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SN Ranch History  The
SN Ranch started out as open range at first. Part of the Oxley Ranch lease
back in the 1880's, segments of it were then claimed by homesteaders.
Some of the settlers' names were Stewart and Hunter (which was believed
to be a company or partnership at that time) and also Hardwick. The SN
has The Stewart Field and Hardwick Coulee named after these
people to this day. Even the remains of Old Billy Stewart's cabin existed
until recently over by the ranch shop. (When Charlie & Sherry Ewing's
daughter Lonni was little, she would be so afraid to go near the shop
and the chicken house because Billy Stewart's Cabin was over there. She
thought his ghost might be out there. She refused to go and look after
her chickens that her parents bought for her to teach her responsiblity.)
The Cabin is no longer part of the ranch.The SN Ranch was originally owned by a fellow named Noah Sitton, which explains the origin of the main ranch brand. Noah's intitials were N S so, of course, he applied for that brand. Apparently with that brand already in use, Noah settled for the SN half diamond brand. Noah was a horse trader/thief! Word has it, he would steal horses from Canada, take them south and sell them across the border. Then, on his way back to Canada, he would steal a bunch more horses, bring them up across the line and sell them to people up on the Canadian side of the line. Whatever part of the Sitton story one can believe... the SN half diamond brand was acquired by that colorful, original owner and we, the Ewings, still enjoy it to this day!!  Noah
Sitton put the ranch altogether by 1912. That is when the SN half diamond
brand was registered. In 1918, Sitton bought the Hardwick Ranch which
is known as the Box X today. It was next door to the SN. At this same
time he sold the SN to T.C. Milnes who was a farmer
from Claresholm. T.C. Milnes had his residence in town, while owning the
SN, but built the Ranch house that we live in today (minus a few additions
and changes), so he had a place to stay while he had to be out at the
ranch. The house was built on a bog on a dry year. Rumour has it that
Stewart and Hunter had the spring area, where our house now sits, fenced off to keep cattle from
bogging down in it. Believe me we have all paid the price for this decision - especially on wet years!!!
TC also built all the ranch yard buildings that we still have today. The
big beautiful barn, however, sadly burned down on April 8, 1972. T.C.
Milnes eventually turned over the management of the ranch to his son-in-law,
Tom Riddle. Riddle bought the ranch from Milnes at some point. He also
owned what is now the Three Walking Sticks Ranch at the time, as well.
In April 1948, Tom Riddle, sold the ranch, to Albert Alm. Albert, his
son Wes Alm and his wife, Dix lived on the SN in the Ranchhouse (that
we live in today), and ran the ranch. In 1949, Wes' sister, Fran, and
her husband Miles, wanted to live on the ranch as well. There was a small
bunkhouse in the yard of the main buildings that later was moved to the
Silver Spring location (known as the "Farm buildings"), for
Fran and Miles to live in. (This bunkhouse was the old Cookhouse originally.) Fran was a prairie girl and missed the prairies
while out on the ranch, so the Silver Spring house was positioned so that
the prairies were visible from the kitchen window. Miles and Fran added
a few lean-tos onto the Silver Spring house to provide more larger living
space.In 1955, the SN was sold one more time to Sherm and Claire Ewing who moved from Montana with their three kids. Their son Charlie married Sherry Clark from Claresholm in 1981. In September 1982, just after their son, Cal was born, Charlie and Sherry bought the ranch from Charlie's dad. Charlie and Sherry's daughter Lonni was born in May 1985.  Ranch stories... Noah Sitton rode a big black horse. Whenever he went
anywhere he went at a fast lope. Both Sitton, and his wife died in the
Ponoka Hospital having mental problems probably during the 40's. It is
rumoured that they worried so much about their money that it caused them
to have these mental problems. That and the fact that their child had
fallen into the pig pen and was eaten by the pigs!! In the depression,
when food was expensive, there would be people who were unemployed wandering
around, begging for food, and looking for work. It was rumoured that Mrs.
Sitton would put kerosine in the mashed potatoes for these people, so
they wouldn't eat too much. Yum! Also about Mrs. Sitton... when she'd
see people riding into the yard, she would put the dinner plates out onto
the back step and let the dogs lick the plates so no one would want to
eat at their place. The
Sittons lived in a house on the location of the house that stands presently
at the Box X. Noah sold the ranch, as I've stated before, to Ed Burton.
Just before the Burtons took posession of the Ranch, the ranch house burned
down. Ed and Babe Burton had to live in the garage until they built the
present house that is there today. Burtons felt that Sitton set the house
on fire, because they thought that after he sold the ranch to them that
it was too good of a deal and they didn't deserve to live in a decent
house. Interesting, eh? |
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