Ghost Ranches Glendive Area
Ultra-Modern in 1915
Oil on Canvas 24″ x 20″ Sold Steffen Ranch Bill and Fred chose homesteads diagonal to each other and cleverly built a large shack situated on both sites. The ranch expanded when the government increased the size of homestead plots to 320 acres, and their two sisters also homesteaded property adjacent to theirs. The shack in the painting actually belonged to one of their sisters, for theirs burned to the ground and they moved this one onto their place. When Fred married Margaret Rusche from LaCross, Wisconsin, he did not want her living in such humble lodgings. He contracted to […]
Taming a Wild One
2012 Oil on Old Barn Wood 23″ x 26″ unframed $1300 Contact to Purchase The first rodeo in the eastern part of Montana .was held at the Steffen Ranch outside Glendive on July 25, 1922. The name of the chap riding this wild horse is unknown. How long he stayed on top or whether he won is also unknown. John Steffen couldn’t remember, even though the nonagenarian scrupulously catalogued all his father’s old photographs and memorabilia. What John wrote as a tribute to all the homesteaders of this era though is more important. “We, the sons and daughters of the […]
The Steer Rider
Oil on Barnwood 21 ” x 27.5 ” $1300 Contact to Purchase Steffen Ranch It just wasn’t his day to win. Poor Ted Hammond, a popular local, drew a mighty mean steer, and no matter how hard he tried to stay on, his ride quickly ended with his eating dirt. You might call Ted’s draw a bum steer. Yep, there was no cash prize for him, but he consoled himself with the thought of the dance that evening. A Bowery Dance is one held outside with planks laid for a dance floor, local musicians joined together to create the music, […]
The Neighborhood Bachelors
Oil on Barnwood 26″ x 21″ $1300 Contact to Purchase Steffen Ranch William Steffen and his brother, Ferdinand, Fred for short, were helping farm their father’s place in North Dakota, but they were searching for a new frontier. They wanted to be ranchers! In 1907 they found their dream outside Glendive – hilly land, which they felt was good for cattle and undesirable to farmers so here their cowboy adventures began. A serious drawback to frontier life was the scarcity of womenfolk. So, when the boys wanted a night out, they’d dress to the nines, pour their home-made brews and […]
Field of The Forgotten
Oil on Canvas 20″ x 16 ” $800 Contact to Purchase Steffen Ranch Henry Stefan’s son was a wild boy, and it worried him. To tame the chap he decided to buy him land, not in La Cross, Wisconsin, where they lived, but in Dawson County, Montana. He contacted the railroad, bought the land, and sent his son west. Once settle the young man’s cousin, Margaret Rusche, came for a visit, met Fred Steffen, and voila, love blossomed. A year later, in 1915, much to the chagrin of Fred’s brother, Bill, they were married. Bill was disturbed because Margaret was […]
The Drifter
Oil on Barnwood 21″ x 27″ $1300 Contact to Purchase Steffen Ranch Earl Coryell and his twin sister were born on their parents’ homestead outside Glendive. Rumor has it he was a good artist, though nothing survives to prove the story correct. Nothing is left of the Coryell Ranch either, for when hard times hit in the twenties, the homestead reverted to the government. Grasshoppers consumed what wheat the farmers were able to grow on their sun-baked, wind-swept patches of land, and those so lucky to have water rights had a chance to survive. Those without moved on to survive. […]
Comin for a Visit
Oil on Barnwood 26.5″ x 21″ $1300 Contact to Purchase Steffen Ranch Ethel Sansborn and Laura Quick Andersen were best friends and neighbors to the Steffens, whom they would ride over to visit. Horses were the mode of transportation at the turn of the century, and these were capable horsewomen. Ethel’s father, Sam, homesteaded on land adjoining Bill’s. She arrived from North Dakota a few years after her dad and before she married Bun Brody did the woman’s work on their ranch. Just turning nine Laura, Gail, her elder brother, her Father, and the housekeeper, Amanda, left Cooperstown, North Dakota […]
The Winner
Oil on Antique Metal (The metal sheet was used in the building of the Milwaukee, St. Paul, and Pacific Railroad, probably as a piece of a furnace.) 45″ x 35.75″ $3000 Contact to Purchase Steffen Ranch As the flyer proudly heralded, “Some of the most astounding Wild West Features ever seen in the state will be exhibited to the public. They will consist of saddle riding, bareback riding, steer riding, etc. These horses are the wildest and most untamable that ever grew hair. If you don’t believe it come and seem [sic] them – Cow Boy [sic] Running Race, Keg […]