OK, I admit it, I love cowboys. I love old cowboys even better. This is an article I wrote for the paper and got permission to post. Ban happens to be my grandfather. I think it's a hoot. Hope you like it...
“I am not German, I’m Austrian,” former XIT rancher Ed Ban and Terry native said with resolve, “Dad came to America looking for work and to escape the wars. He eventually found his way to Montana.”
Ban still enjoys the widely acclaimed movie “Lonesome Dove.” He recalled a scene where Woodrow Call was trying to convince Gus McCrae to go to Montana, “It’s a cattleman’s paradise to hear Jake tell it,” Call said.
Of course, McCrae responded, “Sounds like a damn wilderness if you ask me. And we’re a shade old to start fightin’ Indians all over again, don’t you think?...I’ll tell you what. You ride on up there, clear out the Indians, build a little cabin, get a nice fire goin’ in the fireplace and me and Jake will gather a herd and then we’ll come on up.”
Call responded, “I wanna do it, Gus. I wanna see that country, before the bankers and lawyers all git it.”
Like Call, Ban’s dad, Nick Ban, “...knew the grass was better in Montana. It was a cattleman’s paradise. It still is. It took Dad 10 years of herding sheep, working the mines and being a ranch hand to get the money to bring my mother and brother, Ivan, over from Austria,” Ban said.
Eventually, Ban said, his father saved enough money to buy land for about 10 cents an acre when the 1919 hard winters came and the owner of the XIT ranch, a ranch just off road 253 between Terry to Brockway, went under. “Dad worked very hard and bought the land over time, especially during the Great Depression. Eventually he owned 15,360 ares,” Ban said.
Ban said he did not know the history of the XIT Ranch until later in his life. “The owners of the original XIT ranch in Texas (the largest ranch in the world under fence) would take the cattle to Montana in the summer because of the terrible droughts in Texas. Growing up, there was still a barn that was used by the original XIT cowboys, but it burned down,” he said.
Ban said the book “6,000 Miles of Fence,” portrays the everyday life of the individuals who made the XIT ranch run within its 6,000 miles of fence. The book devotes an entire chapter to Montana, specifically mentioning Glendive, Terry, Fallon and Miles City, Ban said.
“There wasn’t much fun when I was growing up, it was a lot of hard work I tell ya. For fun, we’d go down to the cold spring water and clean up a little. We would also get to watch rodeos about three miles up the hill from where we lived,” Ban said with a chuckle.
The Early Years
Ban had four siblings, of which he’s the second to the youngest. “If we were ornery, my mother (Mary Ban) would hit us with a coal stoker. Dad would educate us by using a razor strap. That’s why we turned out good, because we got a spanking when we were bad. Kids today are spoiled, and that’s why they are rotten,” Ban added.
Ban said he went to country school for four years before his parents sent their children to live with some family friends in Terry to attend school. The Ban children returned to the XIT every weekend to help with the family ranch. Ban attended the fifth grade through his sophomore year in Terry. “For work in town, I would go to the Reynolds Store to get grub for the family I stayed with. I would also, for ten cents a bucket, get the weeds out of people’s yards. Of course, a candy bar was a nickel back then,” Ban said.
One year, Ban said he played “hookie” for four days to work on a trash machine, separating grain from straw. “I made $16 and thought I was rich. I didn’t tell my parents though. You can’t tell them everything,” he said.
School was hard for Ban, as he has had difficulty with his hearing since he was stricken with Scarlet Fever as a baby. “I couldn’t learn much because I couldn’t hear. I think I would have been sharp and become a doctor or a lawyer. They make all the money ... If kids would call me a dummy, I would tell them to meet me after school and we’d get into fist fights. Us country kids were tougher than the city kids because we did all the work. But, I’ve learned more on the outside by watching people and doing things myself,” he said.
When Ban’s family “had the time” and was not working, it would attend Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Terry. “Like I said, pretty much all we did was work. We didn’t have much time to play or fool around,” he said.
At age 21, Ed, along with two of his brothers, bought the XIT ranch from their father. It wasn’t until Ban got married, that he decided to separate from ranching with his brothers in order to ranch on his own.
At his prime, Ban ran 225 head of cattle and 200 head of sheep on his 7,680 acres of the XIT ranch. He adopted his own brand, which was ED with a quarter circle on top. “The key to ranching is working hard. If you manage your money well, you can ranch. It takes work,” Ban said.
Finding Love
Though he was no stranger to hard work, Ban also admitted to going into Terry for a drink every now and again after a “sun up to sun down” day’s work on the ranch. “My favorite back in the day was a little whiskey mixed with ginger ale,” he said.
It was on one of those nights in 1957 where Ban entered the Yellowstone Bar in Terry and fixed his eyes on his future wife, DeLaine “Skippy” Brasseuer. “After a few drinks I got up the courage to tell the bar tender to buy the two girls (Skippy was sitting with her sister, “Kitty”) at the end of the bar a drink. After a few more drinks I got the courage to go ask Skippy out,” Ban said with a half smile.
