Remember when?
This photograph shows the Triangle Ranch Headquarters near Amasa in Iron County about 1982. The Triangle Ranch Headquarters Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on Dec. 29, 1983. (Courtesy photo)
This photograph shows the Triangle Ranch house near Amasa in Iron County about 1982. (Courtesy photo)
This unused postcard identified as “‘At Rest’ Triangle Ranch, Cloverland” was taken by the Iron Range Studio in Iron River, and probably dates between 1922 and 1926. The pedigreed Hereford cattle appear to be in a corral at the Triangle Ranch near Amasa in Iron County. (William J. Cummings photo)
This photograph shows the Triangle Ranch Headquarters near Amasa in Iron County about 1982. The Triangle Ranch Headquarters Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on Dec. 29, 1983. (Courtesy photo)
This photograph shows the Triangle Ranch house near Amasa in Iron County about 1982. (Courtesy photo)
This unused postcard identified as “‘At Rest’ Triangle Ranch, Cloverland” was taken by the Iron Range Studio in Iron River, and probably dates between 1922 and 1926. The pedigreed Hereford cattle appear to be in a corral at the Triangle Ranch near Amasa in Iron County. (William J. Cummings photo)
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This week's "Remember when?" explores the Triangle Ranch, a failed attempt to "test out exhaustively the practicability of large-scale, capitalistic manufacturing methods in agriculture" by raising pedigreed Hereford cattle, according to information provided by the Menominee Range Historical Museum and the Iron County Museum.
The Triangle Ranch was founded in 1920 by Judson G. Rosebush, a banker and college professor from Appleton, Wis., with money from his wife, paper mill heiress Barbara McNaughton. Through his Rosebush Ranch Company, Rosebush purchased 9,472 acres of land near Amasa and originally planned to purchase two more lots of 10,000 acres each.
The farm contained a frame bungalow sheathed in cobblestones and shingles used as the manager's house, a single-story gable-roofed structure clad with shingles used as the manager's office, three frame bungalows used by ranch employees, a single-story bunkhouse, a gambrel-roof barn, three silos, a board and batten garage, a shop and a granary. Up to 135 people were employed at one time, with about 1,100 head of Hereford cattle.
But long winters and short growing seasons made it difficult to supple the needed feed for the cattle operation. During one summer, a drought took the hay crop, forcing them to ship in hay at a high cost. They were also hit with a number of natural disasters, including a tornado that destroyed four barns, another that tore up a two-story chicken coop, and a lightning strike that took out a structure for horses.
In 1925, Rosebush sold off some parcels for land and attempted to diversify operation by logging, fur farming, raising sheep and poultry. In 1927, it was advertised as "the only dude ranch east of the Mississippi."
The ranch was never profitable and Rosebush sold it in 1936 for $35,000, far less than the estimated $1.5 million he'd spent on the project. In 1948, the Kimberly-Clark Corp. purchased 8,485 acres, which it reforested as a softwood plantation. The remaining 1,000 acres continued to be ranched until 1952.
The Triangle Ranch Headquarters Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on Dec. 29, 1983. Today the property is privately owned.
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"Remember when?" appears every Wednesday in The Daily News. Those with suggestions or historical photographs they would like to submit can email Terri Castelaz at tcastelaz@ironmountaindailynews.com.