Where the Champion Bronco Rider Lived

Oil on Canvas
30 ” x 20″
$1200
Contact to Purchase

Sleeping Giant Ranch
On this ranch thirteen children were born to Fannie’s sister, Carrie, and her husband, Joe Hilger. Viola, the youngest was the only one born in the fine new house in the foreground of the painting. Mr. Hilger owned the saw mill and produced all the boards he needed to build it. Viola never saw her mother until she was two, for her grandmother was ill, and Carrie lived at her family’s home, the Sperry ranch, to care for the grand lady until she died. School for the children was down the road, and the student body consisted solely of their family! To maintain that road each rancher was assigned a certain number of days to grade and gravel it. Once, while picking berries, Fannie’s mother was bitten by a rattlesnake, after which the horses bolted, and she had to run home. Fannie saved her mother’s life by riding to Helena for the doctor after she was sure her mother had taken a swig of alcohol. Once, Fannie had a rather large, furry intruder at the door and she quickly killed it; a bear is not a welcome guest for food. The Hilgers had milking cows, and the milk was stored in an irrigation ditch. If thunder came, their mother, who sold cream, insisted the children run and bring the milk inside the house so it would not sour, for the not-so-old wife believed firmly in the old wives’ tale. After Fannie’s husband, Bill Steele, died she moved into this house and lived there until her death at age ninety-five. The family installed a toilet in the living room for her so that she would not have to visit the outhouse in the picture, and it is still sitting there next to the fireplace. Modernization comes slowly to rural areas and is costly. The Sleeping Giant Ranch had no electricity until 1960 and still has no phone land line.