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Collection 2464 - Winnecook Ranch Company Records, 1882-1999

Creator: Winnecook Ranch Company

Provenance Note: Corporate ranch records, personal correspondence, and other documents collected or created by the various entities involved with the Winnecook Ranch were donated to Montana State University Special Collections by Robert E. and Douglas A. Smith of Great Falls, Montana on October 30, 2004.

Historical Note: Winnecook Ranch was started by Ralph and Samuel Berry on the Musselshell River in 1880. Samuel immediately began putting up buildings to house them and Ralph's wife, Evie. In the meantime, Ralph traveled to Utah to purchase their first flock of Merino sheep. Two years later, Samuel sold his half of the venture which Ralph, in turn, traded to various resident ranch managers. In 1887, Evie gave birth to twin sons with only one, Samuel Stillman Berry, surviving. Stillman's frailty had his parents constantly worried about his well being and set their business plan around securing their family's financial future. In 1906, the organization of the Winnecook Land and Livestock Company took place making Berry's family ranch into a corporation and allowing them to move to Redlands, CA to protect Stillman's health. With the sudden death of Ralph Berry in 1911, Stillman assumed control of his father's majority stock holdings and took over the presidency of the company in 1917 while still following his academic career in malacology and botany. Stillman held this post until his death in 1984. At that time his shares were put into a trust called the Goodly Heritage Foundation and eventually divided between Stanford University, Redlands Community Hospital, and the A. K. Smiley Library of Redlands, California. In 1992, the Berry family's stake in the Winnecook was eliminated by the purchase of the stock by the Mormon Farm Management Company.

Content Description Note: The Winnecook Ranch records consist of correspondence and materials produced by ranch management, employees, and stockholders such as corporate documents, work logs, and financial records. Correspondents include Samuel Stillman, Raph, and Evie Berry. Operations of the Winnecook Ranch Company are covered in correspondence and business materials. Also included are a series of topical newspaper clippings, ranch photographs, materials related to a published manuscript dealing with ranch history, and documents related to the General Manager Elwyn Dole's Heart E Ranch. This series also contains a selection of photocopied letters from the Stillman Berry papers held by the A. K. Smiley Library of Redlands, California, which should be credited by any researchers making use of this material. All files are arranged by subject and correlated by date where applicable.

Contents

Series 1: Correspondence, 1882-1999
Series 2: Financial and legal documents, 1896-1983
Series 3: Literary productions
Series 4: Elwyn Dole and the Heart E Ranch, 1916-1936

Series 1: Correspondence, 1882-1999

Personal and business material produced by the extended family of Ralph, Evie, and Stillman Berry. Included within this group are folders of correspondence between family members, officers and stockholders, and parties interested in ranch business. The files have been sorted in chronological order.

Box 1
1. 1882-1886
2. 1901
3. 1902
4. 1903
5. 1904
6. 1905
7. 1906
8. 1907
9. 1908
10. 1909
11. 1910 (Jan-May)
12. 1910 (Jun-Dec)
13. 1911
14. 1912
15. 1914
16. 1915
17. 1916
18. 1917
19. 1918
20. 1919

Box 2
1. 1920
2. 1921
3. 1922
4. 1923
5. 1924
6. 1925
7. 1926
8. 1927
9. 1928
10. 1929
11. 1930

Box 3
1. 1931
2. 1932
3. 1933
4. 1934
5. 1935
6. 1936
7. 1937
8. 1938
9. 1939

Box 4
1. 1940
2. 1941
3. 1942
4. 1943
5. 1944
6. 1945
7. 1946
8. 1947
9. 1948
10. 1949
11. 1950
12. 1951
13. 1952
14. 1953
15. 1954
16. 1955
17. 1956
18. 1957
19. 1958
20. 1960-69
21. 1970-75
22. 1976-79
23. 1980-85
24. 1986-89
25. 1990-99
26. Berry Family Correspondence 1907-1939 (photocopies from Stillman Berry Collection, A. K. Smiley Library, Redlands, Ca

Contents | Special Collections

Series 2: Financial and legal documents, 1896-1983

Financial and legal documents produced by the Berry family and management of the Winnecook Ranch. Included within this group are General Manager's reports, working capitol and real estate documentation, and financial statements.

