Although the U.S. acquired the land that is now Montana through the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, it wasn’t until the late 1890s that homesteaders began settling in the remote area now known as Big Sky. In 1902, Augustus Franklin Crail established his homestead, which still stands today in Big Sky’s Meadow. For the next 70 years, the area was home to a small group of ranchers. It wasn’t until 1973, when NBC newscaster Chet Huntley opened Big Sky Resort, that the region began to take the shape it holds today.
