Diff: JensDriveway

 The driveway to the acre we lived on: 

  

 <?plugin IncludePhoto file=JensRanchDriveway.jpg?> 

  

 My parents still own this chunk of land, which is two acres. My father had worked his way through college (Monana State University in Bozeman) by working each summer for Billy and Margaret Wallace whose 14,000 acre ranch was just off the Jens exit, bordering the Clark Fork River with the Flint Range Mountains surrounding the ranch. While we were living and working at our Big Sky Motel in Deer Lodge, the Wallaces came to us to see if we wanted to run some cattle on his ranch in exchange for some fence fixing and elk herd protecting. We couldn't do this unless we could live there so the Wallaces gave us 2 acres - wherever we wanted it. Dad picked a spot not too far from the river, with a hill for sledding and Perkins Creek running through it. We fenced it in, moved a trailer house onto it and built the addition. Wallaces gave us an easement for the driveway to enter our land. 

  

 Billy Wallace was a difficult to work for, so after the first summer we tried another arrangement. We would continue running our cattle but pay the going fee for pasture. At the end of that time dad went back to managing our motel full time. Later we bought the travel stop, Stuckey's, which we named Country Village. I helped Dad with a lot of the outside work and helped with the dishwashing. We moved into Deer Lodge when I was starting the 3rd grade. Later we got more land and moved onto our property by the Country Village. 

  

  

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