Swett Ranch National Historic Site

Swett Ranch National Historic Site is part of the Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area.

It is managed by the U.S. Forest Service and located at the end of a 4-mile dirt road, but well worth the effort to get there.

The ranch was begun in 1909 by Oscar and Emma Swett and was active for 6 decades.

These three buildings functioned as the main Swett home during the life of the ranch. The smallest, on the left, is a one-room cabin that had been abandoned nearby. Oscar disassembled it and moved it here in 1909, replacing the original dirt roof with shingles.

For several years Oscar, Emma and their first 3 children lived in this crude shelter. They slept together in a single bed which was constructed of a shallow box filled with straw and covered with blankets.

Thistle outside the Swett's first home.

When their fourth daughter was born in 1919, Oscar built a two-room log cabin with the help of relatives and neighbors.

Spaces between the logs were chinked with mud, and the inside walls were papered with pages from magazines. Young Myrle and Verla would perform handstands to read the haphazardly placed pages.

In 1921 Oscar bought a sawmill, first powered by steam, then a waterwheel, and finally a gasoline-powered Hudson automobile engine. In 1929 he and his family built the 3-bedroom house constructed with lumber cut by the then water-powered sawmill. The house also had a kitchen and living room.

During the dark winters, after dinner and the dishes were done, the Sweyy family would sit around the wood stove while Emma read books by the light of a kerosene lamp. Electricity was not added until around 1950.

A picture of Emma in her kitchen.

Thistle is drinking from an irrigation ditch that leads from nearby Allen Creek to the vegetable garden...which is still being planted by the NFS.

Water is also diverted from the creek to run through the spring house.

Door latch held by a stick.

The cold stream of redirected water cooled the milk, butter, and fresh meat stored here. The family raised beef cattle for sale, and rarely ate beef. Their meat was mostly pork, chicken or venison.

Double doors on this root cellar dug into the hill form an air-lock that helped keep freshly harvested vegetables cool.

Vegetables were eaten fresh, but also canned by Emma and the girls. Often 500 or more quart jars of canned vegetables and meat lined these shelves.

Looking out through the double doors.

Indoor plumbing would not be part of the Swett's lives until the mid-1950s. Baths were taken once a week in a #3 washtub. Water was hauled from the creek and heated on the stove. Oscar didn't believe it was right to have a bathroom inside the house, so when he finally conceded the issue, he built the new bathroom in the big white house so it opened onto the porch.

The door handle on the granary is another salvage from the ever-useful Hudson automobile. You can't see it in this picture, but there is a small swinging door at the bottom of the main door to allow the Swett's cats to gain access and patrol for mice. Flaming Gorge can be seen in the background.

Do you ever feel like you're being watched? Free-range cattle still roam the Swett Ranch.

Until the mid-1940s, almost everything on the ranch was powered by human or horse. Saddle horses were used to round up cattle, and Clydesdales were employed in teams of two to pull heavy wagons and harrow alfalfa fields. The horse barn and workshop was constructed with logs which previously made-up the Greendale Schoolhouse.

In all, Oscar and Emma raised seven daughters and two sons on this land. This photo is from a 1944 family reunion.

There were other buildings I didn't get to...2 blacksmith shops, henhouse and pigpen, wood shed, and milking barn...oh, and the outhouse. I love that they have preserved this old homestead.