Hagerty Live Stock Company records, 1895-1959

William Edmond Hagerty, alongside his wife, Pearl Wetzel Hagerty, a member of the Blackfeet Nation, and two sons, Wright and Donald, inherited ranchland on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation after the death of Pearl’s mother, Margaret Wetzel Kipp, in 1904. Prior to Kipp’s death, the Hagerty family lived with her in Browning, Montana, while operating a stock ranch outside of Cut Bank, MT. In 1914, the Hagerty’s ceased livestock operations in Cut Bank and focused on the family business ventures, the Hagerty Hotel and the Hagerty Ranch, on the reservation. Shortly after the foundation of Glacier County, Hagerty officially incorporated the Hagerty Ranch as the Hagerty Live Stock Company in 1919. That same year, Hagerty was elected to the nascent Glacier County’s Board of County Commissioners. In 1927, Hagerty died in office while on official business in Cut Bank. With their son, Wright, Pearl managed the family businesses on the reservation until her death in 1938. The Hagerty Live Stock Company continued operations until 1959, when Wright sold the company and its assets, which consisted of 2,000 cattle and 30,000-acres of deeded and leased land, to the 3C Cattle Company.