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Lone Butte Ranch

Lynn & Holly Dewhirst  •  12251 Lone Butte Road  •  Grassy Butte, ND 58634

News . . .

The McKenzie County Tourism Bureau is pleased to announce that Lone Butte Ranch, owned by Holly and Lynn Dewhirst of Grassy Butte, North Dakota has received the Governor’s Private Travel and Tourism Award for 2003. Governor Hoeven and Tourism Director Sara Otte Coleman presented Lynn and Holly with their award at the 2003 Tourism Conference in March of this year.

The Lone Butte Ranch began booking clients into a rustic cabin south of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park (North Unit) in 1998.  Since that time, the Dewhirsts have expanded their family ranching enterprise into a successful tourism/guest business welcoming hundreds of guests to this unique part of North Dakota. 

The Dewhirsts have established a guest friendly reputation as a well managed operation and have hosted scores of media and promotional groups from across the country including ND Tourism staff,  news and feature writers from Midwest Living, the Minneapolis Tribune, Minot Daily News, Bismarck Tribune, KUMV and KXMC TV, REC Magazine and various outdoor specialty magazines.

Holly and Lynn have reached out to other individuals interested in starting operations in the value added sector of guest operations, going out of their way to share ideas, promote competing businesses and referring guests to other attractions in the area.

“As the McKenzie County Development and Tourism Director, I continually depend on the Dewhirsts to host company executives and media representatives interested in learning more about this unique part of the world. 

People visiting this part of the state have inquired for years about the kind of experience Dewhirsts are providing. I can count on Lynn and Holly to present a professional and comfortable experience every time and I have received rave reviews on the uniqueness of the guest visit in “real’ log cabins on a “real” working ranch,” said Gene Veeder.

The Lone Butte Ranch has been visited by a number of nationally recognized media professionals including:

• Steve and Robin Silverman as they published  ‘The Secret Beauty of North Dakota’,

• KFYR radio afternoon talk show in which Silverman  did a 45-minute segment on this area

• Jim Campbell and Leslie Marty – Mountain Biking magazine writers.

• Roger Van Noord, retired newspaper man from Flint MI – who is also a photographer,

• Gary Fisketjon, a New York City publisher with roots in McKenzie County brought an Australian author and a writer.

• Guests from Switzerland, Holland, Australia, and Berlin, Germany. 

• Lois Thomas, a free lance writer from Tennessee, wrote an article about Lone Butte Ranch that appeared in a Tennessee newspaper. 

• Peter Weber from Pennsylvania, whose grandfather had ties to North Dakota and was instrumental in getting the Bismarck Zoo started.

• Bob Craig , artist & photographer from New Jersey. 

• -Chuck Haney, Montana photographer.

• Chicago couple, Elizabeth Meister and husband Dan Collison, working on a documentary on for NPR – they will be back again in the spring. 

• Minneapolis Business Executive Promotional Ride

• Tom Uhlenbrock of the St. Louis Dispatch.

The Dewhirsts have been active in local tourism promotion efforts and the West River Regional Tourism and are tireless promoters of the North Dakota experience. Their books are full of complimentary notes from guests as they have enjoyed the tranquility of the ranch, a soak in the hot tub or an evening under the stars.

They share information about the badlands and surrounding area and work with local and North Dakota Tourism offices on a regular basis.  Much of the national publicity this area has experienced has been the result of the quality guest experience provided by Lone Butte Ranch. 

The Lone Butte Ranch is truly an example of what the tourism industry can do to expand economic opportunity for North Dakota agricultural families.