William and Mary Henneberry Homestead
The well-preserved buildings and pristine agricultural landscape surrounding the Henneberry Homestead epitomize Beaverhead Valley ranch life in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Before the discovery of gold on nearby Grasshopper Creek in 1862, Shoshone, Salish, Blackfeet, Nez Perce, and Crow people hunted and traded in the valley for generations. Ranching emerged in the early 1860s to supply the nearby gold-rush towns of Bannack and Virginia City with food and livestock. William Henneberry’s father Michael moved to the Beaverhead Valley in 1866. That year, he and his cousin James Ryan built a toll road from south of Lima to present-day Dillon, which they operated until 1875. Beginning in 1871, the Henneberry family also ranched in Beaverhead Canyon. William purchased property and claimed homestead land north of his parent’s ranch circa 1883. Early improvements included a log cabin, stable, irrigation ditches, and seven acres of cropland valued at $1,000. Both the cabin and the house (built in 1905) display skillfully hand-hewn logs and full dovetail corner notches, reflecting excellent craftsmanship. William married Mary Mooney in 1898. Over the next thirty-two years, they raised cattle, added a chicken coop built from railroad ties, a log barn, root cellar, and icehouse, and accumulated more than 1,000 acres. William died in 1930, and Mary inherited the ranch. In 1932, she married John Ney, the Henneberrys’ former hired man, and they operated the ranch until 1955. In 2009, the Bureau of Land Management rehabilitated the house and improved the homestead site for use as a recreation rental property.
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