P a g e 7 G h o s t T o w n s a n d H i s t o r y o f M o n t a n a N e w s l e t t e r John and Nan Marty Homestead Photo by Shawn Shawhan This is Part 2 of 3 that tells of the lives of John and Nan Marty on their homestead that is about 18 miles north of Winnett, Montana. The story comes from a book that was compiled by the women who run the public library in Winnett. The book documents all the people who had something to do with the growth and development of Petroleum County. My cowgirl friend, and photographer, has a copy of this book and I photographed the portions that were of interest to me. The photographs I’m sharing with this part of the story are ones I took on my first visit to the homestead in September 2006. My last visit to the homestead was in May 2017 and much has changed over the years. Many of the items I saw around the homestead on my first visit are now gone. No doubt those items are now in peoples’ gardens somewhere around the state. Here is Part 2 of the Marty story: “The years on the ranch meant long hours of hard work with few material benefits resulting. John and Nan raised grain, kept hogs, turkeys, chickens, and milk cows. It was not until the early 1940s when they turned to beef cattle that ranching became more profitable. Prior to that they were plagued by grasshoppers, hail, lack of rain, and low prices for grain. During the Roosevelt administration. John went out to work with the resettlement crews building dams and tearing down homesteads.” "Their only child, Joan, was born on May 28. 1931. She presently lives with her husband, Ken Smith, in Tonasket. Washington. There are four grandchildren - Jeffrey, Molly, Brent and Kelly.” “Many years were to go by before John and Nan saw their childhood homes. In 1936 the two of them, with Joan, made a trip to Photo by Shawn Shawhan Iowa to visit. The journey was begun by car but due to rain the roads became a quagmire, so from Hettinger, North Dakota, they continued by train. Joan was ecstatic with her first train ride, her first glimpse of a Negro, and indoor plumbing. In 1951 Nan spent the summer in England, and in 1964 both she and John spent several months there. On the way home, they attended the World's Fair in New York. John complained that Nan ‘walked his legs off’ in London.” “Montana blizzards have long been a legend and in the winter of 1950, John was caught in town during such a storm. For a week he stewed and fretted about Nan, alone at the ranch, and his cattle. So even though it was still storming, he hired a bulldozer and several trucks loaded with hay, and set out for the ranch. Eighteen hours later they finally arrived. John had often walked ahead of the bulldozer when they lost their way. Nan was all right, having fueled the oil stove with cupfuls of oil when the main tank went dry. After this harrowing experience, he sold most of the ranch and stock to Wayne Bratten, keeping a small amount of land and stock to manage.”
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