P a g e 4 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 Photo by Jolene Ewert-Hintz When the Browns occupied the house, they lived in the east rooms- a large living-dining room, bedroom of the same size, a smaller kitchen and another bedroom of the same dimensions as the kitchen. By studying the photo on the wall of the cabin at the museum you can see where the partitions are. The west end of the house was used for storage. The house was warm in the winter and cool in the summer and I enjoyed my visits there. A log privy was built a short distance south (toward the river) with hollyhocks blooming around it in the summer. The Milwaukee railroad ran parallel to the highway in those days so that the house was between the river and the rails. This caused my sister, with myriad ranch-wife duties to perform and two small children to keep track of, to quip, “We’re between the devil and the deep blue sea.” The stone fireplace had been torn out of the kitchen and it was furnished with a coal and wood range, cupboard, work table, etc. Of special fascination for me was the wooden water barrel in the corner of the room which was filled from a pipe directly connected to the outside well. Albeit the water had to be hand pumped, but to have so much water at hand seemed great to me since the well on our Hay Basin farm was unfit for human consumption and we hauled drinking water in five-gallon cans! Photo by Jolene Ewert-Hintz The ranch house was occupied until 1944 when a different house was moved on to the property. In 1976 Musselshell Valley Historical Museum moved Clifton’s half (the west section) to the museum lot in Roundup as a centennial project. It has been redone as a farmer’s cabin and is toured by hundreds of people each summer. The remaining logs (from Lowther’s side) were purchased by Rose Heine and Chris Spogin and will be utilized to build a solar home. Photo by Jolene Ewert-Hintz The site where the old house stood has reverted back to its original pastoral setting. The cottonwood trees form a pretty backdrop as the river laps lazily at the shore. Is this how it looked when Lowther and Clifton first saw it? Do you suppose they arrived together in Bradshaw’s horse-drawn wagon and Lowther turned to Clifton and said, “Lovely spot for a dwelling, don’t you think, old chap?” I guess we’ll never know! – Courtesy of The Musselshell Valley Historical Museum, http://www.mvhm.us/
5 Publizr Home