Distinctly Montana Magazine

w w w . d i s t i n c t l y m o n t a n a . c o m 37 D E PA R T M E N T L I T E R A R Y L O D E 1930 A S ERNEST HEMINGWAY DROVE WEST IN 1930, THOUGH STILL ONLY 30, he had been to war, been married, divorced, and married again, had two sons, published two collections of short sto- ries, and just finished his second novel. He'd lived most of the last ten years in France and Spain before returning home to be confronted by the death of his father and the birth of the Great Depression. Hemingway's time in the Yellowstone High Country began on July 13, 1930, when he first crossed the Clark's Fork and settled onto the L—T Ranch ten miles outside of Cooke City, Montana. e ranch was owned by Olive and Lawrence Nordquist; the "L" and "T" stood for the first and last letters in the latter's name. Hemingway arrived with his second wife, Pauline Pfeiffer, and his first son Jack, often called Bumby. Patrick, his second son and first with Pauline, stayed in Piggot, Arkansas, with Pauline's parents. Before arriving at the L—T, they had been directed to another ranch on Sunlight Creek owned by Simon Snyder. People there, when they realized who their famous guest was, fawned and pandered to him to such a degree that the Hemingways piled into the car and ventured further upriver in search of a lower profile. e main draw of this area was the Clark's Fork River and its spectacular trout fishing. Upon arrival, Hemingway entered the Clark's Fork Valley folklore by becoming the first person to drive a car all the way to the L—T Ranch. At that time the road was passable by automobiles only up to Crandall Creek; from there, people and sup- plies were taken in by horses. e Hemingway's Model A Ford, the same car which had made some famous runs from Paris to Pamplona some years before, became high-centered on the deeply rutted horse-and-wagon road. by CHRIS WARREN [e following selections are from Ernest Hemingway in the Yellowstone High Country, copyright © 2019 by Chris Warren, published by Riverbend Publishing, Helena, MT. e book contains informative Appendices, photos, and chronology.] Ernest Hemingway' s Adventures in Montana

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