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Mountain Sky Guest Ranch

Ranch Overview
Mountain Sky Guest Ranch is a guest ranch located near the southwestern Montana town of Emigrant. Centered around western hospitality, Mountain Sky includes activities ranging from horseback riding, hiking, rafting, rock climbing, hay rides, massages, to swimming, kids programs, and dances (Johnson). Mountain Sky Guest Ranch focuses on a vacation in which the western lifestyle is introduced to the guests.

Ranch Today
Mountain Sky Guest Ranch is currently owned by Arthur M Blank. Blank was a former guest to the ranch and enjoyed the ranch and Montana so much that he purchased Mountain Sky. The ranch can accommodate up to 95 people per week. The ranch currently runs over 150 head of horses and over 150 head of cattle. The ranches location has allowed for excursions to other locations offsite. The ranch takes van tours into Yellowstone National Park. The ranch also holds one of the few permits that allows horseback rides to be taken into the park boundaries. A large percentage of the guests to the ranch are returning visitors. According to Rachel Johnson, the ranches main activity is horseback riding, however, activities are varied and done at the guest’s desire. One can go for a morning ride, an afternoon hike, or sit on the porch of their cabin and read for the day (Johnson).

Ranch History
According to the ranch’s official website, Mountain Sky Guest Ranch’s roots are traced all the way back to famed cattleman Nelson Story. Story found the Big Creek drainage, which Mountain Sky now resides in, the perfect place to get away from a harsh winter. Story was bringing a herd of cattle from Texas to Montana when he encountered a severe winter. Needing a headquarters out of the storm, he set roots and built buildings in Big Creek. Bordering large tracts of national forest land only aided in the longevity and prosperity of the Story headquarters. Present day Mountain Sky proved a strategic place to use as a launching point and headquarters for sheepherders and cowboys, which ran their stock in the Paradise Valley and adjoining national forest. The Big Creek site received its first new owner in the 1920’s when Charles Murphy bought the tract of land, successfully forming the Ox Yoke ranch. Murphy was the mastermind behind turning his new cattle ranch into a working guest ranch to fulfill the desires of eastern travelers. By 1929 Ox Yoke was taking in guests on a regular basis. The Ox Yoke ranch was handed down through the Murphy family until it was sold to Arthur Blank (Mountain Sky). .