A Few Tidbits about Eaton's Ranch and Its Annual Horse Drive

The annual Eaton's horse drive happens this year on Sunday, May 27th. Eaton's wranglers will move about 100+ horses 100+ miles from their winter pastures to summer pastures for guests' riding pleasure. The horses and cowboys travel through Sheridan, usually via 5th Street, for folks to view. In the fall, the horses make the return trip.

The 1974 horse drive, picture from the June 16, 1974 edition
of the Billings Gazette. Click to enlarge.

Nobody seems to be exactly sure when the drive began, at least according to our records.  In a May 21, 1999 Sheridan Press article, then employee Dick Bacon said the horse drive had been going on for "60 to 75 years," which places the start somewhere between 1925 and 1940. A 1967 Press article dates the drive possibly earlier, to the "early 1900s."

A June 1964 Sheridan Press article called the drive "one of those signs of summer." The aforementioned 1967 piece said the return trip was a sign that "fall is officially here." Even though the drive has become a spectator event only in recent years, it has marked the shifting of the seasons for Sheridanites for quite a few years.

Sheridan artist Stan A. Morgan's depiction of an Eaton's drive
of yore along the Ulm Road. From the November 7th edition
of the Sheridan Press. Click to enlarge.

Picture of the horses coming through Sheridan. From a June, 1965
Western Horseman article. The article was generously shared by
Gail Wright of MCC Magazines and is available in the Wyoming Room.
Click to enlarge.

Those horses you see are the bread and butter of the ranch's operations; their descendants remain the main attraction to this day. Yet the ranch didn't start out as a guest entertainment business.

According to a June 1965 Western Horseman article, the founding brothers, Howard, Willis, and Alden Eaton, started a ranch near Medora, North Dakota, that family and acquaintances from back East frequented. One such guest, a Pittsburgh entrepreneur, thought the brothers should recoup the expenses of so many folks occupying space and eating up vittles, some of whom stayed on for months. The brothers initially balked at the idea, thinking "any charge would be a breach of western hospitality." Soon, however, they simply had too many guests to manage with too few resources and thus formed the world's first ever dude ranch business. They moved operations to the Big Horns in 1904 where the ranch has been ever since.

The Eaton Brothers in 1911. From the Wyoming Room
Photo Collection. Click to enlarge.

Some of the more famous guests included former Secretary of the Interior, Harold Ickles; former Librarian of Congress and renowned poet, Archibald MacLeish; General George C. Marshall; actors Fred MacMurray and Cary Grant, and author Annie Proulx, as well as many others.

Guests take in the grandeur of the Big Horns by getting out and enjoying fishing, hiking, barbecues, swimming, and the perennial favorite, horseback riding. Many folks have even found romance at Eaton's; the ranch holds several weddings a year as well. Over the years, dudes both famous and not so famous alike rode astride Eaton's noble steeds...

From the Cook Photo Collection.

Click to enlarge.

And took in rodeo shows...

From the Cook Photo Collection.

Click to enlarge.

From the Cook Photo Collection.

Click to enlarge.

From the Cook Photo Collection.

Click to enlarge.

And went on trips via horseback to Yellowstone, this one in 1908, during which ranch guests rode trails with the cook outfits and beds following.

From the Dygert Photo Collection.

Click to enlarge.

Eaton's guests may pay for their room and board during their venture in the Big Horns, but the ranch is much more than just a business. It stayed in the family through 14 decades, weathering tough times more than once, the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the ensuing Great Depression not the least of them. Many folks in these parts feel Eaton's ranch is as much a part of the landscape and culture as the Big Horns themselves.

If you're interested in learning more about the world's first and longest-lasting dude ranch--trust us, this little ole blog post barely clears the tip of the iceberg--come on in to the Wyoming Room at the Sheridan County Library. We have several newspaper articles, a book by Tom Ringley and two by Esther McWilliams, as well as several issues of the ranch's self-published newsletter, Wranglin' Notes.