When Indians Were a Threat

Oil on Canvas
18″ x 14″
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Settle Ranch
The Settles have been a proud ranching family in Montana for four generations.  Their original ranch was founded in the 1870’s by Martin Settle and his uncle, Dr. Henry Clark. Located at the confluence of the north and south forks of the Musselshell River, the headquarters was marked by the big house designed by Clark’s brother-in-law, John Grant, a Portland, Oregon architect. At times the ranch was supported by cattle, at others, by sheep.  Martin’s operation of the ranch was succeeded by his son, Edward, in 1919.  Edward was known as the man with the hardest luck ever, for each of his four wives had an untimely death, and he was forced into bankruptcy when each of his four crops dried up. For this man a four-leaf clover would have been an ominous sign.  Edward’s eldest son, Martin J. Settle took over the operation after World War II. In 1959 the original ranch was sold to the Hutterites, and Martin and his wife, Adeline, purchased a portion of a large sheep ranch operated by the Chevallier family in Canyon Creek, Montana.  Their youngest son, Scott, and his wife, Kelly, presently operate this cattle ranch located in Trinity Gulch northwest of Helena.  Their next door neighbors, the Chevalliers, have a cattle ranch headquartered at the south end of the Little Prickley Pear Canyon.

This building predates the ranching era and is located near a historic placer mine  in Trinity Gulch.  Its robust stone and log construction was thought to have thwarted Indian attacks.  Over the years it has been used as a bunkhouse for the early Chevallier sheep ranch, and rusting, metal bed springs and frame are still inside.