P a g e 3 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 an isolated area but in 1903, they endured a devastating prairie fire that destroyed their grazing land, sheep sheds and stock of winter hay. The most tragic event that struck the young family was the 1907 drowning of their two-year old son, Jimmy, in the creek that ran past their house. Unable to continue living so near to the place of Jimmy’s death, Annie filed on a Desert Land claim two miles north. The house and other buildings were then moved to the new location. It was there that two more children, Abby and Bill, were born. Mac looked to the future with a keen understanding of the changes that were happening all around the once isolated ranch. Committed to raising sheep and cattle, he seized opportunities to diversify his operation, thus allowing him to continue ranching. Seeing more and more land being broken up for farming and knowing there would be a steady need for horses that were still being used for farm work, he began importing stallions to sell and use for breeding purposes. In 1906, he and a partner traveled to Culberson, bought the area’s first horse-powered threshing machine, then began a profitable trip home by custom threshing fields from Culbertson to the Canadian border. Realizing that horsepower would eventually give way to machinery, they soon sold the thresher and bought a steam engine and Case grain separator. They again hired out, plowing land for area farmers. Mac’s resilient spirit led him to develop a variety of ways to keep his ranching operation profitable. He used the water of McCoy Creek to irrigate a large truck garden, raising a selection of vegetables including several thousand heads of cabbage. In 1936, the operation was promoted by a Sheridan County agent as an example of how area farmers could use handmade pumps to irrigate small truck gardens, raise produce for family use, then sell the excess at a considerable profit. Mac also made use of McCoy Creek during the winter by selling the ice that formed in it during the cold months. His ingenuity served him well, again, when during the dry years of the 1930s, he shipped stock to the Turtle Mountains of North Dakota for summer grazing in areas less affected by the drought. The deaths of Annie in 1933, and George in 1940, did not bring an end to their ranching legacy that was honored as a Montana Centennial Farm and Ranch in 2020. Today, a grandson and great grandsons continue to operate McCoy Farms, Inc. on the same land that brought Mac and Annie to northeastern Montana over a century ago. -Courtesy of Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame, www.montanacowboyfame.org Sources: Family stories: Ardelle Hart and Dale McCoy Sheridan’s Daybreak compiled by Magnus Aasheim copyright 1970 by the Sheridan County Historical Association Library of Congress: Chronicling America, Historic American Newspapers “The Producers News” (Plentywood, MT “The Searchlight” (Culbertson, MT) “Plentywood Herald” Library of Congress: Prints and Photos Division: George McCoy 1937 Montana Historical Society Research Center Montana’s Centennial Farms and Ranches, Christine Brown, Montana Historical Society Hart Family Research: 2020
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