With roots stretching back to 1866, Mitchell's Milehigh Ranch has been a cornerstone of Paradise Valley for almost a century. Our family’s dedication to the land, livestock, and community has shaped the ranch into a symbol of hard work and resilience, welcoming guests to experience a slice of Montana's rich heritage.
MORE ABOUT THE RANCH'S HISTORY
A Brief History of Mitchell's Milehigh Ranch
Oscar A. Ewers bought 305 acres along the Yellowstone River south of Livingston in 1886 under the Desert Land Act of 1877. Mr. Ewers, the first name listed on the abstract for deed, paid the United States of America $1.25 an acre for land that now comprises most of Mitchell’s Milehigh Ranch.
Other family names recorded in these 138 years were Rankin, Shorthill, and Randall. Lester (Pete) Mitchell and his wife Eula Belle, in partnership with Eula’s sister, Elizabeth (Shorty) Smith and her husband Harold (Red) Smith, bought the ranch in 1944 from Lee Spurgen. The ranch consisted of the Mitchell ranch of today plus land lying to the south.
Pete and Eula were both born and raised in Park City, Montana, Stillwater County. Pete was a descendent of the Mitchell family that settled in the Bitterroot Valley in 1869.
In 1947-48, Pete and Red constructed two homes on the ranch: one on the north end, the present home of Pete and Eula’s granddaughter, Laura and her family; the second toward the south end for the Smith family. In July 1951 tragedy struck the Smith family when their 12 year old son was killed in a farming accident. The ranching partnership was soon dissolved, with the Mitchell’s maintaining the north half of the ranch.
Pete and Eula were blessed with two children, Melvin and Audrey who grew up on the ranch, attended the local one room school, Pine Creek, and graduated from Park High School. Audrey married and pursued other interests. After a short stint at Montana State College, Northern in Havre, and some time in the army, Melvin returned to assist with the ranching operation. In 1958 he married Glenda Burnett, a union that would endure for 64 years until his passing in 2022.
The family ranch corporation was purchased in 1971 by Melvin and Glenda and their children Lyle and Laura. Lyle died in a tragic car accident in 1977. Laura completed degrees at Montana State University and Utah State University and returned to the Paradise Valley in 1992 to help work the ranch and fulfill a lifelong dream. She married Darel Creason and together they are the parents of Mitchell and Mariah. Both Creason children attended the small rural school, Pine Creek, and high school that educated their mother, uncle, great aunt and grandfather. Today Mitchell works the ranch with the rest of the family and like her mother, Mariah is attending Montana State University pursuing a degree in Animal Science.
The ranch now consists of a working Grade A dairy with Registered Holstein and Jersey cattle, a flock of Suffolk sheep, and a commercial herd of Angus cattle. The Mitchell and Creason families have a tradition of continuing to improve the ranch. Changes over the years have been the addition of sprinklers to increase hay production and conserve water, the construction of a new milking parlor facility in 1985, the installation of a computerized feed system, the growing of corn, and the wrapping of hay for baleage.
Always community minded, 3 generations of Mitchell’s have served on the local school board. They have been active in church, 4-H, FFA, Farmers Home Administration Boards and various livestock and breed organizations.
In 2017, the family decided it was time to branch out into tourism and to that end a random length log cabin kit was purchased. Mitchell, then 14, dug the foundation. With the help of a retired high school shop teacher, who was paid by exchanging 3 head of cattle, and volunteer church and community members, the family laid the logs, put up the trusses, constructed window bucks, framed the walls, hung sheetrock, mudded the walls, put together tongue and groove lumber for the ceiling, layed the flooring, painted, furnished and decorated the inside.The only professional labor hired was a plumber and electrician. It was a “spare time project” and labor of love that took 7 years to complete.
We hope our guests find peace, comfort and enjoyment that the cabin in the midst of our ranch brings. Please know that what you see today is a tribute to 80 years of hard work, tenacity, love, and nurturing of the land and livestock by four generations of the Mitchell and Creason family. Enjoy your stay!!