Season of Operation
July - August:
Saturdays & Sundays
12-3p.m.
Saturdays & Sundays
12-3p.m.
Reservation Information
Walk-Ins Welcome
Big Sky, MT
Welcome to Historic Crail Ranch
406-995-2160
Family History
Augustus Franklin Crail (Frank) was born in Decatur County, Indiana in 1839 to Samuel Spencer Crail II and Catherine Weaver. He had two brothers, John and Albert, and a sister Fanny. In 1857, Frank's mother died. His father remarried a year later, fathering nine more children. Seven years later in 1865, Frank left Tipton County, Indiana, and traveled to the frontier at St. Joseph, Missouri. There he joined a wagon train and ventured forth to Miles City in the Montana Territory. Frank was first a framer. His first homestead was in the current Springhill section of Bozeman. Then he leased his land and worked as a freighter between Miles City and Fort Benton. He served as District Clerk of the 9th Judicial District in Gallatin County from 1896 to 1900, elected on the Democratic ticket against a Republican endorsed by the Populist Party.
Augustus Franklin Crail
in front of small cabin
in front of small cabin
Sally Creek Crail, prior to marrying Frank at age 22, taught music at Daughters College, now William Woods University in Fulton, Missouri. Daughters College had been established for the continuing education of young women orphaned by the Civil War. Sally taught guitar, piano, and organ. The Historic Crail Ranch Conservancy has a guitar with marked frets that Sally used when teaching. Sally also was an excellent quilter. On display at the Crail Ranch is a quilt that Sally finished in 1903, which won first honors at a quilting competition in Chicago. The date is authenticated by a phrase stitched into the quilt, "Lilian Crail - 5 years old". Lilian was five in 1903. A second quilt dates from 1886, authenticated by political ribbons stitched into the quilt. Sally married Augustus Franklin when she was 22 years old. The motifs in her quilts tell us that she loved children, flowers, and animals.
Eugene Crail was Sally and Frank's oldest child. He was born in 1887 when his father was 48 years old. Eugene initially worked as a carpenter and joined the carpenters' union at age 17, one of the youngest members. He earned a degree in Steam Engineering from Montana State University in Bozeman. As a Red Cross surveyor and architect during World War I, Eugene was in charge of building Red Cross hospitals in England. Upon return to Gallatin Canyon, he built the first Ophir School in 1929, the Lone Mountain Ranch Lodge, and the first four cabins at Lone Mountain Ranch, which was then called the B-Bar K.
Eugene married Mary Alice Fowler Phillips, a widow with two boys, Wray Leslie and Leo Winfred. At 48 years of age, Eugene fathered a son, Francis William Crail, the only biological grandchild of Frank Crail.
Eugene left Bozeman in 1943 and worked in Idaho on defense work, and then supervised carpentry in the shipyards in Port Angelis, WA during World War II.
Eugene married Mary Alice Fowler Phillips, a widow with two boys, Wray Leslie and Leo Winfred. At 48 years of age, Eugene fathered a son, Francis William Crail, the only biological grandchild of Frank Crail.
Eugene left Bozeman in 1943 and worked in Idaho on defense work, and then supervised carpentry in the shipyards in Port Angelis, WA during World War II.
Franklin and Sally
in front on bench
in front on bench
Eugene Crail
Frank Crail moved his family to Gallatin Canyon Basin (now called Big Sky) in 1902, after he purchased the small cabin and a 160-acre homestead from Daniel Inabnit for less than one dollar per acre. Frank and his sons annexed a number of homesteads and ranched a substantial portion of what is now The Meadow. The ranch had many structures, including barns, a forge, a hay barn for 50-60 tons of hay, a piggery, and a spring house over the creek for cold storage. After 20 years of raising sheep, the Crails started raising cattle. They grew their hay on the east side of the North Fork of the Gallatin River. They also ran a lumber mill. When Frank died, his two sons inherited the land, apportioning the land based upon the acreage they had each owned before their father's death.
At his retirement, Eugene was honored by the carpenters' union for continuing to pay his dues to the union for 80 consecutive years, thus designating him the oldest union carpenter with the most consecutive years in the United States. He died in 1984 at the age of 97.
Franklin Crail
Emmett Crail, Augustus Franklin and Sally Crail's second son, was born in 1888. He worked the Crail homestead until age 60, when he sold the ranch shortly after he married. After a courtship of several decades, Emmett married Butte school teacher Annie Breneman, daughter of David and Annie T. Williams Breneman. Many of the photos held by the Historic Crail Ranch Conservancy depict Emmett accompanied by nieces and nephews from Annie's siblings. Once he sold the family ranch to Jack and Elaine Hume from Oakland, CA, Emmett and Annie moved to Bozeman Hot Springs, and he worked in a saddle shop before he retired completely. Emmett moved on to Salem, Oregon, and eventually settled in Butte, living with a niece of his deceased wife. Emmett is buried in Bozeman.
Lilian Crail was born in 1898, just three years before her parents moved the family from Bozeman to the Gallatin Canyon Basin. Lilian grew up on the ranch. Like most ranch women of her day, Lilian was as comfortable riding a horse and handling a gun as she was with needlework and cooking. Like her mother, Lilian loved animals, as we see in many of the Crail family photos placed with the Historic Crail Ranch Conservancy.
Lilian's brothers, Eugene and Emmett, "set up or annexed land to the original homestead. Eugene purchased 160 acres in 1911 and an additional 160 acres at another point. Emmett bought 160 acres in 1912. When Augustus Franklin died, he willed the ranchlands to his sons proportionate to the percentage of their prior ownership. Lilian was the beneficiary of Augustus Franklin's life insurance policy. With this inheritance she funded her study in nursing at the Illinois Training School for nurses and graduated in 1921.
Lilian's brothers, Eugene and Emmett, "set up or annexed land to the original homestead. Eugene purchased 160 acres in 1911 and an additional 160 acres at another point. Emmett bought 160 acres in 1912. When Augustus Franklin died, he willed the ranchlands to his sons proportionate to the percentage of their prior ownership. Lilian was the beneficiary of Augustus Franklin's life insurance policy. With this inheritance she funded her study in nursing at the Illinois Training School for nurses and graduated in 1921.
The Crail Children: Eugene, Emmett and Lilian
Emmett Crail
After serving an appointment as Floor Director at Cooke County General Hospital in Chicago, Lilian moved to Long Beach, California.
Lilian met Hal DeWaide while working as his mother's private nurse and caretaker. Hal was an aircraft engineer and inventor who worked for Lockheed Corporation. In 1957, at age 59, Lilian married Hal, who had never been married before as well. During their retirement, Lilian and Hal had moved to Salem, Oregon. Her final resting place is Huntington Beach, CA, where her ashes are encrypted with Hal and his family.
Lilian met Hal DeWaide while working as his mother's private nurse and caretaker. Hal was an aircraft engineer and inventor who worked for Lockheed Corporation. In 1957, at age 59, Lilian married Hal, who had never been married before as well. During their retirement, Lilian and Hal had moved to Salem, Oregon. Her final resting place is Huntington Beach, CA, where her ashes are encrypted with Hal and his family.
Lilian Crail
Click on Picture for Family Tree