Box 5
1. Winnecook By-Laws
2. Ralph Berry Journal 1896-01
3. Stillman Berry Wool Diary 1916-22
4. General Manager Reports 1920-21
5. General Manager Notes 1920-29
6. Elwyn Dole Diary 1920-24
7. Work Reports 1923-26
8. R. A. Martin Tally Book 1936-46

Box 6
1. Water Rights
2. Labor
3. Real Estate
4. Mercantile Goods
5. Mercantile Goods
6. Regional Agricultural Credit Corporation Loan Information
7. Automobile Insurance
8. Employee Insurance
9. Livestock Insurance
10. Real Estate Insurance
11. Ranch Development
12. Officers Expenses 1972-85

Box 7
1. Winnecook Annual Statement 1912-29 (incomplete)
2. Annual Meeting Minutes 1971-79
3. Annual Meeting Minutes 1980-89
4. Annual Meeting Minutes 1990-91
5. Stockholder Ledger
6. Winnecook Stockholders
7. Winnecook Inventory 1929-30
8. Winnecook Accounting 1906-08

Box 8
1. Winnecook Land Appraisal 1921
2. Winnecook Property Assessments 1907-1983 (incomplete)
3. Wheatland County Tax Receipts 1917-1983 (incomplete)
4. Montana Corporation Tax 1918-1936 (incomplete)
5. Miscellaneous Tax Receipts
6. Income Tax Returns 1969-83

Box 9
1. Anderson-Zurmuehlen 1963-85
2. Atwell-Fowler

Box 10
1. Financial Reports 1906-32
2. Financial Reports 1986
3. Financial Reports 1990
4. Financial Reports 1991
5. Financial Reports 1992
6. Check Register 1929-45
7. Balance Sheets 1918-42 (incomplete)
8. Balance Sheets 1953-57
9. Balance Sheets 1958-63
10. Balance Sheets 1964-71
11. Balance Sheets 1978-81 (incomplete)

Box 11
1. Check Stubs 1976-77
2. Check Stubs 2600-3298
3. Check Stubs 3300-3829
4. Check Stubs 4098-8104
Box 12
1. Livestock Receipts 1897
2. Livestock Receipts 1898
3. Livestock Receipts 1899
4. Livestock Receipts 1904
5-7. Livestock Receipts 1905
8. Livestock Receipts 1910
9. Wool Clip Weights 1906-30

Oversize Volumes
Volume 1: Voucher Book 1908-18
Volume 2: Voucher Book 1918-27
Volume 3: Voucher Book 1969-75

Contents | Special Collections

Series 3: Literary productions

Manuscript history of Winnecook Ranch, with related research notes and miscellaneous historical material. The history was written by Mary Dole Smith, Harold R. Hill, and Marcel "Dutch" Callant.

Box 13
1. Winnecook Ranch History-final draft
2. Winnecook Ranch Documents
3. Photographs and Realia
4. Maps
5. Stillman Berry Interview
6. Newspaper Clippings
7. Montana Centennial Sites Documents
8. Winnecook Historical Items Inventory
9. Winnecook History Notes
10. Winnecook Manuscript Research Material
11. Manuscript Notes, general

Box 14
1. Manuscript Notes, general
2. Manuscript Notes-Managers
3. Manuscript Notes-M. A. Callant
4. Manuscript Draft

Contents | Special Collections

Series 4: Elwyn Dole and the Heart E Ranch, 1916-1936

Personal and business material produced or collected by the extended family of Elwyn Dole. Dole was an employee of the Winnecook Ranch Company who also brifely operated his own ranch, the Heart E, on nearby property. Documents include Dole's financial arrangements with Winnecook regarding the purchase and operation of the Heart E.

Box 14
5 Dole-Berry Trip through Glacier correspondence 1916
6. Elwyn Dole correspondence 1919-21
7. Elwyn Dole correspondence 1932-36
8. Western Loan and Building Company
9. Wool Marketing 1934-36
10. Regional Agricultural Credit Corporation
11. Miscellaneous business papers

Contents | Special Collections