Flaming Arrow Ranch and Office

A winding log-lined path leads the visitor to this magnificent home tucked into the side of a timbered knoll, with the scenic Bridger mountain range in the distance. The ranch house appears through a shroud of pine and fir trees MT NATIONAL REGISTER SIGN TEXT 1990 TO APRIL 2019 like the timbers from which it was expertly crafted.

Arthur McKinney, creator of the Flaming Arrow Ranch, designed this home as a family retreat and office. It was, however, an unfinished shell when McKinney died suddenly in 1935 at the age of 49. McKinney’s vision had been to establish a first-rate boys’ ranch on his property; death came on the threshold of this reality.

Although the camp was used over time for various purposes, the McKinney’s home stood unfinished until separately purchased in 1958. Owners Harold and Margaret Titus completed the residence. Its Rustic style architecture speaks to the emerging recreational interest of the public in the Western wilderness and reflects the evolution of the style from 1910 to 1940.

A three-story log turret reminiscent of the romantic Victorian era nestles into the toe of the L-shaped home. A field stone fiddle-back chimney and fireplace, sloped wood ceilings supported by decorative log trusses, log walls, and rustic staircase convey a warm, mellow ambience tempered only by breathtaking views.

Taking its name from the McKinneys’ long dismantled Silver Forest Theater, the Silver Forest Inn opened here in the 1990s, treating guests to the rustic, gracious hospitality that was the essence of Arthur McKinney’s dream.