ML Ranch: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Bighorm Canyon National Recreation Area

Regions 6, 7, & 8 Park Cultural Landscapes Program

Inventory Unit Description: The 47-acre Mason-Lovell Ranch is located along the eastern side of Bighorn Lake just west of U.S. Highway 14A where Willow Creek drains into the lake in Bighorn County, Wyoming. It’s located about 13 miles east of Lovell, Wyoming. Mason-Lovell Ranch is a component landscape to the parent landscape of the Bighorn Canyon NRA. It was established in 1883 by Anthony Mason and Henry Lovell and operated as a ranch through 1925. Between 1925 and 1940 it served as a homestead for various families who tried to settle in the region. The landscape embodies the cultural heritage of the American West during a period of rapid white settlement across Wyoming and the greater Western United States which followed the flow of trappers, traders and gold prospectors. Mason-Lovell Ranch’s period of significance spans from 1883-1940. It is significant for criterion A in the area of agriculture for the period of 1883-1925, for its association with the rise and decline of the open range cattle ranching industry in Bighorn Basin during the last two decades of the nineteenth century and first two decades of the twentieth century, which corresponds to when Henry Lovell established Mason-Lovell Ranch in 1883 and 1925 when active ranching operations ceased at the end of the Yagen and Spears ownerships. Mason-Lovell Ranch is also significant for Criterion A in the area of exploration/settlement for the period of 1883-1940, for its association with early settlement development patterns of the region in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Though ranching/grazing activities ceased around 1925 with the end of the Yagen ownership, active domestic use, including the rebuilding of the ranch house in the 1930s, continued until the end of the Sawyer ownership. The arc of settlement and development of a ranch into a homestead in the region is reflected in the history of Mason-Lovell Ranch. The property is also significant for Criterion B in the area of agriculture for the period of 1883-1903, for its association with Henry Clay Lovell and his contributions to Wyoming’s early cattle ranching industry in the Bighorn Basin, which corresponds to when Lovell first established operations at Mason-Lovell Ranch to the date of his death. The ranch became the base of ranching operations for Henry Lovell and his financial partner Anthony Mason in 1884, and served as the center of Lovell’s innovations to the practice of ranching in the region.

ML Ranch: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Bighorm Canyon National Recreation Area

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