Park picks up 120-acre former Doody Ranch

Perhaps one of the most interesting sights en route to Harrison Lake is the old Doody Homestead.

Located near the confluence of Harrison Creek and the Middle Fork of the Flathead River, the 120-acre property was originally settled by Dan Doody, one of the six original Glacier Park rangers when the Park was founded in 1910.

Dan’s wife Josephine famously ran the place after her husband’s death. She made a fine moonshine that she sold to the passengers and crews of the passing Great Northern Railway trains. To cross the river, she used a cable bucket or a boat.

Josephine died long ago, but there are still remains of the homestead — a sagging home is crumbling in on itself and an old tractor is dwarfed by a huge cedar tree. Barrels and farm equipment are scattered about. The barrels are empty and crumbling to rust. The farm equipment is slowly disappearing into the tall grass or being consumed by the forest. The property has remained in private hands until this week.

The Trust for Public Lands announced a $900,000 purchase of the property from the Robert Lundgren and Gail Richey family trusts. Both trusts, in turn, donated 25 percent back to The Trust For Public Lands.

In the transaction, The Trust For Public Lands sold the Doody site to the National Park Service for the same amount.

The money came from the Land and Water Conservation Fund, the federal government’s main source of money for protecting land. It is funded by royalties paid by energy companies in exchange for oil and gas extraction from federal offshore leases.

The Doody Homestead was the second largest inholding in Glacier Park. An inholding is private property located inside the Park. Prior to this transaction, about 500 acres of private property remained inside the Park.

The purchase was lauded by Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester, who have long supported the LWCF.

“We greatly value the partnership the National Park Service has with The Trust for Public Land,” Park superintendent Chas Cartwright said. “Through this partnership, we have successfully retained this property that is an integral part of a wildlife migration corridor linking protected lands of Glacier National Park and the Crown of the Continent Ecosystem.”