I was a child of 8. We had just moved to Montana and were living in a one room cabin. It was a beautiful spring day in April when we got there. The next morning to my surprise there was so much snow we couldn't open the door. My brother Herman and sister Magdaline were in the process of digging us out, when a gentleman rode up. He was a rather small man, dressed like a better dressed cowboy would be. He was riding a bay horse with saddle, bridle, and boots all engraved and inlaid with silver.
He said he had heard that a widow with seven children had just moved into this cabin. He rode up because he worried how we had survived the storm. He was talking to my mother, saying, "A herd of range horses had been driven along in the blizzard and were cornered in my fence. · with their crowding they had pulled out a dead man." You can understand how this sounded to me. Thinking this had been a real dead man - not merely a stone used to hold the fence from going up.
I would like to tell you something of Mr. Gring. He had built his home at the foot of a 200 ft. cliff facing the Powder River. This was ten miles south of Broadus. His building and corrals were made of logs. I believe these were white washed inside and out every year. They sparkled in the sun. He had planted evergreens in the front of his cabin and they gave it an impressive setting for his white house.
Inside Mr. Gring's home was a picture gallery of hand carving. The walls were covered with this talent he had learned from his home country, Germany. These carvings were made from boards. He then proceeded to make a complete picture of trees, flowers and Montana wild life. Some were varnished showing the wood grains, while others were painted in their natural coloring. I would say these carvings he made 50 years ago are precious keepsakes. My mother, Mrs. Mary Weipert gave me one. It hangs in our living room here in La Grange , Ill. We have given it a most prominent place you can be sure. Everyone who comes, stops to admire this carving and the common remark is where did you get this. I always say from the most unforgettable person I have ever met.
I believe Mr. Gring possibly had the first zoo in Montana. He built a 10 ft. fence and captured deer and antelope and kept them for his pleasure. If you go there today you may still see his fence and the coves he built in the banks of the bluff for bob cats, badgers, raccoons, and coyotes.