The Double Arrow Ranch

By Mildred Chaffin--1989

The Corlett Ranch was a stock ranch before it was bought in the late 1920s by Jan Boissevain and Colonel George F. Weisel. Boissevain dreamed of building it into a combination horse and dude ranch. The Double Arrow Ranch, named after a brand on Boissevain's favorite horse, was established in 1929 and became the first commercial dude ranch to be located at Seeley Lake.

Boissevain was a competent horseman and had even served as a reserve officer in the Dutch Cavalry. There he had ridden an American horse with a double-edged spear brand and the animal, he found upon investigation, had come from the Spear Brothers Ranch at Drummond, Montana. The young officer later left the Cavalry to go into his family's banking business and found himself transferred from Amsterdam to Texas, then to Spokane, Washington, where he met Allen Toole, son of John H. Toole, president of the Anaconda Company's Timber Division at Bonner.

Boissevain was not favorably impressed with Montana until he accepted an invitation to visit at Toole's summer cabin at Seeley Lake. There, he met Toole's brother-in-law, George F. Weisel, and they began to talk of starting a dude ranch. They learned that Frank Scully and a man by the name of Nesbitt had planned to establish a dude ranch. However, Boissevain and Weisel bought the property and re-named it The Double Arrow because of the brand on Boissevain's favorite horse.

Building the Ranch

It took about a year to transform the Corlett Ranch into the Double Arrow "dude ranch." Three log "Scully" cabins were moved from the Trail Creek area and located at the Double Arrow building site. After a winter of hard work several of the present ranch buildings were finished. Some of the people who worked on the construction were Earl Wood, Cliff Vaughn, Vic Parent, Irvine Sperry, A. Mcdonald, Bill Stewart, and W. Christenson. Carpenter Fred English and his crew from Missoula put in tamarack (or larch) flooring and did the finishing work. Dave Thompson was the "skinner" (horse driver) and Emil Gobalet was the stone mason. Col. George Weisel closely supervised all the construction in 1929 and 1930.

Sometime during the construction period, Boissevain made a trip East to drum up some opening trade. On July 1, 1930, the president of Cornell University and his wife arrived with other notables as guests.

The Double Arrow Ranch began raising fine horses, too. Boissevain brought the first thoroughbred stallion to the ranch in the fall of 1930. That horse was obtained from a re-mount service in Colorado. The stallion had been injured during training for races, but he had a gentle disposition and sired many fine colts. Boissevain and Weisel bought other horses from the Flathead Indian Reservation and from the Bitterroot Valley. The ranch did not produce enough hay to keep the entire herd of horses over the winter. Most of them were driven over the Jocko Trail to winter in pastures in the Mission Valley - a custom practiced by most of the dude outfits at the time.

Fine horses and fine horsemen were the mark of the Double Arrow Ranch in the 1930s. The George Weisel family is pictured here on the corral fence. Herb Townsend is the wrangler. Photo courtesy Herb Townsend.

Some Tough Years

By now, Boissevain, divorced from his first wife, had become engaged to his partner's daughter, Anna Afton Weisel. The wedding took place after that first guest season was attended by people from all over the United States and part of Europe. After a honeymoon in Hawaii, the young couple returned to build a cabin for themselves which is still called the Hilltop House.

Tragedy struck. In the spring, Anna died in childbirth. Boissevain had completed the house, the dude season was about to begin, and he was forced to carry on.

By 1932, the Great Depression had caught up with the recreation business and the Double Arrow was struggling to stay afloat. Weisel sold his interests to Boissevain in 1932 in order to start over with the Circle W dude ranch on the Blackfoot River.

Boissevain married Edith Greenough of Missoula in 1933. Together they tried to keep the business in operation, since they were still getting a few guests. At this time, they also started breeding horses which were sold to the Army.

Indian Camp

In the fall, the Indians came over the Jocko Pass to camp and hunt on Double Arrow land. Boissevain felt that they had a right to use the land as they always had and he welcomed them. Eneas Granjo and his family, John and Agnes Pelko, Mischelle Kiser, Happy Ninepipes and Mose and Ellen Big Sam were among them. He even rode to warn them when the game warden was on the way!

Being unaccustomed to his strange manner and his accent, the Indians didn't care for him at first, but later grew to like him a lot. They never learned to pronounce his name but there was a big dinner bell that he rang and they nicknamed him "the Bell Boss." Mose Big Sam even built a sweat house for The Bell Boss right outside the front porch at the Hilltop House. In summer they often put on their ceremonial costumes and danced for the guests.

	Indian dancers at the Double Arrow Ranch, circa 1940. The dances were held at Morrell meadows where the Indians set up their tipis along Morrell Creek. The Indians not only performed their traditional dances, but also danced with many of the visitors. Photo at right shows Faye Miller with one of the dancers. Photos courtesy Pat Miller Jewell.

History Part 2