The unique log structures of the Historic Crail Ranch date to the time of the earliest settlers in what is now Big Sky, Montana.

The establishment of Yellowstone Park in 1871, and the coming of the railroads to the Bozeman area in the 1880s, gave a strong push to open up the Gallatin Canyon. In the 1880s, the first roads were cut to facilitate logging of pine trees for railroad ties. Ranchers then began moving herds of sheep and cattle up the logging roads in the summer months. By the late 1890s, a few ranchers had begun the process of building cabins and establishing homesteads in the meadow areas of the Canyon.

Daniel Inabnit, the first homesteader in the Gallatin Basin, now the Meadow area of Big Sky, finished his first cabin around 1887.

In December 1901, Augustus Franklin Crail purchased the Inabnit homestead. Mr Crail quickly acquired additional parcels growing the ranch to 960 acres.

For more than 50 years, the Crail Ranch was an active ranching operation with herds of cattle and sheep, and fields of wheat and hay.

Today, the Crail Ranch is operated as a homestead museum under the Big Sky Community Organization, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Two of the original log structures have been preserved, along with a collection of historic documents, photographs and artifacts depicting the life of the Gallatin Basin families during the homestead era.

The Historic Crail Ranch is on the National Register of Historic Places. The Historic Crail Ranch Homestead Museum and park are always open for self guided tours. Guided tours, inside three historic cabins, are run on Saturdays and Sundays from late June through September. Click here to sign up for a free tour: https://www.visitbigsky.com/event/historic-crail-ranch-homestead-museum-tour/1741/

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