Revenants Haunt the Old Place

Oil on Canvas
24″ x 30″
$1700
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Lackey Ranch
Grandpa William and Grandma Lackey were early homesteaders in Musselshell County. When they died, their ranch was bought by Alfred Mattson when he and his brother wanted adjoining places. The Mattsons traded their properties for tax purposes, and the Lackey place became Emil’s. In old age, ill health forced him to sell and move to Roundup. Little is left to identify the ranch except the iron enclosed burial site of one of the Lackey’s grandsons.

William insisted that the family live in his backyard, as he would say, meaning they had to buy a ranch close to his. Following his dad’s wishes, when Burley, their son, married Esther, he bought a place located a few miles from his parents. It is a beautiful setting nestled under a high hill with large rock out-croppings and a long gumbo road leading to the site. The place has a magnificent view of the Little Snowy Mountains, and it came with a two-story homesteader’s wood house and out-buildings, a little utopia – except for one small detail. The water tested unfit for human or animal consumption. Burley and Esther were told never to use it even on their garden. Back then, there was good water on the Griffith’s Ranch, and it was from there they hauled their water, not an easy task. However, Esther loved flowers, and she created a magnificent garden next to the house. Trees were planted around it, and they grew huge and strong under her care. Years later, on the third attempt for a well, they finally found drinkable water in one of their fields. They sided their house; added a basement; and three sons, Morris, Willie, and Pete, were born. The boys even had their own one-room shack in which to sleep. Its location was a short walk behind the main house and nearer the outhouse. It too had a blemish, no source of heat. Each night in winter, the boys trudged to their unheated cabin, kicked off their boots, and jumped into their cots. In the morning their boots had to be ripped off the floor, for during the night they froze tightly to the wood.

In the footsteps of Grandparents Lackey, Burley and Esther wanted their sons living close to them. However, Morris, who was working in Missoula, married Dorothy, and moved to Oregon.

Willie married Rosemary, a divorcée, and they hauled an old homestead house next to his parents’ place, where he could be their right-hand helper. Unfortunately, his happiness was short lived for Rosemary became ill and died when she was just 37 years old. Thereafter, he remained a loner, working the ranch when times were good, and in other places when money was tight. When he became ill with cancer, Willie moved to Oregon where Morris’ son cared for him until his death. To honor his wishes, his ashes were brought back to Montana, where he was buried on Emil Mattson’s place, the site of his grandparents’ homestead, a place full of fond youthful memories.

Pete married Audrey and lived in Roundup. In summer Pete helped farm the Beckman Ranch and always was home branding, haying and combining. In winter he worked for John Deere in town, and his wife Audrey, still lives in their home.

When we visited the Lackey Ranch, the houses had furniture and books from the last renters, as well as droppings from the present, feathered residents. The homes are slowly but surely collapsing into their dug-out cellars, windows are broken from spring-time storms, and the once-modern siding has fallen off in many places, exposing the original boards. No one ever did get the decent water in the house nor bothered to install indoor plumbing, and without that, there is no reason to maintain the structures. The large barn, which held most of their animals, still stands strong. The magnificent roses and flower gardens died and disappeared with the winds years ago, and the towering trees look like deadly, ghostly beings hovering over the decaying houses. The ranch itself is now just a small part of a larger cattle ranch, but the tales of this family are a part of Montana’s history.