That Summer on the N Bar N

The Nelson’s N Bar N family-owned ranch has a colorful history. Nelson is well aware of the heritage of the present owners, Grant and Victoria, and operates it with the help of hired hand, Clint Warrior.

Their annual summer visitors that include their grandchildren, Keith, and Ann Marie, joined this year by Keith’s best friend, Danny, look forward to their stay at N Bar N.

They expect nothing unusual but the unusual does happen. It involves Grant, Victoria, the kids, as well as Yellowstone Pete, the Sheriff, Sairy, the mule, ornery Billy Willits, and the playful big dog, Pluto.

It is all woven together, forming a never-to-be-forgotten summer, written and saved in the ranch record book.

Northern Montana prairie land is home to Betty Munson. A family consisting of one husband and seven children kept her occupied as she absorbed the stories of her community’s settlement, its people: why they came, the hardships they endured; why they stayed, and why they left. Such as a Southern doctor and his wife accompanied by her black slave – a former embassy secretary – a trained druggist, turned farmer, and of course, the men of dubious behavior who sought a safer environment.Intrigued by their stories, she recorded some. Others are stored in her memory bank for future telling. Some, best left untold.Regional and local newspaper stories filled in when ‘the empty nest syndrome’ opened doors to new horizons. The ‘writing gene’ remains active in her life.