Albert and Frances Create their Legacy
Albert had always enjoyed hunting and fishing. He discovered the ranch on a hunting trip with a friend and found it to be beautiful. In January of 1919, Albert and Christine Jamison sold him 160 acres along Blanchard and Cold Creeks, a house they had built, a Deering mower, a McCormick rake, and a stump puller. The ditch from nearby Cold Creek brought running water to the house. In August 1921, Albert bought 240 more acres for $960 from the Northern Pacific Railway. Marvin and Olga eventually became owners of 120 of these acres.
In June 1921, Albert married Frances May Lane. The Lane family had run a farm near Wilhelm’s around 1916–18. Albert says they met when she lived on 3rd Street next to Gould’s. They were married in the rectory next to the Catholic Church. It was the only place Albert’s Catholic family and Frances’s Protestant family agreed upon. They honeymooned at Lolo Hot Springs.
Albert and Frances moved to the ranch in 1922 with 14 head of cattle. He believed he could raise enough hay to feed them. He farmed both his place and also his parents’ homestead at the Big Flat west of Missoula for a number of years. He could get from the ranch to the Big Flat in one day by horseback. If a wagon was needed for carrying supplies, he would stay overnight in a Potomac hotel. Eventually, he rented out the Big Flat land. It was sold several years after his mother Crescentia’s death, and he used the money to complete the purchase of his ranch on Blanchard Creek.
In 1923, Frances became pregnant. During the pregnancy, she wanted to be with her mother who had moved to Los Angeles. Albert and Frances drove to California in a Model T, camping in Oakland along the way. Marvin was born December 15th. During their 4 month stay in Los Angeles, Albert worked for wages the only time in his life. In March 1933, Earl Albert was born in Missoula. PHOTOS of wedding and babies.
For decades, the ranch has been a beautiful remote valley having a meadow the shape of a star with a willow lined creek flowing through it. When Albert purchased it, the meadow was full of dead trees and stumps. For 25 years, he and his sons pulled up stumps with the help of a team of horses and the stump puller. The winch operated by the horses walking in a circle with a boom was powerful enough to break a ¾” cable. In 1980, the stump puller was still at the ranch, on the hill behind the barn. A bulldozer was not used until 1945. Albert also created the 7 mile road to the ranch without assistance of a bulldozer. Albert drove the first car to the ranch on the road he made.
Once the land was cleared, it needed to be leveled, plowed, planted, and irrigated. The beavers and Albert battled for years on Blanchard Creek. The beavers built dams which flooded the meadow and Albert blew the dams up with dynamite. Frances had 2 beaver coats made for her from the beavers she trapped. The coats are still in the family.
In 1929, a devastating forest fire which reached through Idaho and western Montana approached the ranch. As a consequence of this fire and the one in 1910, there were many fallen trees on the forest floor. Marvin remembers being able to walk a mile without ever touching the ground. On a trip to town, it was common to have to remove 3 fallen dead trees from the road. Lyman Pickle, a hired hand, spent much of his time clearing the trails. Since lodge pole pine seeds are invigorated by fire, the mountains became covered with their seedlings several years after the fires. They dominated the forest and eventually became victim to pine beetle infestation 70 years later.
Frances loved music. She wanted a piano, so Marvin hauled one up 6 miles from the Armstrong house on a snow sled. She also enjoyed playing the accordion and violin. In the late 1920’s, three sleigh loads of friends rode up to the house for a dance. They often visited friends (such as the Sidler, Gould, Case and Zaugg families) when they went to town.
The original house burned in April 1933 from a chimney fire. Frances had the composure to take pictures. Albert built a large one room log cabin in which they lived for 10 years. During this time, approximately 1922–35, they also rented the Armstrong place along the highway. Most of the winters were spent at the ranch because the cattle had to be fed everyday. During the summer they were usually at the Armstrong place. Albert built many fences and a big barn there. He hauled cattle and hay back and forth. Albert lost his lease when Vannoy bought the land. He was now the their nearest neighbor — 7 miles away.
The ranch became their fulltime residence. During the spring and early summer, the hay meadows were irrigated by creek fed ditches. During this time the cattle grazed in the surrounding mountains on land leased from the Forest Service and the lumber company. In July and August the hay, oats, and clover was mowed, raked, and formed into, haystacks with the aid of horses, family, and family friends. When winter came the cattle were brought down to the meadow. Albert and sons pitched hay out onto the snow twice a day, every day, throughout the winter from the 2 horse powered hay sled.
