For a Western Vacation . . . A Dude Ranch

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.

A few of the ranches are still in business today, including the 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.

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.


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