James Eugene (Jim) Carrig
1930-2026
Jim Carrig was born in Butte, Montana, on November 13, 1930. His mother, Maxine, was an RN. She worked hard, loved helping people, and loved her boys! Jim grew up spending his summers near Whitehall, MT, on a ranch with George and Harriet McKeown, primarily.
At the McKeown ranch, Jim became the little brother to their 3 boys. He had always had an interest in horses and ranch life, so before long, he and the McKeown brothers hunted for anything with 4 legs to test their prowess! He also had a friend named Sam who shared their interests, and there are many humorous stories about their shenanigans, bucking horses out of chutes at night. Once they took an old washbasin, bolted it to a sawed-off saddle tree, and learned a hard lesson with that disaster.
Work was a way of life from day one. While in grade school, he worked at the bowling alley setting up pins. During high school he delivered mail during Christmas break, and in the fall, he worked at the stockyards unloading transit stock or loads of baled hay. He often didn’t get home until midnight. At 14 he was driving a team putting up hay in the Big Hole. Somewhere in the middle of all these teen years, he sold Root Beer that he mixed up himself and sold from a little stand.
Jim’s knowledge and passion for grass and livestock production led him and his young family from Challis, Idaho to Buffalo, South Dakota and points in between, managing ranches. He started polo colts for the Sun Ranch of Cameron, Montana. Then onto Ekalaka, engineering conservation practices for the Soil Conservation Service (SCS). From 1957 – ’59, he inventoried resources for the Bureau of Indian Affairs on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming. The 60,000-acre Norris Ranch in Buffalo, S.D., challenged him from 1959-63 before he took a job planning, mapping, and inventorying the 12 ranches owned by Western Cattle Co. that were to be sold. After another stint with the SCS, where he was engaged in farm and ranch planning, Jim and family moved to the place they would call home for the next 11 years, the historic N Bar Ranch near Grass Range, Montana. The Elliott family owned the N Bar at the time, and their registered Angus business was thriving. Jim was at the helm of this 1200 head cow calf outfit when they produced the renowned breed-shaping bull, Emulation 31.
In 1979, Jim became the Farm Coordinator for the Animal & Range Sciences Department at Montana State University (MSU) where he stayed for seven years, sharing an office in the livestock pavilion with an old yellow tomcat named Peggy. Jim very much enjoyed those MSU days and the interaction with the students. The school would eventually incorporate into their Ag program a range management and record keeping system that Jim had created in his earlier days.
Jim had a knack with high-profile people and places he worked for. His candor and no-nonsense view of the world made it easy for folks to trust him. The N Bar, the Beartooth Polled Hereford Ranch of Absarokee (later owned by Mel Gibson), the K-M Ranch of Greenough (today known as Paws Up), and the Snowcrest Ranch of Alder, Montana, then owned by the VonTrapp family of “The Sound of Music” were some of those places. He also spent time working and consulting for the Padlock Ranch in Montana and Wyoming in the ‘90s.
After ‘retirement’ he spent many years hauling his beloved horse, Swede, to his children’s ranches where he helped with calving, doctoring yearlings, and branding, all things he truly loved. He was a pioneer in the AI (Artificial Insemination) cattle industry, starting in 1961.
Many will know and remember Jim for his artistic skills. He was a talented sculptor and sketch artist. His leather work was and is truly stunning. It would be a great undertaking to try and figure how many folks are wearing his belts, paying bills out of checkbooks displaying his covers, carrying his purses, displaying photo albums, playing dice with his cups, or cowboying in his saddles.
One of the things his girls remember with great fondness is the “work” he did on the Norris Ranch when they were little, interacting with a local Catholic priest who they knew as Father Don. He had a ministry to ex-convicts. Jim gave them a place to work, play and interact with his family.
Jim passed away peacefully on July 9th, never regaining consciousness after surgery on a broken hip. He was a humble man who lived with great intentionality and integrity. He is survived by his 5 children: Kathy (Richard) Holzer, Molly (Frank) Porter, Kevin Carrig, Erin (Russell) Waddington, and Shawn (Ginger) Carrig. He had 12 grandchildren, 32 great grandchildren, and 1 great-great granddaughter.
A Celebration of Life will be held at 3 P.M. on Saturday, August 8th at Dokken-Nelson Funeral Service in Bozeman. www.dokkennelson.com
