Sieben/Hilger Ranches

“Gates of the Mountains”
Sieben Ranch & Hilger Hereford Ranch
North of Helena, Montana
Owners/Managers: John & Nina Baucus; Cathy Campbell

These two ranches border each other just north of Helena, overlooking the Gates of the Mountains “clifts” that Meriwether Lewis named in July, 1805. While Lewis supervised his party’s passage on the Missouri through this canyon framed by sheer, towering cliffs, Clark traveled overland on a well-worn path -- the “Old North Trail” -- that he had no way of knowing had been used by natives for over 8,000 years.

Except for their forested areas, today denser by virtue of generations of fire-suppression, the lands of the Sieben Ranch and Hilger Hereford Ranch still look largely as they did even before Lewis and Clark saw them. Established in the mid-1800s, both ranches also figured prominently in the history and growth of agriculture in Montana.

Henry Sieben emigrated from Germany at the age of five, and arrived in Montana 12 years later, in 1864, on a wagon train led by legendary explorer John Bozeman. By the time he acquired his first land holdings in this part of the state, he had been in the sheep business for more than 20 years and his reputation as one of Montana’s most successful ranchers was well established. He co-founded the Montana Woolgrowers Association, which still operates today, and by the time he died in 1937 he had built up one of the largest ranches in the state. His grandson and great-grandson manage this ranch today.

Nicholas Hilger also emigrated from Europe and, like Sieben, was drawn to Montana by the promise of possibility. After exploring the West on his own, he brought his wife and five small children to Montana on a wagon train in 1867. Hilger became a widely respected Judge and Justice of the Peace for Lewis and Clark County, and bought his ranch at Gates of the Mountains initially to use as a Summer home. He failed in a plan to create a shipping company using a steamboat on the Missouri, but his family salvaged part of the idea by creating the first pleasure-cruise operation through the Gates area -- and the boat trips they started still operate today.

Hilger’s descendants enacted one of the first conservation easements in Montana, ensuring that the lands of his sprawling ranch will always remain undeveloped, used for production agriculture. Today, Undaunted Stewardship® helps both ranches here monitor their grazing practices to ensure naturally sustained productivity.

Directions to this ranch:
From Interstate 15, exit at “Gates of the Mountains” about 10 miles north of Helena. The display area is on the right, about 150 yards from I-15 on the road leading from the exit to the boat docks at Holter Lake.

Undaunted Stewardship® is a cooperative and multi-faceted program led by federal, state and private sector agencies, seeking to ensure the long-term maintenance of the environmental quality and economic productivity of privately-owned agricultural landscapes, especially in areas rich in history along the Lewis & Clark Trail in Montana.