Archives West Finding Aid

Margaret J. Maclean was born on her family's ranch west of Conrad, Montana on September 9, 1913, the daughter of John S. and Mary Maclean. She received a teaching degree from Northern Montana College in Havre but only taught for one year before returning to the ranch where she lived the rest of her life. Maclean ended up inheriting the entire operation after the death of her parents and only brother, and for many years she ran all the ranch operations herself with the aid of hired help. An avid reader and passionate animal lover, Maclean worked hard to improve her cattle herd through scientific breeding methods and humane husbandry practices. She never married, and after her death willed considerable portions of her estate to the Humane Society of the United States, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and to the Great Falls, Montana animal shelter. She died in Conrad, Montana on April 11, 1997.