By 1920 more Americans lived in industrial cities than in rural places, leading to a growing romanticism about the natural world. At the same time, films and dime novels fed fascination with the Old West. These factors combined to fuel a new industry: dude ranching. In 1922, Ernest and Grace Miller purchased an existing homestead cabin and property for $500 and established the Elkhorn Ranch, hosting four eastern guests that first summer season. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, the Miller family, with the help of former trapper, legendary guide, and long-term employee Cruse Black, added thirty-three Rustic style buildings. These included substantial log cabins carefully sited to maximize breathtaking views. Unlike buildings typically found on working ranches, the cabins feature large windows and spacious porches, furnished with hand-hewn chairs and benches. Other aesthetic details, including log multi-chord gable trusses, antler door handles, horseshoe latches, stone fireplaces, and wagon wheel chandeliers added to the Rec Hall in 1949 when electricity arrived in the canyon, ornament ranch structures. Today the Elkhorn Ranch remains a stunning example of an intact, purpose-built dude ranch little changed from the ranch's early period. Industry pioneers, the Millers helped found the Dude Ranchers’ Association in 1926. The Millers’ daughter and son-in-law, Barbara and Ron Hymas, took over the ranch in the 1960s. They brought in several Rustic style buildings from the nearby 7-11 Ranch and the former Sage Creek Ranger Station. Yet even as they expanded the ranch’s capabilities, they carefully maintained an atmosphere of hospitality echoing the spirit of the Old West.
]]>Long journeys to school on wintry mornings and children unused to being away from home prompted rural school architecture to mirror domestic dwellings, making youngsters feel more at home. This school is an excellent example of the practice, illustrating traditional folk conventions merged with new stylistic influences and building technologies. Built in 1923, the Middle Creek School reflects the bungalow design that gained local popularity in domestic building after 1916. The front porch, pyramidal porch supports, and exposed rafter tails represent the style. The porch, grafted onto the basic gable-ended schoolhouse form, reinforced the idea of “home.” Poured concrete foundations indicate an advanced technique available locally while the inclusion of a kitchen for “domestic science” reveals progressive trends in education. The comfort of central heating replaced the traditional woodstove. Windows of this period are typically found on one side of the building in response to W. R. Plew’s report to the school board, published in 1919, espousing the theory that cross lighting was hard on the eyes. This school is unusual in that small transom windows over the blackboard at the west end provide additional interior lighting. The one-room schoolhouse system was declining in the 1920s as transportation improved and more children were bused to schools in larger towns. The Middle Creek School, however, was in use from 1923 to 1948, serving as many as nineteen and as few as three students. It well illustrates the importance of education in Montana and the continuing need to accommodate a rural population.
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