JUNE 2021 Ghost Towns and History of Montana Newsletter From the Fergus County Argus August 3, 1906 L I F E I N L E N N E P https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/ Way back in 1877, Norwegian immigrant Martin T. Grande started a sheep ranch on Comb Creek. Mr. Grande and William Smith brought the first sheep into the Musselshell River valley from Boise, Idaho. Mr. Grande made many pit-stops and partook in several adventures before making his way to the Big Sky Country. Martin and his brother, Anton, left Norway with a socalled case of “American Fever.” It would take six weeks for their small sailboat to reach Montreal. From there the two men were hired to “pump” their way to Quebec on a boat that was victim to several large leaks. Next, they headed to Minnesota where they worked as harvester hands for 75 cents a day. Martin would move on to Wyoming where he worked in the coal mines for three years. Following that stint, he ventured on to Montana. Mr. Grande teamed up with Pete Jackson in Sun River Country and the duo made quite the hunting team. One spring they sold 400 elk skins at $4 each. Martin would next find himself working for William and John Smith at their ranch on Willow Creek near White Sulphur Springs. They had located placer gold in Thompson Gulch, but it didn’t take long for the mines to play out. Nevertheless, the men would grow the ranch into one of the most thriving properties in the west, located on land west of Martinsdale. When Bill Smith and Martin T. Grande brought those first sheep into the valley, they did so by way of Bannack and just a week after a Nez Perce uprising. Lennep, Montana by Jolene Ewert-Hintz
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