Welcome to the Historic Crail Ranch

Welcome to the Historic Crail Ranch. . In his early 60s, Augustus (Frank) Crail purchased land in this area and brought his wife and three young children here in 1902. Frank, who migrated to Montana from Indiana when he was 21, had ranched in the Bridger Mountains in the late 1800s. He then lived in Bozeman during the 1890s when he served as the Clerk of the 9th District Court. Sallie Crail, a music teacher, move to Bozeman from Missouri and married Frank in 1886, when she was 22. The Crail Ranch grew to 960 acres, encompassing all of what is now known as The Meadow. , Frank and Sallie had three children: Eugene (b. 1887), Emmett (b. 1888), and Lilian (b. 1896). The family lived at this ranch during the summers. When Emmett was old enough, he lived on the ranch throughout the year. Eugene left while serving in world war one as a Red Cross hospital surveyor in England. He married in his 40s and moved to a ranch on West Babcock Street in Bozeman, and then left the region to work in Port Angeles during world war two. Lilian moved to Chicago to study nursing. After she graduated in 1921, she remained in Chicago until she moved to California as a private nurse and married in her 60s. It was Emmett who stayed on the Crail Ranch, operating it as a true ranch until 1949.