Art Greydanus' Story

After the War, Art went back to work for his dad on a big ranch near Belgrade and then bought a ranch and sawmill near Ennis with his brother. He worked in the milling business for a while, but then got a call from a banker in Missoula about a certain 800-acre parcel for sale on Lolo Creek. He jumped at the opportunity and bought the place, moving to Lolo in the mid-1960s. Art ran a cattle operation there for a while, selling and shipping direct what they called “boxed beef” to folks all across the country who knew them by name and reputation. Then in 1971 Art decided to downsize, sell the 800 acres, and buy a smaller thirty-acre piece just downstream where he could “retire.” Retirement is a relative word for Art, and forty years later he’s still working the ground.
Art turns 86 years old this month but you’d never know it. He still gets up before the sun to feed the horses and tend to his fields. He remembers the
days when “the valley was still pretty empty,” and laments the sometimes
fast and heavy morning traffic. But he still recognizes the goodness of the
community around him. “I’ve got a lot of good neighbors,” he says with a smile.
Undoubtedly, that feeling is mutual. Last year, Art donated a conservation
easement to Five Valleys Land Trust, our first on Lolo Creek. After regularly
turning away disappointed developers at his doorstep, Art got to thinking, “After I go, then they could do anything they wanted to this ground, and I didn’t want that.” Spending a little time with him out there you discover just how he feels. “It’s been a good life up here on this creek,” Art says to me with a nod. And watching him look out on the grass and his horses, and down to the silvery stream dancing through his property, we’re certain that it has.