Lifetime Leaders of Rodeo & Ranching Rodeo Ranching Great Westerner Western Entertaiment & Arts Rodeo Producers & Livestock Special Achievement Cowboy Long Rider Legacy Award

Ranching

Eaton Brothers' Custer Trail Ranch
2000 Hall of Fame Ranching Inductee

 Howard Eaton left Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1868, seeking the romantic life of which western legends are made. He squatted on land in the Missouri River breaks near Medora in 1879.

 His brother, Alden, arrived in 1881 and his brother, Willis, in 1882. The trio established separate ranches, but consolidated in 1883 on a ranch five miles south of Medora on both sides of the Little Missouri River. Initially, they made their living furnishing wild game for railway work gangs and putting up hay for the nearby army post, all the while building herds of cattle and horses.

 The Eatons welcomed neighbors and visitors, many from back East. No guest paid for his keep until 1882 when one dude said to be Bert Rumsey of Buffalo, New York, desired to postpone his departure and arranged to stay on for the price of his board and the use of a horse. The Eatons reluctantly accepted, thus starting the first dude ranch in the U.S. Soon, paying guests produced more profit than stock.

 The Eatons named their operation the Custer Trail Ranch because General George Armstrong Custer camped near the ranch's Davis Creek on the way to the Little Bighorn. Early accommodations were modest, with guests sleeping several to a bed or on the floor for as little as $25 per month.

 The Eaton Brothers continued raising stock; however, the deadly winter of 1887-1887 wiped out 85 percent of the Badlands herds, including much of theirs. That year, the Custer Trail Ranch home burned, also, and the only financial salvation came from dude guests.

 Howard Eaton helped organize the Little Missouri stockmen into an association in February 1884, and he later became a trail guide. He died in 1922, with Willis dying in 1929 and Alden in 1937.

 In 1904, the Eatons moved their operation to Wolf, Wyoming, in the Big Horn Mountains near Sheridan. It became one of the best known dude ranches in the country. "Badlands Bill" McCarty bought part of the Custer Trail Ranch in 1910 and 1917. The U.S. government sold part of it in Section 10 to Mary Naurath in 1919. That parcel was later sold to John Testor in 1920 and to McCarty in 1921.

 In 1931, McCarty sold the buildings and land on the east side of the Little Missouri River to R.S. "Dick" Johnson, which he later sold to a group of area Lutheran churches for the Badlands Bible Camp Corporation in 1945.

 Much of the land was again sold in 1948 to Walt Christensen, with only 39 acres kept for the camp. Christensen eventually sold his land to Fred Luchsinger, who sold to Tom Adams in 1972. He still owns and lives on the ranch next to the Bible camp

 McCarty built a new place on the west side. He was there until 1947, when he sold to Adolph Burkhardt. Tom Tescher and his son, Perry, now own the land.