The ranch was established about 1903 by prospector Grosvener W. Barry on the South Fork Trail Creek.

[2] Barry introduced powered boats to the Bighorn River to carry dudes to the ranch from the railhead at Kane, Wyoming.

As a publicity stunt Barry, his stepson and a neighbor piloted the 16-foot (4.9 m) motorized Edith from the Hillsboro landing down the Bighorn, Yellowstone, Missouri and Mississippi rivers, leaving on May 31, 1913 and arriving in New Orleans on August 1.

[3] Grosvener W. Barry started life in New York and moved west with his wife Edith and her son from a previous marriage, Claude St. John.

His most ambitious effort raised $50,000 to ship a gold dredge to work a claim on the Bighorn River at the mouth of Trail Creek, which never recovered its costs.