Nathan Nolan is about to live out a childhood dream.
On June 18, Nolan – his parents, Brandon and Leanne, and his brothers Hayden and Adam – will be boarding an airplane and traveling to western Montana. Once there, Nathan will unpack his belongings in his bunkhouse and begin his time as a ranch hand on a 14,000-acre cattle ranch owned and operated by Edward Chevallier.
“Ever since I was a kid, I’ve wanted to be a cowboy,” Nolan said. “Originally, I was going to get into work on an oil rig, but I decided I wanted to work on a ranch.”
Nolan, who graduated from Waynesboro Area Senior High School on May 30, will hit the ground running – or, more aptly, on four hooves. A horse is standard on a ranch and comes in handy while traversing the topography that hugs the Rocky Mountain range.
“The ranch (located at Canyon Creek) is about 20 minutes from Helena,” Nolan said. “It’s 14,000 acres and has 600 head of free-ranging cattle. Some of my responsibilities will be to make sure the irrigation works properly. It’s a lot of very hard work.”
About 85 percent of the Circle L Ranch is grazable land and good for hay. A part of a ranch hand’s duties is making hay bales and, of course, keeping the grass from becoming dormant from lack of moisture. The hands-on work also includes fixing fences where needed.
It’s work he is ready to undertake. Nolan has worked in his father Brandon’s masonry business. In his spare time, he saddles a horse and performs rodeo maneuvers not far from home.
“I am not an expert on horses. Ed knows a lot about horses. I’ll take every little piece I can from him,” Nolan said.
Nolan will need the skills he’s learning to rope cows in Hagerstown, Maryland, under the watchful eye of Eric Davis, who started Three Clover Ranch and built an arena. On the ranch, ranch hands rope the calves to bring them in for branding.
“I started doing that two years ago,” said Nolan. “Back then, it was a dream of mine to compete in rodeos. He has a small ranch in Hagerstown.”
And, thanks to his father’s connections with former Greencastle-Antrim High School alumni (Denton Marshall and Travis Young), the compass pointed north by northwest to Big Sky country.
“We like to go fly fishing, and Montana is the best place to go fly fishing,” said Brandon. “I did meet (Ed Chevallier) briefly. The stream we fished runs through his property. We knew Nathan wanted to do it, and I had the hook-up.”
Nathan’s living expenses are covered, meaning his earnings are his. He will also be given the use of a pickup truck.
And, there’s the natural beauty of the place.
“The scenery out there is nothing like here,” said Nolan. “There’s nothing like waking up in the morning and looking up at the Rocky Mountains.’
Nolan said he plans to work in Montana for six months.
“It’s a lifestyle; it’s not a 9-to-5 job,” Nolan said. “I’d rather do it now than when I’m 40 with a bad back.”
