By Michael Somerby EBS DIGITAL EDITOR
BIG SKY – In 1898, a Montanan named Sam Wilson homesteaded a
160-acre plot along the Gallatin River, a parcel dotted with pine and
wildflowers. His father, Clinton Wilson, snatched up an adjacent 160 acres just
two years later and the two men combined the plots, forming the “Buffalo Horn
Resort.”
The resort remained male-operated for the next three-and-a-half
decades, until 1936 when Dr. Caroline McGill, Montana’s first woman doctor and first
pathologist, purchased the land.
McGill’s stewardship of the ranch was marked by forward
thinking installations, such as bringing electricity to the ranch via a
Cadillac engine 10 years before power lines weaved the Gallatin Canyon, and
expanding guest and dining services offered to visitors, effectively laying the
foundation for the regional tourism and dining staple.
Perhaps the most important piece of McGill’s legacy is
setting forth a tradition of female leadership at the ranch, an anomaly for the
Western guest ranch industry.
Eighty-two years after McGill’s purchase, the tradition
carries on, with Amber Brask assuming the general manager position in October
of 2018.
“The ranch has a strong line of female general managers,” Brask
said. “… Here I am today with the history of other female ranch managers behind
me. I think it’s important for the women of the community, especially the young
ladies, to see they have as much potential as anyone.”
Today, from the food and beverage manager to the hotel
manager, six out of the eight managers at the ranch are female.
Brask, a Big Sky native, grew up on the ranch grounds
working in nearly every corner of the family-operated business. Her father Dave
Brask bought the ranch in 1986, adding to a number of enterprises including
cattle ranching and waste solution services.
After time spent living and working in Boise, Idaho, where
she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Boise State, Brask returned to Big Sky
to take on the general manager role.
“It’s something I always had in the back of my mind—and [320
Guest Ranch] aligned with my nature, my love for the outdoors and wilderness,
better than the other family businesses.”
Brask hopes to build out the ranch’s services while also
preserving the historically appealing aspects of the establishment.
“I’m hoping to evolve things like communal spaces, which are
important for today’s ‘digital nomad’ visitors,” Brask said. “Evolving the
steak house menu is also really important, things like sourcing ingredients
farmed with sustainable and organic practices.”
She also wants to decrease the amount of outsourcing of
activities for guests, bolstering the existing recreational offerings along
with adding new ones.
With the Gallatin River cutting right through property
limits, building out a world-class fishing experience is at the top of Brask’s
list.
“I want to expand the quality and extent of fishing right
here at the ranch,” she said. “I want this to be known as a fly-fishing
destination.”
With history and family at her back, serving as inspiration,
encouragement and a wealth of knowledge to draw upon, Brask is the latest in a
line of pioneers relentlessly innovating to heighten the guest experience.
