Slightly marred by punch holes and sexism, this 1940 brochure invites “girls and men” to take the Great Northern Railway to a Montana, Idaho, Washington, or Oregon dude ranch. The brochure devotes a page to Glacier Park, four pages to the general dude ranch experience, and most of the rest to a description of nearly 40 ranches, camps, and lodges.
Click image to download an 11.9-MB PDF of this brochure.
Seven Lazy P and K Bar L. Some are in business under different names, such as Pine Butte Guest Ranch, formerly the Circle 8 described in the brochure. One ranch, the E Bar L, hosted a young Prince William a few years ago. This ranch and several others seem to rely mainly on word-of-mouth advertising as they have no web sites or brochures.
A few of the ranches are still in business today, including the
The only Oregon ranch mentioned in the brochure is the Metolius Circle M, which is about five miles from where I live. It is now called the Metolius River Resort and no longer offers saddle horses, instead being mainly a place for fly fishers and hikers.