your close friend Byron Henning, ranger at
Point of Rocks Station, he rocks with merriment and roars, “Lilac Hall! Hell, Fred,
you better come down to earth and name this patch of yours ‘Ant Flat’, seein’ as how you’ve
got so many of them gol-durned ant hills in that meadow!”