The other day I went along with my buddy “Shrapnel” to chase Stink goats. We went into the muddiest place in Montana. The truck was covered in mud after slipping, sliding, and churning through the muddy roads and fields. Fortunately, we never got stuck.

At the end of the long and messy drive was a stone house. This little house on the Prairie was in the middle of nowhere. The home was built to last and probably was born before 1920. The stonework is pretty clean. Even the interior had quality wooden floors.

Shrapnel has been hunting around the Stone House for decades. It has been a good place for prairie dogs, deer, antelopes, and even the occasional elk. Kirk did not know the history of the old Stone House. He and his brother once spent the night in it after a long day of varmint shooting. Big mice and rats chewed their boots and gear. His brother’s eyepieces, on his glasses, were chewed off. At least they were out of the weather.

This Stone House was built to be isolated and to last. Harlowton is many miles away. It would have taken a long trip on a horse or wagon to get supplies. No other buildings, wells, outhouses, or sheds exist. Only the Stone House in the middle of nowhere. 

When I looked for a source of stone, I found it over 2 miles away. Exposed rock ridges were the only place I could find large stones. There was evidence of quarrying atop the ridge outcropping. 

I am sure that someone knows the history, and story, of this stone building in the middle of nowhere. This old Stone Home is a symbol of the hearty and hard pioneers that first made Montana their home.

 These tough Montanans did their best to succeed in a country where they could only see Big Skies. 

Montana Grant