Ghost Ranches of Montana Lewistown/Grass Range
Black Woman’s Still
Oil on Canvas 18″ x 14″ Sold Cummings Ranch Bertie Brown, known locally as Nigger Bertie, was a jolly, good-natured soul, rather short and heavy-set. What endeared her to the citizens most, though, was not her kindness, it was her booze. Folks claimed it was the absolute best hooch produced anywhere in the U.S. of A. Since it was the good ole’ days of Prohibition, when hidden distilleries were producing moonshine everywhere across our great nation, this was quite an honor. Born in Missouri in 1871, Bertie came to the Lewistown area in 1898. She lived in Gilt Edge first, […]
The Stage Station
Oil on Canvas 27″ x 21″ Sold The Beecher Ranch Perhaps the most variously-owned and used land and building I have painted, began as the Dovenspeck homestead and was a cattle ranch. Then John and Verda Middleton bought it in 1927, after which it was owned by the Millers for one year, then the Olsons for three. Within the last fifty years it has had six owners: George Kneeland, Clifford Swift, Tom and Lois Stash, the Bellwoods, the Collins, and now the Beechers. The building was the Stage Station for Fergus County and carried passengers, gold-mining equipment, and supplies to […]