When my great grandmother purchased the ranch she wrote in her journal, “ The ranch was a beautiful spot, some 2000 acres under fence. Several small sleeping cabins close around the large main ranch house. It had a large kitchen, dining room, several bedrooms, and baths and a living room with an enormous fireplace. From its broad porch, one could see hardpan creek, cascading down the mountain above to the valley floor below. A small bridge, spanned the creek, and on the other side, were the barn, corrals, and tack room. Ample riding and pack horses, two Guernsey milk cows, saddles and tack gear all came with the ranch. We bought 30 head of purebred, Hereford cattle, two work horses, named Rock and Steel, and a lovely sorrel male named Missy for me to ride.
There were so many new experiences. We had a vegetable garden and several fields planted with alfalfa. A small hydroelectric plant generated by the rushing hardpan provided us with electricity, but we only turned it on at dusk. The cows provided a lot of milk, and I learned how to operate the cream separator and make cottage cheese and butter. Quite often we took packed trips to the Upper Hardpan Basin or over to Bridger lake for fishing and hunting.
I remember when I was in Cody purchasing supplies for our first pack trip I consulted Will Richards for necessary items and quantities. He was all hyped on garlic in ones diet, believing it to be a cure, all, and recommended I take 2 pounds of it along with other food stuffs. When I was checking out my purchase at the market, a friendly clerk figured we were going camping and asked how long we would be gone. I told her a week. She picked up the sack of garlic and said, if you eat all of these, you’ll never come back! “