Brasseuer and Ban dated for over a year until they were married on Jan. 17, 1959. When they were dating, Ban recalled one funny story where Skippy had asked to borrow $50. “I asked her what she was going to use it for, but she didn’t tell me. After a week or so I finally gave it to her, but I didn’t think I’d get it back. We had only been dating for a little time, and I didn’t trust her yet. She finally did pay it back – all in change – and threw it down in front of me one day, saying here’s your money you tight wad!” Ban said it was after this encounter he figured she was safe to marry.
On their honeymoon, Ban bought a brand new 1959 Ford Convertible after Skippy’s car’s transmission went out in Wyoming. “Skip convinced me to buy that thing right off the lot. We put 5,000 miles on it. We went as far as Las Vegas. I miss Skip’s hair blowing in the wind and all those scarfs she used to wear. She was the life of any party. She was a lot of fun,” Ban said.
Ban recalled a comical story after they had gotten married, “We were feeding cattle. She was driving truck, and I was in the back spreading hay out of a gunny sack. I told her to turn and she stepped on the gas. I fell off and heard her laughing a few hundred yards up. She was always up to something.”
In 1960, Skippy was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. “I never even thought about divorcing Skip even though we’d just been married a short time. I made a commitment and I was going to follow through. I took care of her until the day she died. We were married for 41 years,” Ban added.
Selling the Ranch
In 1980, Skippy was wheelchair-bound, and in 1989, Ban finally had to sell the ranch to care for her. “It was hard for me. The only life I knew was the ranch and working. But taking care of Skip along with working the ranch myself was just too much for me. We spent 18 winters together down around Arizona to help her MS too,” Ban said.
After selling his portion of the XIT ranch, Ban bought 19 acres just outside of Terry and manned 25 head of cattle (which also was eventually sold) as well as started his lawn care business, which he still owns today. For a short time, he managed the Prairie County Manor and also dealt poker at the Roy Rogers Saloon in Terry. “Skip loved to play poker while I dealt. She loved people and getting out,” Ban added.
“Skippy died Jan. 23 in 2002, and the last two years I had to do everything for her. It was the right thing to do, but it was a lot of work. She could always make me laugh though. I get lonely without her at times, but working on a ranch by myself taught me to deal with it,” Ban said.
Still Keeping Busy
Today, Ban can be seen doing yard work for locals wearing Levi polyester dress pants and wearing his dirty cowboy hat while working. “Real cowboys wear Levis or Wranglers. Real cowboys have dirty hats. I will work until the day I die. If I didn’t work, I’d be as big as a couch. Too many retired people just sit around and get fat,” he joked.
Ban is also the caretaker for the same Catholic church he went to as a child. “My faith is a big part of who I am,” he said.
In addition, Ban continues to eat at the Prairie County Senior Citizens Center a few times each week, helps many of the older women within the community, visits his two children and several grandchildren in Billings and Glendive, bakes his famous zucchini bread for family and friends, watches rodeo, plays cards and rolls dice almost every day at the Four Corner Cenex Station in Terry. “We usually always bring up the price of gas. It is important to know what is going on in the world, so sometimes we talk about the issues. The boys get mad at me though, because I tend to win the dice money,” Ban joked.
If a person was to take a trip with Ban to the XIT ranch down the now oiled road 253, Ban would not forget to point out that some of his original fencing (3.5 miles) is still “in tact.” The fence, according to Ban, was put up to keep his cattle from getting killed, “I sure wasn’t gonna get anything from a dead cow.”
If a person was to drink some Folgers coffee with Ban, he would not forget to tell him in a stern, Austrian kind of way, “I used to drink mine with cream, but that makes a person fat and just wastes time.”
Ban also still makes it a point to recommend to his friends and acquaintances that it is important to add a little vinegar into one’s oatmeal, adding, “It keeps a person slim. It cleans out the pipes.”
As for marrying again or moving to Billings to be with his daughter, Ban joked, “If I die first, I won’t move to Billings. Besides, if I leave, who will take care of all these older ladies? I’d never get married again. Some girls still chase me, but I have to be careful. That’s no kidding. When you get married, they always want to go, go, go and spend money. I’m done with that.”
No Regrets
Overall, Ban said he has no regrets, concluding, “Really, I loved the ranch life. The only thing I wish I would have done differently is waited to sell my ranch. I would have made a lot more money. I’ve had a good life. The only thing I want people to remember me for is that I was good man and worked hard for this town and these people. Folks here are the best around. ... It has been sad to watch the town grow smaller and smaller, but I have hope that eventually it will build back up.”
While many people who know Ban would say he is conservative, narrow-minded, old-fashioned, hard-nosed, most people who know Ban would also probably say he is one of Terry’s finest what-you-see-is-what-you-get kind of cowboys with a duty-bound determination to help most anybody. They might also say Ban makes some of the best zucchini bread around.
