The Nunn ranch

The main ‘headquarters’ area of the Nunn ranch was 320 acres homesteaded by Audman Nunn, my grandfather.  He completed the requirements and received the patent signed by President Woodrow Wilson in 1917.  Subsequently he purchased adjacent properties including 120 acres to the east, 640 acres to the northwest, and possibly some other tracts.  The original homestead is located in the badlands along the Little Missouri River south, upstream, from Medora, at the mouth of Bullion Creek and at the north ‘corner’ of Bullion Butte.  This butte is a large plateau visible for miles around and appears in many of the photographs taken at the ranch.  My mother, Annanelle, described it as their back yard and playground.  Bullion Butte forces the Little Missouri to make a large loop to the east clearly visible on any map of the area.  The ranch is at its north end.  On USGS topographic maps it is labeled “Griffin Ranch”.

I have not found any explanation for the name, Bullion, of both the butte and the creek.  Mother had never heard of any rumored stash of gold in the area, and was sure that the six kids in her family had explored the area thoroughly enough to have found almost anything.  While doing my search I came upon a real estate listing showing that the ranch, now known as “Roughrider Ranch” is for sale.  In addition to a description and detailed map showing not only the present private holdings but also adjacent state and federal grazing leases, there are several pictures of the present ranch.  The listing was posted on the internet, but the site is no longer active.  I have downloaded and saved a copy with other family documents.  The ranch was also the setting for the movie "The Wooly Boys".  It's worth a look to see the land, but pay no attention to those wooly animals.  Aud would never have allowed them on his property!

Among the pictures in the listing is one of the ‘original homestead cabin’.  I immediately found it familiar.  In the old family pictures are these three showing Annanelle’s older brother Donald, and Annanelle herself about 1918, and with her younger sister Ruth a few years later.

By this time the family was not living in this original cabin. While the ranch house is described by the realtor there is no picture of it.  Since Aud and Hattie had moved to Miles City before Harold and Annanelle, we did not frequently visit the ranch. I have only a vague memory of the place and haven’t yet looked back through our family slides. 

This picture of Ruth and Annanelle at the left, and Hattie at the right, shows the house.

Two othes with Annanelle and Ruth show the screen porch from the outside, and again with their little brother John from the inside.  Bullion Butte is visible through the screen.

Finally this picture of Leighton, the oldest, from about 1913 shows a corner of that house.  And it shows the north end of Bullion Butte.

As mentioned above, the homestead was patented in 1917 when Leighton was 6, Donald 4, and Annanelle 1, but the house was apparently there by 1913.  The pictureof my grandfather Audman at the top of this posting is labelled “Medora, N. Dak, 1905.  My uncle Bub confirms that his father was in the Medora area, working as a ‘cowboy’ for a cattle company prior to his marriage to Hattie in 1907 and presumably filed the homestead claim at that time, building the original cabin to satisfy the claim requirement.  Possibly he built the house prior to returning to Minnesota to be married.  In any case it was there shortly after Leighton was born in 1911.  Some time was required to ‘prove up’ a homestead, showing that it was being used for productive agricultural purposes, and for filing the necessary notices and documents, before it could be patented, giving clear title granted by the USA.  This did not occur until 1917.