Spear O Ranch. The. The Heart of the Wolf Mountains

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1 The Spear O Ranch The Heart of the Wolf Mountains The ancestors of the present day Spear O Ranch came to Montana in a covered wagon in Willis Moses Spear was 12 years old at the time. In 1885 he started his ranching career near Bighorn, Wyoming with the purchase of 150 head of cattle. In 1896, Willis and his brother Doc formed the Spear Brothers Cattle Company, and built it into one of the largest outfits on the Montana, Wyoming border. They took their fathers Spear brand, added the O, and created the Spear O brand. They eventually operated on over one million acres of leased land on the Crow Reservation and ran over 50,000 head of cattle. There were 22 main ranches and 110 cow camps with the present day Spear O Ranch on Corral Creek being the Crown Jewel, the best and most productive part. Roger Jacobs (406) * Bryan Anderson (406) Patrick K. Goggins * Broker/Owner Office (406) * Fax (406) ranches@pipmontana.com *

2 Location The Spear O Ranch is located near Kirby, Montana and is 45 miles north of the ranching community of Sheridan, Wyoming. Billings, Montana s largest city lies 90 miles to the northwest and has all the attractions and conveniences of a large city including many fine restaurants, shopping, banking, two hospitals and commercial air service. The Spear O Ranch lies in a pristine and beautiful setting in the heart of the Wolf Mountains, which is considered one of the most desirable ranching areas of Montana. The elevation ranges from 3,800 to 5,200 feet. This high rainfall area, with its long summer days and cool nights, is well known within the ranching industry for its ideal growing conditions and extremely high production. The Spear O Ranch is blessed with nearly 15 miles of mountain streams flowing through its three main drainages. These streams are Corral Creek, Little Corral Creek and Dry Creek. Free flowing clear mountain water, along with numerous developed springs and reservoirs, provide excellent stock water for the ranch s cow herd. These drainages are lined with choke cherry, wild plum and service berry, providing food and habitat for many species of wildlife. There are scattered patches of quaking aspens, while the ridges and peaks are covered with scattered to dense pine. The lower reaches of these streams open into wide valleys and are lined with productive hay meadows. The meadows are planted to alfalfa or forage crops to supply the winter s feed supply. Most of the ranch receives over 20 inches of precipitation on a normal year. Two crops of alfalfa are normally produced with the third crop used for fall grazing. The owners share that We re Always Green.

3 RECREATION & Wildlife Spend a day on the Spear O and you will be convinced it is a wildlife mecca with extensive populations of whitetail and mule deer, while elk are also native to this area and are occasional visitors to the ranch. There is a surprising population of black bear and sightings are quite common. The ranch s topography and richly forested ridges are also home to mountain lion, bobcat and coyote. Ringneck pheasants are common in the lower meadows. Mountain grouse may be seen at the higher elevations, while Hungarian partridge and sharptail grouse may be seen throughout the ranch. There are several reservoirs on the ranch that would be suitable for trout and smallmouth bass. Brook trout would likely thrive in Corral Creek and Little Corral Creek if the new owners wanted to develop a fishery. It s just a short drive to the Tongue River Reservoir for excellent walleye, crappie and smallmouth bass fishing and less than a hour drive to world class trout fishing on the Bighorn River. The ranch receives a considerable amount of snow throughout most winters so snowmobiling and cross country skiing are always an option in the winter months. For the flying Ranch Operation enthusiasts, the ranch has a 2,500 ft. airstrip with a quarter The Spear O Ranch has traditionally been operated as mile overrun in an alfalfa meadow, located at the main ranch a cow calf operation. The present owners winter the headquarters. The strip will accommodate most 4 or 6 place majority of the cowherd on the north end of the ranch at lower mountain aircraft. The family lands super cubs and 185 s in the meadow at the upper house. elevations, where you can normally winter out on the range until January before starting supplemental feeding. This part of the ranch contains several deeded parcels and a combination of tribal, competent and office leases that have been part of the Spear O for 100 plus years. The cow herd stays on this part of the ranch through calving season before returning to Corral Creek and Dry Creek in late spring, where they graze the higher elevations of the ranch until weaning and shipping in October or November.

