Marcus Daly

 
In the summer of 1864, while prospecting land in the northwest, a young Irish immigrant named Marcus Daly passed through Western Montana’s Bitterroot Valley. “I’ll come back here someday, and build me a horse ranch,” he vowed in a letter to his wife Margaret. Later in life, Daly would go on to become a major Wall Street player, a famed Montana “copper king” and ultimately, one of the richest men in the world.
 
In 1888, Daly fulfilled his 24 year vow, building the renowned Bitter Root Stock Farm on 22,000 acres of land he purchased on the Bitterroot’s eastern slopes. Not content with simply building a “horse ranch”, Daly also established the town of Hamilton to provide services for his ranch staff. He created several grand highways for his business colleagues, and built the much celebrated Daly Mansion in 1912.
 
With access to nearly 10,000 square miles of US Forest Service land, Stock Farm has retained much of the natural beauty and abundant wildlife that enticed Daly more than 100 years ago. A century of care has preserved the elk, deer, moose, and upland bird populations that inhabit the Bitterroot Valley’s mountain forests. Even today, Stock Farm’s lands, which have been carefully protected since Daly’s day, are home to elk herds that roam freely through the hills and valleys.