HT Ranch Movie Script

HT Ranch Movie Script

In the 15 or 20 years prior to the 1900s were times of rise and fall of big bigness in North Dakota. In the Red River Valley, the great Bonanza farms prospered and dissolved; west of the Missouri the remaining buffalo herds were destroyed in 2 to 3 years.

After the buffalo disappeared, they were replaced by herds of cattle driven from as far south as Texas to graze on the grasses once used by the buffalo. Some of our popular folk heroes such as Teddy Roosevelt and the Marquis de Mores played important roles in this saga of North Dakota's old west. But others who are less well known were in many ways more representative of these times. A.C. Huidekoper, creator and owner of the HT ranch was one of these people.

Huidekoper was part of a wealthy Dutch family from Meadville, Pennsylvania. In 1881 Huidekoper arrived in North Dakota as a part of a hunting party that included Howard Eaton. At night around the campfire, Eaton convinced Huidekoper that he should invest in cattle for the open range and started the seed that would grow into the HT ranch.

The following year Huidekoper decided to invest in cattle and formed the Custer Trail Cattle Company along with Eaton and his brother. Starting a cattle business on the open range wasn't too complicated then. One simply branded his cattle and turn them loose on the open range. There cattle from many operations would graze during the year until the spring round up where 100's of cowboys would search miles of range for the cattle. As they were located, the cattle were culled by brand and returned to their owners.

While most operators owned no deeded land, Huidekoper was an exception. In 1882, he purchased 23,000 acres of railroad land including the heart of the HT ranch

along Deep Creek. The land which had 6 miles of Little Missouri River frontage, several creeks, and some of the best pine trees in the area. Later in the year, Huidekoper began building his headquarters on Deep Creek.

By 1883, the large Texas cattle companies learned of the potential of the North Dakota grasslands. In large droves they brought their cattle northward. 1884 saw 100,000 head of cattle and hundreds of cowboys enter the Little Missouri area. It was a time of bigness.

In part, it was this bigness that set the ground work for the destruction of this way

of life. By 1886, the range was over stocked and yet cattle continued to arrive from Texas. All that was needed for catastrophe was some sort of natural disaster, and in mid-summer nature obliged.

A combination of drought and grasshoppers reduced the grass supply to a minimum. The big herds from the south arrived late and in poor condition. The winter of 1886 brought blizzard upon blizzard. The little grass that remained was covered by deep snow and the extraordinary cold froze 1000's of cattle in their tracks. Particularly hard hit were the Texas cattle which were not conditioned to the northern climate.

Many of the operators were ruined in this disastrous winter. Huidekoper was "lucky", his herd proved in the 1887 roundup to be about the same size as he had begun with 6 years earlier. Most importantly Huidekoper observed that his horses fared quite well, so he decided to raise them instead of cattle.

To his extensive lands, defined to the west by the Little Missouri River, north to Medora, south to Camp Cook and east to Gladstone, Huidekoper added stock. He imported Percheron mares and stallions from France. His other stallions and mares included a group of Sitting Bull's war ponies. In his horse raising years he branded 1 ,000 colts every year. His horses were used for pulling street cars in the cities and plows in the mid-west. Armies all over the world used HT stock and some of his strains were sought after for Polo ponies.

During this time, he built the main ranch house, "Shackford", and a large log barn to house his stallions. To this day Shackford remains one of the most unique structures in Western North Dakota and is on the Historical Register.

Huidekoper's description of the place remains accurate. I quote:

"Shackford was built on a side hill, so that the basement was exposed entirely on the east and partially on the north and south. The dining room, kitchen, and store rooms were in the basement. There was a porch on the east and south sides; the entrance to the living rooms was where the side hill came level with the porch; the basement walls were of stone, therest of logs. The living quarters had a large general room, a big stone fireplace with little seats on both sides, a wide divan on two sides of the room; off the main room were three bedrooms and a bath. There was a stairway to the basement and also to the dormer attic, which was used as an overflow. It was cool in summer and warm in winter. It was the best ranch house in that country, and the best ranch."

By 1900, most of the big ranchers in the Little Missouri area had given up. The

days of free grass were over and bigness meant large tax burdens. Also, there was increasing pressure from homesteaders who wanted to put the plow to the prairie.

In 1905, Huidekoper gave up after the government accused him of fencing 20,000 acres of public land. He sold the HT to Pabst Brewing Company. Pabst managed the HT for a year and then sold it to a land company which in turn broke it into smaller parcels, the homestead sat vacant until 1940 when Dickinson business man W.O. Rabe purchased it for back taxes.

The present HT with its 8,000 acres stands as reminders of the proud heritage of North Dakota's old west history.