4 Improvements As you drive into the Spear O, you are greeted by a complete set of improvements that lie at the confluence of Corral Creek and Dry Creek. The two bedroom two bath manager s home, which was recently remodeled, is located here in a large grove of trees surrounded by a well landscaped yard. Across the yard from the house is an old red horse barn with the original wooden stalls still intact. It and the calving barn are connected by a new set of pipe corrals. An exceptionally well built ranch shop is used for servicing vehicles and working on ranch equipment regardless of the temperature outside. It is well insulated and built with an extra thick concrete floor which allows you to work on any kind of heavy equipment. The balance of the improvements at the headquarters includes a machine storage shed, several grain bins and the landing strip. The main family home lies in an upper meadow at the confluence of Corral Creek and Little Corral Creek and is shaded by large trees in a pristine and beautiful setting. This large expansive ranch home is where Torrey and Adrienne Johnson raised their five children, now are the present day owners of the Spear O. As you stroll through the living room, dining room and large kitchen you can easily imagine the hustle and bustle of this energetic and hard working family as they were growing up. Broker s Comments We can t say enough about the contribution the Spear O Ranch, the Spear and Johnson families have made to their community and the ranching industry here in Montana. This is one of Montana s Historic centennial ranches. It is well known throughout Montana and Wyoming as one of the very best in Western America. The Wolf Mountains lie in a high rainfall area. That combined with deep fertile soil produces grass and feed that can only be imagined in most of the mountain west. You would be hard pressed to find a ranch on the market today, or in recent times for that matter, that has the production and history of the Spear O. Five generations of Spears and Johnsons have lived and worked on this ranch for nearly 120 years. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to own a historic Montana ranch that needs no introduction to the ranching community. Fence and Boundary Lines: The seller hereby makes known that there may be variations between the deeded property lines and the location of the existing fence boundary lines on the Spear O Ranch. The Seller makes no warranty with regard to the location of the fence lines in relationship to the deeded property lines, nor does the seller make any warranties or representations with regard to specific acreage within the fence property lines

5 Acreage Deeded Acres...6, *Undivided Partial Interest Acres...2, Leased Acres...15, *Leased acres include some undivided partial interest parcels Mineral Rights Not available and deeded away many years ago Taxes $7, Price $11,000,000.00

6 Offering Price & Conditions of Sale The Spear O Ranch is offered at US $ 11,000, Cash under the following terms and conditions. 1. All offers to purchase must be in writing and accompanied by an earnest money deposit of 5% of the Purchase Price to be held in trust by: American Title & Escrow of Bighorn County Hardin, MT. Interest accruing will be to the benefit of the buyer until closing; 2. All prospective buyers must demonstrate to the satisfaction of the seller unquestioned financial capability to purchase the Ranch prior to scheduling an inspection of the Ranch; 3. The Seller shall provide and pay for a standard owner s title policy. Title to the real property will be conveyed by warranty deed; 4. All of Spear O Ranch s water rights shall be transferred to the Purchaser (subject to the adjudication by the state of Montana) at closing; 5. Personal property may be offered for sale at the Seller s sole discretion and outside of the Listing Agreement. Seller will require time consideration to remove personal property after closing. If the Seller and purchaser agree to terms of sale of personal property, said personal property shall be transferred by bill of sale; 6. Seller will require Purchaser to sign a Hold Harmless Agreement regarding leases, a copy of which will be made available to qualified buyers. 7. All other terms and conditions shall be subject to Seller s approval in its sole discretion. Notice Offering is subject to error, ommissions, prior sale, change or withdrawl with out notice, and approval of purchase by owner. Information regarding land classifications, acreages, carrying capacities, potential profits, ect., are intended only as general guidelines and have been provided by sources deemed reliabel, but whose accuracy we cannot guarantee. Prospective buyers should verify all information to their satification. Roger Jacobs (406) * Bryan Anderson (406) Patrick K. Goggins * Broker/Owner Office (406) * Fax (406) ranches@pipmontana.com *