Category: Wyoming

Bighorn Canyon NRA: Ewing-Snell Ranch

On By nationalparkswithtIn Montana, Wyoming2 Comments
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Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area➤

While staying in Cody, Wyoming, we took a day trip East to visit Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area. Bighorn Canyon straddles southern Montana and Northeastern Wyoming. The park is characterized by its vast canyons, rugged landscapes, and the Bighorn River, which flows through the area. The canyon itself stretches over 120 miles, making it one of the longest and most impressive in the United States. The Fort Smith, Montana and Lovell, Wyoming sections of the park do not connect. We spent the day exploring from the Lovell entrance, including the Ewing-Snell Ranch. We stopped at the visitor center in Lovell before continuing a few miles up the road into the park.

Lockhart Ranch➤

After the Lockhart Ranch, we travelled the dirt road back to the paved park road. Heading South, we stopped at some of the sites we’d missed on the way up. We explored the historic Ewing-Snell Ranch before going across the street to the Two Eagles Interpretive Trail.

The Ewing-Snell Ranch showcases life in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Erastus T. Ewing, born in Tennessee in 1846, ventured into the Dryhead region in 1896, lured by the promise of gold after the Crow cession of land. Despite staking multiple discovery claims, Ewing and his partners never struck it rich. Confronted with this reality, Ewing pivoted to ranching. In 1897, he secured water rights from Layout Creek, developing an extensive irrigation system to support grain, hayfields, orchards, and gardens. By 1898, the influx of prospectors and settlers warranted a post office, which Ewing managed from his home, marking the area as Ewing, Montana on early maps.

After Erastus T. Ewing’s death in 1904, the ranch passed through several hands before Philip and Alma Snell purchased it in 1920. The Snell family maintained and expanded the ranch, ultimately lending their name to its legacy. Today, the Ewing-Snell Ranch stands as a preserved cultural and historical site within the Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area. The ranch highlights the ingenuity and adaptability required to thrive in the harsh, unforgiving landscape of the American West.

Bighorn Canyon NRA Posts➤

Location: Bighorn Canyon Road, Montana
Designation: National Recreation Area
Date designated/established: October 15, 1966
Date of my visit: September 26, 2023