Welcome to the OTO Ranch
“Where The East Learns The Ways Of The West.”
In 1884, a young Iowan named James “Dick” Randall arrived in Miles City, Montana and hired on as a cowhand near the Big Horn Mountains in Wyoming. He pushed on after the Hard Winter of 1886-87 to the Yellowstone headwaters in the early years of Yellowstone National Park. Working as a night herder and stagecoach driver in and around Mammoth, Dick Randall came to know the Yellowstone country and befriended many travelers who were captivated by this unvarnished cowboy and his story telling. Together with his wife Dora, they raised a family and built their lives around inviting guests to experience the wild country and ways of the West. Their lives at the OTO became the storybook setting for the origins of dude ranching in Montana.
The Randalls (at center), surrounded by family and friends on the front steps of the OTO Lodge. OTO Ranch on the Custer Gallatin National Forest in Montana. OTO Ranch Collection, Gardiner Ranger District, Custer Gallatin National Forest.
Date of photo:1931. View full-sized photo on Flickr.
The Origins of the OTO
The Cedar Creek homestead came with what was barely a home for a growing family – a one-room log cabin with dirt floor and sod roof.
USDA Forest Service photo.
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The OTO Guest Ranch
The famed OTO Guest Ranch began to take shape when the Randalls built the first small sleeping cabins in a meadow up the creek from their homestead. This was soon followed by an expansive log lodge.
USDA Forest Service photo.
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Dude Ranch, Montana
The OTO ranch was one of 26 in Montana and Wyoming at the formation of the "Dude Ranch Association” in 1926.
USDA Forest Service photo.
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OTO Beyond the Randalls
Ownership of the ranch passed on in 1934 to the Randall’s son Gay and Chan Libby, who had been coming through his teenage years to the ranch.
USDA Forest Service photo.
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The OTO Today
In 2022 True West Collection installed a PopUp Ranch at the OTO, welcoming guests as the Randalls had done a hundred years ago. With horseback riding, cowboy cookouts and guided trips into nearby Yellowstone Park, many of the traditions of the ranch came back to life.
Courtesy photo by True Ranch Collection.
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Thanks to our Partners
In 2012, the Montana Preservation Alliance partnered with the CGNF Gardiner Ranger district to support preservation efforts at the OTO Ranch.
Courtesy photo by Preserve Montana.
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