Murphy (2)

Anyone who filed a claim under the Homestead Act received 160 acres (1/4 section of land). They had a time of five years to prove that they were willing and able to work the land, last the drought, and raise crops and livestock. They had to do all this before they actually could own the land. So for many settlers it was more of a test than a will or a want.I, Daley Crawford, am writing this as the great-great granddaughter of Martha Murphy and the great-granddaughter of Mike Murphy. I I wanted to tell you about how the ranch evolved and how the same family has had it for who knows how many years. It’s really important to me and doing this project means a lot to my whole family. I hope you enjoy the ranch.

It all started back with Martha (Hasty) Murphy. She was born in Medford, Maine on May 22, 1885. Martha and her older sister Margaret (Maggie) were the only two that made it out of eleven. In 1892 Martha, her father, mother, three brothers, and sister Maggie moved from Howland, Maine to Minneapolis, Minnesota. Martha had a cousin and he was from Montana, his name was Reuben Winchell. Every year Reuben hauled his cattle from Montana to Chicago to sell. Reuben also stopped in Minnesota to visit Martha's family. Reuben had been trying to convince Martha's folks to let Martha and Maggie go live in Montana. Reuben’s sister-in-law convinced Martha's folks to let Martha and Maggie(18) go live in Montana.(sister-in-laws you gotta love em).

So Martha and Maggie arrived in Montana and the first thing they saw was an open prairie, and it was hot and dry. After awhile Martha and Maggie bought some land and got to work. Martha and Maggie worked their land for a good year through the drought and bad weather. After that year had passed, Martha and Maggie's folks decided to go from Minnesota to Montana and check on their daughters. Well to their surprise they were doing really good. They had cattle they had bought a couple plow horses and a little sod house.

After some time, Martha married a man name Jim Murphy. Martha had moved out of her and Maggie's little sod house and Martha and Jim went out looking for a good place to plant their roots. So they went 12 miles east of Baker because they heard that Erwin Dean was selling some land. So right then and there Martha and Jim gave Erwin Dean the money and they had the ranch. They went and got settled into their new place and it immediately felt like home. They moved to their homestead that was founded in the spring of 1918 by Erwin Dean, and Jim and Martha bought 320 acres from Dean. Jim and Martha lived 12 miles east of baker and two and a half miles from the North, Dakota border. During the Great Depression, the government provided clothing for the local people so they could have clean clothes to wear during this time.

This area of Fallon County was known as the Fertile Prairie Community. There were a lot of friendly neighbors. Jim and Martha raised chickens, turkeys, cattle, horses, and hogs. In 1953, Jim died and Martha needed money to keep the ranch above ground. So Martha had her own dairy “Sunny Side Dairy and Stock Farm”. Martha had her dairy farm, she hatched chicks, and sold eggs, she made milk, cream, and butter and sold it to the local community. Then something great happened in the early 1950s to 60s: electricity came to the ranch and it made chores so much easier. Before electricity, Martha had to pump water into the water tanks by hand so the livestock could drink. Electricity made refrigeration, indoor lights and toilets possible; so much better than using the outhouse in the winter time.

1960 to the early 60s

Mike and Pat Murphy purchased the ranch and livestock from their mother Martha. The two brothers worked the land, and raised corn for silage, wheat to sell, and they grew potatoes and sold them to the market in town. To help with the ranch expenses Pat worked in town where the FSA office is now. Pat worked there and he used one check for him and Mike and the other check went to the ranch expenses.

Then in the 1970s Mike and Pat started a business called Murphy Quarter Horses. They bred horses and sold the colts in the fall. Then a few years later Latonne was born and she had 5 siblings she was the oldest. The order of the kids were Dan, LoTonne,Robert,Jr; John Michael; William Roy; and Michael Shaun; then there was LaVonne Kae she died at birth. Robert,John,William,and Michael all died real young. When Lotonne(Toni) was older about 20 or so she met Jim Reetz. Jim was looking for a job and he had met Toni. Jim and Toni started hanging out and Jim soon worked for Mike. Pat died back in ‘94 so Mike gained his share of the land.

In 1974 Jim and Toni(Murphy) Reetz and their son Jim Jr worked and lived on the ranch for the next 38 years and made a living. Toni is the daughter of Mike and Esther Murphy who owns the ranch. Jim Reetz is the son of Darwin and Marguerite Reetz and he was born and raised in Minnesota. When Jim moved to Montana he knew a lot of people because most of the people who homesteaded to Montana where from Minnesota. They came to Montana by the railroad. Jim and Toni raised up 4 kids in this time Jim Jr., Jolene, John, and JaNae. John died of cancer in the year of ‘92. Jim Jr. works on cars. He owns Thee Body Shop and The Baker Body Shop. Jolene works at Rise Fitness as a Fitness instructor. JaNae, well she never left the ranch.

In 2010 Chris and JaNae(Reetz) Crawford bought the ranch from Mike and Esther Murphy. Chris worked in the oilfield and still does to this day. When he bought the ranch, he saw that there was a lot of stuff to fix up like the corrals, fences, and water lines. Then there was the stuff he saw that needed to come down like the old pole barn, and a lot of old buildings, and some scrap wire that he cleaned up. I was 6 years old at this time and really started to pick up on what was going on with the ranch. Chris and JaNae had bought some horses and more cows. Christ bought new hay equipment over time and added a new corral system to the barnyard, a new alleyway that made working cows way easier. Chris put up a lot of fences and a lot of water lines were installed over time. In 2007, Shaley was born and more land had been bought, a few more years had passed and Cyler was born in ‘11.