Early History
Paleo-Indian artifacts indicate that the Madison Valley has been inhabited by humans for 10,000 years. Archeological sites on the Sun Ranch show evidence of these forbearers, including: remnants of a mysterious civilization known as the “Sheep-Eaters”, tipi rings from a camp left by nomadic natives, and the remnants of a buffalo jump – a steep embankment used to chase buffalo off, injuring the animals for an easy kill. The most recent tribe to call the Madison Valley home was the White Bear, an extension of the Bannock-Shoshone Indians. Early Euro-American settlers in the valley spoke of the White Bear as peaceful neighbors. The White Bear left the valley, however, in 1877 when they joined Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce Indians on a freedom march to Canada. Unfortunately, the U.S. Army caught-up with them forty miles short of the Canadian border, and the White Bear were relocated to a Reservation in Idaho.

Rise of the Sun Ranch
The Madison Valley was forever transformed in 1863 by the discovery of gold in nearby Alder Gulch. Overnight, the boomtown of Virginia City swelled to a population of 10,000. With that many mouths to feed, the pastoral Madison Valley became an agricultural center. True to the novel Lonesome Dove, cowboys drove thousands of cattle north from Texas and settled on the Madison Valley’s rich grasslands. By the turn of the century, the lands of Sun Ranch were first consolidated into a private holding by the Granite Mountain Stock Ranch (1893). The property grew and changed names over the decades, including the Seven-Up Ranch (1927) and the Rising Sun Ranch (1930s). In the 1940s “Rising” was dropped from the name to avoid association with the “Rising Sun” moniker of World War II-era Japan. The simplified “Sun Ranch” has stuck ever since.

Birth of an Eco-Lodge
By 1998, the United States had yet to witness its first eco-lodge. The Lang family decided to change that. Veteran
eco-tourists themselves, the Lang’s purchased a log home on Papoose Creek, a quaint mountain stream on the Sun Ranch’s southern boundary. Over the next decade, they transformed Papoose Creek Lodge into the American West’s premier eco-lodge. The idea of a cattle ranch setting in Montana went against the rainforest stereotype of most
eco-lodges, making Papoose Creek something of a curiosity to eco-travelers. Each passing year brought greater success, until it was clear that the lodge would out-grow its creek-side home. In 2007 the Lang’s converted their private residence into the bigger, better eco-lodge; The Lodge at Sun Ranch.