Calgarian,
Stan Cowley, was driving toward Banff, Alberta,
one day in 1976, discovered Rafter Six Ranch,
and drove on to the property. Before he
left, on a handshake, he had bought Rafter Six
Ranch, lock, stock and barrel.
Later
that year, Stan was in Northern Alberta looking
for logs for the planned new log Lodge, where
he met Gloria. Together Stan, Gloria,
and the family built and developed Rafter Six
into it's present form.
Today,
the ranch is one of the finest ranch retreats
in the world, and is a testament to the Cowley's
and their life's work.
Rafter
Six Ranch History
In the 1880s Colonel James Walker of the Northwest Mounted
Police (NWMP) established a rough line shack, and pastured
and bred horse's on the land that today is Rafter Six
Ranch. The Mounties eventually moved their horse operations
closer to Calgary, and next into the area was an old Trapper
and Mountain Man, called Soapy Smith. Soapy was quite
a character, and in addition to having a rep' as a man
who never sold a good horse, he had an eye for the ladies.
In his mid seventies, Soapy took a teen aged wife, Eva,
and together they homesteaded the land and took rich clients
on guided hunting trips.
Soapy
and Eva operated the guest ranch, and housed their guests
in tents, teepees, a small log lodge. Cabins were added
as the years went by. Soapy died in the late 1930s, and
Eva remarried and operated the ranch right up until Stan
Cowley bought the ranch in 1976.
A half-diamond over
the number six - is what is called a rafter six in
branding lingo. After acquiring the Ranch, the original
horse brand was registered to Stan Cowley. The Tradition
continues. . . .
Pictured below is Gloria Cowley, Mary
Kootney, and her daughter Clarice Kootney, posing below
a picture of Mary's father, legendary Stony Indian Medicine
Man, Chief Walking Buffalo. Walking Buffalo and Stan Cowley
became blood brothers in a Sun Dance Ceremony, when Stan
was thirteen years old. The painting hangs above the river
rock fireplace in the Rafter Six Dining Room.
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