This collection includes interviews detailing the creation, daily operations, and management of the National Bison Range in western Montana. The interviews were conducted in 1965 by Ernest Kraft, a former Bison Range employee, as research for the book Untold Tales of the Bison Range Trails (2006). The interviewees discuss their experiences working with different Range directors, the different animals that inhabited the range, and wildlife management methods. They also recall specific bison and horses who lived on the Range. The original interviews are held as Oral History collection OH 149 at Archives and Special Collections, Mansfield Library, University of Montana-Missoula.
This collection includes 13 interviews.
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Charlie McLaughlin Interview, May 15, 1965
Charlie McLaughlin
Charlie McLaughlin recalls working as one of the first butchers for the National Bison Range in 1924, explaining how bison were culled and processed as well as what was done with some of the meat. He describes some of the men he worked with to ... Read More
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Clarence "Cy" Young Interview, circa 1965
Clarence Young
Clarence “Cy” Young briefly describes how the National Bison Range came to be located near Ravalli. He discusses Range records about animal populations and recalls his experiences working with bison, elk, mule deer, white-tail deer, and bighorn sheep. Young talks about specific buffalo such as ... Read More
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Clarence "Cy" Young Interview, circa 1965
Clarence Young
Clarence “Cy” Young discusses changes made to the Fish and Wild Service under the tenure of Harold Ickes. He recalls moving to Eastern Montana in the 1910s when he was a teenager to live with his aunt and uncle. Young credits his uncle with teaching ... Read More
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Clarence "Cy" Young Interview, circa 1965
Clarence Young
Clarence “Cy” Young recalls his experiences with two different horses that he rode at the National Bison Range and compares their temperaments. He describes finding an albino buffalo calf, which the Range called Whitey, and the subsequent breeding experiment that took place, producing a second, ... Read More
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Clarence "Cy" Young Interview, circa 1965
Clarence Young
Clarence “Cy” Young describes how the fences were constructed at the National Bison Range. He talks about working with horses, managing bison, and branding, as well as the general upkeep of the Range and the herds. Young recalls the personalities and qualities of the different ... Read More
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Clarence "Cy" Young Interview, November 12, 1965
Clarence Young
Clarence “Cy” Young recounts an experience he had with two poachers on the National Bison Range, and describes the procedure and jury trial leading to their conviction. He tell how in 1932, after the poachers spent the winter in jail, one of them borrowed a ... Read More
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Frank H. Rose and Clarence “Cy” Young Interview, circa 1965
Frank H. Rose and Clarence Young
Frank Rose recalls how he became foreman at the National Bison Range in the fall of 1923. He explains his rationale for reducing the size of the bison herd discusses the records he kept of the disposal program. Rose describes some of his experiences managing ... Read More
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Frank H. Rose and Clarence “Cy” Young Interview, circa 1965
Frank H. Rose and Clarence Young
Frank Rose and Clarence “Cy” Young review records of the National Bison Range from the 1920s and 1930s. Rose describes the work he did for the Forest Service prior to becoming director of the Range, and explains the techniques he used to separate bison. Rose ... Read More
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George Odion Interview, circa 1965
George Odion
George Odion recalls working as a railroad fireman to transport buffalo from the National Bison Range to Canada in 1909. He describes how bison were separated in the railcars by partitions to prevent them from injuring themselves and each other. Odion discusses the Great Fire ... Read More
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Gladys Young Interview, circa 1965
Gladys Young
Gladys Young answers basic biographical questions and recalls how she met her husband, Clarence “Cy” Young, who was a wrangler on the National Bison Range. She recalls her occupational experience as an office administrator for the Bison Range.
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Gus Kroll Interview, circa 1965
Gus Kroll
Gus Kroll talks about moving to Montana from Texas and homesteading near Moiese. He describes working on the National Bison Range for director Andrew Hodges. Kroll recalls the communities Dixon and Moiese, Montana, prior to the 1940s, and his efforts to help the townspeople build ... Read More
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Helen Hodges Bower Interview, February 5, 1965
Helen Bower
Helen Hodges Bower discusses moving to Ravalli in 1909, the homesteaders coming in 1910, her life—going to school, what the winters were like, a few buildings—and what she remembers of her father’s buffalo. Bower and an unidentified male and female look through pictures, commenting on ... Read More
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William J. B. “Ike” Melton and Clarence “Cy” Young Interview, circa 1965
William J. B. Melton and Clarence Young
William “Ike” Melton chronicles moving to Montana in 1912 and homesteading on the Flathead Indian Reservation. He discusses how he came to work at the Bison Range and describes the buffalo disposal program. Melton talks about the increase in buffalo, how the animals were handled ... Read More