Distinctly Montana Magazine
Issue link: https://digital.distinctlymontana.com/i/20776
Conrad Kohrs used this circa 1865 coffee grinder in his gold camp butcher shop, and later Augusta used it in her own kitchen. Augusta Kohrs’ 1870 petit-point footstool with steer horn legs. The revenue officer confiscated the liquor Grant kept to stock his saloon. Arsonists burned his best barn, and Indians ran off his cattle. By 1866, Grant felt the valley was unsafe for his children so he sold the ranch to Conrad Kohrs and prepared to take his family to Manitoba. Before the move, Quarra Grant died of tubercu- losis. Perhaps that is why Johnny Grant sold the contents of the house, including Quarra’s fine furnishings. One lovely piece Quarra may have used, on display in the house, is a pie safe. Its simple design and beautiful punched-tin doors date to the mid-1860s. Another is a hand-sewn blanket, circa 1860, made of 12 wolf skins stitched together with sinew. Faint traces of the red trade cloth that once lined it adhere to an occasional seam. An ink drawing of Johnny Grant’s brand appears in the blanket’s soft leather underside. John Bielenberg inherited these finely crafted ruby- studded sugar tongs. Bielenberg, the Grant-Kohrs Ranch eventually became headquarters of the largest cattle opera- tion in North America. Augusta Kohrs Conrad Kohrs proved a capable owner. Born in Germany in 1835, he left home at 15, shipped out to South America as a cabin boy, and traveled widely. He tried his hand at many professions including gold mining in California. Kohrs came to Montana in 1862 and took up the trade of butcher, recognizing that miners pouring into the new goldfields needed beef. He was an honest, forthright busi- nessman who established a good reputa- tion. Kohrs had built up a well-known beef herd and therefore transitioned well to a rancher and cattleman. In partnership with his half-brother John Kohrs took a trip back east to visit family in Iowa. There he met Augusta Kruse, whom he had known from his childhood in Germany. Eighteen-year-old Augusta, working as a govern- ess, was a statuesque six-feet-tall woman and an excellent match for Kohrs. The couple married in February 1868. A 48-day journey by steam- boat to Fort Benton and then overland by wagon brought the newlyweds to the ranch house, dubbed by locals the “boar’s nest” or the “pig sty” for the bachelor brothers’ terrible house- keeping. Augusta rose to the task, fighting bed bugs, making candles, cooking for an army of hired hands, and having children. Augusta Kohrs was a product of the The Grant-Kohrs residence. Victorian era. She transformed the Grants’ former home and bachelors’ “pig sty” into a model of Victorian elegance. She brought up three children accordingly. The barns, bunkhouse, and outbuildings; the corrals full of cattle and horses; and later, the railroad tracks in front of the house—where 10,000 head of cattle annu- ally went to market—embodied Montana’s cattle industry. Inside the house was a different story. Augusta surrounded her family with the finest furnishings ordered from Chicago, New York, and Europe. The beautifully furnished parlor today remains exactly as Augusta created it with elegantly papered walls, Turk- Augusta Kohrs embroidered this racing saddle cover circa 1900. Twelve sinew-sewn wolf hides make up this blanket, which bears the “G Hanging J” brand. www.distinctlymontana.com This finely tooled pommel bag, with a built in holster for a revolver, fit over a saddle horn and was an essential piece of equipment. 43