MHS Publishes Centennial Farms, Ranches Book
Resilient Monta n a n s who kept their farms or ranches in the same family for 100 years or more are featured in a new Montana Historical Society book. Recent recipients of the Centennial designation include the Benson Upland Farm near Outlook and the Danielson Farm near Homestead.
“Montana’s Centennial Farms and Ranches,” by MHS historian Christine Brown, features narrative histories and black and white photographs of the farms and ranches added to the Montana Centennial Farm and Ranch Register between 2010 and 2020.
“Their stories give a snapshot of Montana’s immigrant heritage, changing economy, labor and transportation heritage and community development,” Brown said. “While each family’s centennial story is similar on the surface, each one offers a different view that spotlights a singular aspect of Montana’s agricultural history.”
The book brings together a wide array of fascinating tales that paint varied pictures of the Treasure State’s agricultural growth and development during the past 150 years in communities like Shelby, Geraldine and Plentywood. They represent every era of our state’s agricultural history, from the territorial days of openrange cattle ranching; to homesteaders with hand plows and on up to today’s operations using highly automated planting and harvesting systems.
Perhaps most importantly, these centennial stories reveal family sagas of adventure, success, failure, tragedy and stalwart determination to stay on the land.
“In addition to chronicling local and agricultural history, the book celebrates a major accomplishment for these families,” Brown added. “Keeping a farm or ranch in the same family for 100 years or more doesn’t happen by accident.”
According to Kevin Spafford, author of “Legacy by Design: Succession Planning for Agribusiness Owners” about 70 percent of farms fail to pass from the first to the second generation; 90 percent fail to pass from the second to the third generation and 96 percent fail to pass from the third to the fourth generation. “Montana’s Cen- tennial Farms and Ranches” recognizes the four percent whose abiding dedication to family-run agriculture has sustained generations, shaped Montana’s rural communities and helped define the state’s economy.
The 2009 Montana Legislature authorized the Centennial register and tasked the MHS with administering it. Since 2010, the MHS inducted more than forty farms and ranches into the program.
The 70-page softcover book is on sale at the MHS Museum Store in Helena and is available to order online at app.mt.gov/ shop/mhsstore/montanas-centennial- farms-and-ranches. Contact Christine Brown for more information at Christine. brown@mt.gov or 406-4441687.
