Presentation uncovers lost story of Montana pioneer Johnny Grant

For years the story of one of Montana's most influential pioneers was a patchwork of others' memories in diaries, letters and gossip. But a vague clue led to a nearly unbelievable hunt that tracked down the autobiography of Johnny Grant.

Lyndel Meikle, a ranger at the Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site for 39 years, will describe the search on Monday, Sept. 18 at the Northwest Montana History Museum in Kalispell.

The memoirs revealed the story of the man who had 26 children by eight mothers and made his fortune raising and selling livestock throughout the West. He helped found the town of Deer Lodge, and his legacy lives on in the Grant-Kohrs Ranch.

Grant was born in 1831 at Fort Edmonton in present-day Alberta. As a teenager he joined his father at the Hudson's Bay Company trading post Fort Hall, Idaho Territory, on the Oregon Trail. He soon established a successful trade in buying trail-weary livestock from the emigrants and selling them fresh animals he had nurtured back to health on the lush grasslands of southern Idaho.

His business spread to southwest Montana, where he established his ranch in 1859. He developed a market for his cattle and horses in mining camps in Idaho and California. His business jumped when gold was discovered in nearby Bannack, Virginia City and Helena.

In 1862 Grant began building the large house that is now the centerpiece of the Grant-Kohrs Ranch, and lived there with his Bannock tribe wife, Quarra. His ranch included a trading post, sawmill, blacksmith shop and other businesses. He also operated a freight business that crossed the mountains to the steamboat terminal at Ft. Benton, Montana.

As a French-Canadian closely tied to the tribes of the area, he felt out of place in the influx of English-speaking American settlers. In 1866 Grant sold his ranch to Conrad Kohrs, and returned to Canada. He died in 1907 at Edmonton near the Hudson's Bay Company post where he had been born.

Meikle edited Johnny Grant's memoir, authored an autobiography and history of Deer Lodge, and contributed to Speaking Ill of the Dead. After retiring from the National Park Service, she now works with the FFA and Agricultural Education program at the Deer Lodge High School.

The talk is the monthly presentation of the Northwest Montana Posse of Westerners, a local history group. It starts at 7 p.m. on the second floor of the Northwest Montana History Museum, at 124 Second Ave. East in Kalispell. Cost is $5 for the general public, with Posse members and youths under 16 admitted free.