The OTO actually began as a hunting encampment in 1898 when Dick Randall purchased 3,000 acres and a one-room cabin from a couple of stage-coach robbers-rumor has it, they were interested in making a fast exit out of Montana. It is important to note here that Dick initially started his love affair with the West about 10 years earlier as a stagecoach driver for the Yellowstone Park Transportation Company in/around Gardiner and Mammouth Hot Springs. Worldly Yellowstone guests clamored to return to Gardiner and hunt and explore with him. This profound demand for Mr. Randall's exploration and wilderness talents led to his 1898 land purchase.

As his guest list expanded to include visitors from all parts of the U.S. as well as Europe (e.g. General VonHindenburg; European royalty; American celebrities; the Rockefellers; and those from the Douglas and Northrup Aircraft families), it became quite apparent this one-room cabin was totally inappropriate to serve his expanding clientele.

With a definite need for increased facilities for accommodating his exploding guest roster, construction was begun (and completed) on 12 cabins, a 12-room lodge, a two-story saddle room, expansion of the original one-room Randall cabin, a shower house with eight stalls, a laundry area and powerhouse containing a small, water-driven turbine for the generation of electricity. Keep in mind that all the materials used in the construction of the OTO buildings were taken right off its 3,000 acres and hand-hewn on site.

As the OTO grew to include cattle ranching, horseback riding, big game hunting, hiking parties and general outdoor recreation, Dick coined the term "dude ranch" as an apt representation of the OTO. A dude was defined as a summer visitor who was more or less unfamiliar with the ways of ranching; it was a respectful western name for strangers from the city. A "dudine" was a lady and a "dudette" was the term used for a child.

Though the OTO was established as early as 1898, it experienced its heyday from 1912 to 1934. However, the Great Depression severely impacted Randall's ability to maintain his dude ranching operation and he subsequently left the business in 1934.

Over the ensuing 63 years, the property and structures fell into grand disrepair and rot and it wasn't until 1997 that the U.S. Forest Service, in concert with Amizade, Ltd., designed a program to begin historic restoration and site stabilization.

Once Kathleen and I uncovered this project and assessed the environmental, historical and architectural importance of such a restoration/preservation endeavor, we saddled up (figuratively that is…) and headed West to the OTO. What we found was a breathtaking work site at 8,000 feet; in a meadow at about 7,100 feet was our large, unelectrified tent "home" for one week; our "showers" be they solar or pumped directly out of Cedar Creek; numerous large jugs of potable water (supplied daily); port-o-potties (offering superb relief though with minimal solitude); small, gas-fired Coleman cook stoves for meal preparation; and plastic buckets for washing dishes, pots, pans, etc. Hey, if your idea of a rustic work environment is car pooling to the site from the local motel, well, this ain't the right project. However, if you long to hear dueling coyotes howling across mountain peaks, relish the serenity and solitude of the wide open country, and pine to sleep under millions of the brightest stars in the hemisphere, all the while coming together with other volunteers for a common purpose that shows tangible results, then OTO is the spot.

At arrival, we had sufficient time to "furnish" our tent (P.S. always pack a battery-powered lamp) with cots and sleeping bags, as well as unpack our work clothes and boots. We were given a tour of the entire site by the Amizade staff and introduced to our work-mates/tent neighbors. By the way, we had requested the tent with a hot tub and sky lights-must have been on back order! After having a hearty camp dinner - with a beverage of one's choice cooled in adjacent Cedar Creek - the team was given our basic project schedule: breakfast at 7:15 a.m.; start work at 8:15 a.m.; lunch around 12:15 p.m.; and end work about 4:30 p.m. with dinner in the 6:30 p.m. timeframe. We planned for temperatures ranging from 90o (day) to 40o (night), and the entire week fit this profile.

Our varied projects and assignments focused primarily on cabin and furniture restoration. We were guided by several U.S. Forest Service artisans skilled in historic restoration and the Amizade construction supervisor and were allowed to become intimately involved in the total reconstruction process: subfloor installation coupled with laying finished tongue and groove pine floors; cutting, sanding, painting and/or staining hundreds of board-feet of trim and moulding; extensive chinking and daubing plus pulling out miles of old electrical wiring; rebuilding/leveling rock foundations; patching and sanding floors to close over numerous mouse holes; laborious trimming, chiseling, and planning of cabin doors so they could be rehung, as well as reshaping all door key lock mechanisms; replacing rotten log superstructures with new hand-hewn logs; and refurbishing original handmade furniture and chairs as well as headboards and footboards to a viable state.

We used every power and hand tool imaginable and in some cases, we even had to improvise parts and hardware. Since no levels or squares were used at the time of construction of the OTO buildings, we were really challenged to ensure that all floors, doors, and trim/moulding, for example, were now level as well as square. Trigonometry and geometry certainly came in handy, as did the miter saw!

By the time we concluded our working vacation, we had made many new friends, not only from the U.S., but from overseas as well. The entire volunteer team (ranging in age from 16 to the mid-60s) approached the OTO project with a true spirit of adventure, comradeship and a sincere will to serve. Much more, of course, needs to be accomplished, but the Forest Service, with assistance from Amizade, Ltd., hopes to reopen the OTO as a paying dude ranch in the not-too-distant future.

A postscript on Dick Randall: When President Theodore Roosevelt dedicated the Roosevelt Arch at the entrance to Yellowstone Park, Dick was given a place of honor on the ceremonial platform and recognized as "Mr. Dude Rancher" by Roosevelt himself. Though Randall died in 1957 after 91 young years, his legacy and that of the OTO will indeed live into the future.