Idaho ranch

eelgrass

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This contractor I've known for about 40 years called me up awhile back. We worked together on a few jobs until I went to work in the sawmill then I kind of lost track of him. He bought a portable sawmill but was having some trouble with it so I went and fixed it with him. I asked him if he was still hunting that private ranch in Idaho? I remembered all the hunting stories from back then. He told me this long story about how he hunted it every year and got to know the owners real well. The husband died and then a few years later the wife died. It was a complete shock and surprise to him when he found out they left the ranch to him. I think it's a couple thousand acres at least.

He tried running it for a couple years but was way over his head so he sold it to a guy he hired who knew ranching. As part of the deal he still gets to hunt there for life. The hunting isn't near as good as it was though. You know what them wolves have done.

After we fixed his mill he took me up to his house and showed me all the stuff he brought home from the ranch after she died. He built a 16'X16' addition to his house to hold it all. All kinds of Indian artifacts (he must have grocery sack full of arrow heads and spear points, etc.) 8 or 10 rifles and shotguns. He has a library of a couple hundred books and the latest date is 1903. He's never searched them to even know what they are. He has a display case just for all the old time medicine bottles that have never been opened and doctor instruments that they kept because it was so far out of town. Old dishes, lanterns, all kinds of cowboy stuff. It's a museum, is what it is. I was at a loss for words when I left. I still am.
 
That’s a cool story, I live in Idaho. I did some work for a man and he told me a story of a collection of stone tools found on a farm on the Camas prairie, it’s one of the most valuable collections ever found. It is now on display in Twin Falls at the Heritage Museum.It is called The Simon Collection
 
I love to see the old relics of the west. There has been many times I put a hunt on hold to snoop around an old trash dump out in the middle of nowhere here in Idaho looking for old unbroken bottles or tins for display.
 
That’s a cool story, I live in Idaho. I did some work for a man and he told me a story of a collection of stone tools found on a farm on the Camas prairie, it’s one of the most valuable collections ever found. It is now on display in Twin Falls at the Heritage Museum.It is called The Simon Collection
I worked around that place when I was a kid. There is lots of cool stuff if you know where to look. Sadly, anything easily accessible has been picked through or destroyed. I found an old cabin once that appeared as if the ppl had left with every intention of coming back in hours but must have never made it for whatever reason. There was everything from a coffee cup set on the table to the owners old bat wings and leather coat hung by the door. Saddles still in there racks in the entry way. Was kinda creepy.
 
I forgot to mention one item that I thought was pretty cool. He found a receipt dated 1886 where the ranch bought 24 trees from the Forest Service. They must have been adjacent to the ranch. I forgot what the price was. Like $22 or something like that.

Another weird item was a package that had a tear in the paper but was unopened. You could see that it was an umbrella that has a ornate wood carved handle. It was shipped from New York and addressed to the woman who owned the ranch. She must have never opened it but stuck it up in the attic. All kinds of weird stuff like that.

He's older than me and will never get rid of any of it. His kids will have to deal with it.
 
just wondering. theirs some real cool history in some of the little back waters of Idaho. im always amazed at what i come across and the stories that are lost to time in them.
 
I love to see the old relics of the west. There has been many times I put a hunt on hold to snoop around an old trash dump out in the middle of nowhere here in Idaho looking for old unbroken bottles or tins for display.
I used to do that in Modoc Co., CA when I was hunting. Come across an old homestead or shack and poke around and almost forget why I was there.
 
I used to do that in Modoc Co., CA when I was hunting. Come across an old homestead or shack and poke around and almost forget why I was there.
#MeToo I especially love Modoc County. I have to do that--every time I find something like that, I gotta poke around. Do it in MT, CO, WY, CA--pretty much everywhere I hunt I see stuff I would have never seen, or had the opportunity to see had I not become interested in hunting.
 
“ It was a complete shock and surprise to him when he found out they left the ranch to him. I think it's a couple thousand acres at least.”

The back story to that would interesting as well. The value of the land, the heirs, the friendship, the gift taxes, the livestock, the equipment, the home/buildings, the history of the property etc. I’m just guessing but I’m thinking your friend may have found it was a logistic hot potato, after all was cut and dried.
 
#MeToo I especially love Modoc County. I have to do that--every time I find something like that, I gotta poke around. Do it in MT, CO, WY, CA--pretty much everywhere I hunt I see stuff I would have never seen, or had the opportunity to see had I not become interested in hunting.
I was in Modoc one year out in the middle of this vast Pinion/Juniper flat about a half mile from the road. I accidentally came across this little hot spring. It was just a hole in the ground full of running water. It was lined with rocks so I know somebody had been there at some point. The water was about 80 degrees and I couldn't resist. I stripped down and took a soak. I've often wondered if I could ever find it again. I doubt it.
 
“ It was a complete shock and surprise to him when he found out they left the ranch to him. I think it's a couple thousand acres at least.”

The back story to that would interesting as well. The value of the land, the heirs, the friendship, the gift taxes, the livestock, the equipment, the home/buildings, the history of the property etc. I’m just guessing but I’m thinking your friend may have found it was a logistic hot potato, after all was cut and dried.
He told me it was a nightmare and that's one reason he let it go. His roots are here in CA so living there was not an option either. He said he made 100 trips to Idaho just dealing with all that you mentioned. It was a relief to be done with it.
 
Old Indian and old western things are pretty dang cool I really like finding and looking at those kinds of things. A kid I knows family has a pretty big ranch out west of town (Utah) and they find stuff like petroglyphs and big groups of pottery pieces and stuff out in the canyon pretty often. The weird part is if they go back again (even if the mark it) they never find it again. Not saying I believe in all that kind of stuff but I’ve seen some pretty unexplainable stuff out west…..
 

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