The Old Bath House

We had some good weather a few weeks ago that allowed for outside work but no riding (the ground was mucky and icy but the air was warm!) and so Dale decided to do some work on our beloved old Swedish bath house.

The bath house is one of the original buildings on the ranch, dating back to the late 1800's.  It was well loved and well used as a true bath house (sauna) for many years.  We have met many longtime area residents with fond memories of playing in it as children.

This ranch and the settled area around Newell all date back to one of the first major reclamation projects in the US--the construction of the Orman Dam on the nearby Belle Fourche River.  When the mining settlements in the Black Hills (Deadwood and Lead) started attracting a large, more stable population, local civic leaders saw the need to supply their food needs with more local farming (most of the land in this area was being grazed for cattle until then).  However, a method of storing spring snowmelt and storm waters was needed to make farming possible in semi-arid area and so the idea of the Orman Dam was formed.

Construction began in 1906 and was completed in 1911.  The dam paved the way for irrigation of over 90,000 acres of land in the Belle Fourche and Newell areas and attracted hundreds of farmers to take advantage of the land.  The dam re-shaped the land, the people and the production of the entire county (you can read more about it here).  This ranch was originally settled as a farm as part of the irrigation project and has over the years been a cattle ranch, a sheep ranch and for the last 25 years, home to our Thoroughbreds.

As the years have passed, the little bath house has been kept up but never really "restored". Past owners have added tar paper and bits of siding, but the core old building has had to endure the harsh South Dakota weather mostly on its own "two feet".  It has been a favorite subject for many of Dorothy's landscape paintings as well.

We currently use it as a place to store various items and kennel Bella, Dale's working dog, when we are gone.  And since the Winter Storm Atlas ravaged our ranch in 2014, the bath house has needed some TLC.

Dale tore off the old siding and tar paper and went to work on protecting the structural integrity of the building. He cut new wood siding and trim for it and then got to work on the roof. Dale hates heights but climbed up on the little roof (on a windy day no less) and got the job done!

We are proud to be able to preserve this piece of local history.  The settlers that came here first braved conditions we can only imagine to make a new life in the West and we thank them daily for forging the way for us.  On those days we think it is too cold or too hard to get the job done, we just need to look back and remember those who came before us and how much harder the job was for them.