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Montana Sweetwater Ranch History
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The owners of Sweetwater Ranch, Bonni and Rob Quist are native Montanans who returned home to Montana 10
years ago to raise their children, Guthrie and Halladay.
Halladay wanted to be able to ride her horse to school while Guthrie longed to live next to a deep, dark
forest. Bonni had been an International Flight Attendant for United Airlines for many years and Rob was a National Entertainer and songwriter who longed to return to his
roots in Montana. The family found all their needs addressed on the ranch that has come to be known as Sweetwater Ranch, named for the sweet taste of the water from the
deep artesian springs found on the property.
The house and lodge were originally built in 1906 and were sadly in need of repair and loving hands. The
original ranch house and the surviving outbuildings have been painstakingly brought back to life in the last 10 years by the Quist family. The original bunkhouse is the
last of the buildings to be renovated and will be available to rent in the summer of 2002.
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| Though the mailing address of Sweetwater Ranch is Kalispell, it is actually located in the
farm and ranch community of Creston which was originally settled by the Mennonites and continues to adhere to the simple country living established by the first settlers
to the area.
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Creston has its own country school with 80 students in grades 1-6 and the two biggest social events of the
year are still the annual Spring Farm Auction and the yearly grade school benefit where it is customary for homemade cherry pies to be auctioned off for as much as
$100.00 to raise money for the grade school field trip. Creston is unique to the Flathead Valley in the fact that it has not been subdivided into housing developments and
is still home to some of the valley's largest cattle ranches. |
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Guthrie Quist
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Rob & Bonnie Quist
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Halladay Quist
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The Quist family would like to welcome you as guests to the Sweetwater Ranch. Bonni runs the family ranch as
well as teaching High School English part-time during the school year. Rob continues to write music, commuting to Nashville in the Fall and Winter while still maintaining
a busy performance schedule during the summer months. Guthrie graduated from high school in the Spring of 2000 and is studying Drama and Film at Pepperdine University
while Halladay is a busy high school athlete, playing basketball, volleyball and running track.
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This House of Memories
Somewhere under a cloudless sky in the Northern Rolling Plains
There bravely stands a homestead house of wood and windowpanes
Where generations of my family have come to live their lives
Where the Spirit of Humanity survives.
Like a ship on an ocean of wheat
Standing firm against the wind and rain and heat
Where once there was only prairie land
A man and a woman came to make their stand
To build with wood and dreams and their hands
This House of Memories
This House of Memories sings to me
her own sweet lullaby
A Song that's deep within my heart
A Song that never dies
And so I go there in my mind
To sit in Grandpa's rocking chair
and let the lives lived there surround me once again.
Like a ship on an ocean of wheat
Standing firm against the wind and rain and heat
Where once there was only Prairie Land
A man and a woman came to make their stand
To build with wood and dreams and their hands
This House of Memories...
©Copyright 1991 Rob and Bonni Quist
This House of Memories released in 1991 by Rob Quist.
