Details

Collection Summary
Collection: 00286 - Eaton Brothers Custer Trail Ranch Photograph Collection
Folder: 0001
Item: 00020d
Title: Brown in front of ranch building, Custer Trail Ranch near Medora, N.D.
Date: circa 1883-1904
Creator: Hall, Richard Cecil
Summary: A man identified only as Brown stands in front of one of the buildings at the Custer Trail Ranch near Medora. A cart, barrel, and several chairs are in front of the building. Other buildings are visible in the distance.||Howard Eaton left Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and moved west to the Dakota Badlands, first to hunt, and then to ranch. He founded the Custer Trail Ranch four miles south of Medora, so named because George Armstrong Custer had camped nearby on his way to the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Eaton's brothers Alden and Howard arrived in 1881 and 1882. In addition to cattle, the Eatons maintained sheep and horses. A severe winter in 1886-87 culled the cattle operation. Friends of the Eatons had long stayed at the ranch for hunting, and in 1882 they began charging for a dude ranch experience. In 1904 the Eatons moved their ranching operations to Wolf, Wyoming. Parts of the ranch were sold to Bill McCarty and other individuals from the Medora area.
Red ID: PH_I_150048 Image ID: 99977 Image Notes: 00286-00020d

Collection: 00286 Digitized Images from Collection
Title: Eaton Brothers Custer Trail Ranch Photograph Collection
Date: 7/5/1902-9/1/1902

Summary: Album of images taken by Richard Cecil Hall of Eaton Brothers Custer Trail Ranch, Medora (ND), cattle round up and beef issue at Fort Yates, and a camping trip to Yellowstone National Park on horseback. Hall, from Bedford, Pennsylvania likely was a long time friend of the Eatons and visited the ranch in 1902.

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