Nebraska Publications

Links of publications:

1) http://ruralinitiative.nebraska.edu/index.html
Go To Home Page – Select Energy Organizations & Businesses in Nebraska – Select Double R Guest Ranch

2) www.ritzhospitalitymag.com
(FOR LINK TO WEBSITE) Go to RHM ADVERTISER LINKS (BOTTOM OF PAGE) – GUEST RANCH – DOUBLE R GUEST RANCH

THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE WAS PUBLISHED IN THE RITZ HOSPITALITY MAGAZINE, ROCKY MOUNTAIN EDITION SPRING/SUMMER 2007

“About Sandhill, Nebraska Double R Ranch
This Nebraska guest ranch lies in the Heart of the Sandhills, 20 mi N of Mullen and 50 S. of Valentine on Hwy. 97. It is in a land of spring-fed lakes and lush fields of open prairie; a land where cattle out-number the people. Whether you seek quiet serenity or an outdoor adventure, you can experience both at the Double R Guest Ranch.

You will enjoy the feeling of sand hill solitude in the cabins which are situated in a secluded, wooded area. They are nestled at the base of the steep hills that surround the lush, green valley of the Home Valley Lake. The deluxe cabins have comfortable accommodations; including, kitchenettes complete with all dishes, utensils, pans, and appliances; all you have to bring is your food. The cabins are open year round to anyone seeking tranquility and relaxation away from the fast paced, workaday world.

Sportsmen will enjoy white-tail and mule deer hunting over spectacular, 4-wheel accessible, terrain. They can shoot the abundant waterfowl and hunt the plentiful upland game; including, sharp-tail grouse, dove, and pheasant. Fish private, spring-fed lakes, and hike the sandy dunes, observing an amazing diversity of birds, wildlife and wild flowers.

The many pelicans and shore birds can be observed throughout the day. Eagles and hawks can be seen riding the waves of air currents, or sleeping on the nearby fence posts, seemingly oblivious to their surroundings. At dusk the hills sport the deepest shades of green and make for the best photography. At nightfall, the howling coyotes with their yipping pups, may remind you that Mother Nature is on continual watch providing for all of her creatures.

History buffs can explore onsite, the original 1908 three room sod house and one-room schoolhouse. Stargazers from all over the USA come to this area to study and view the stars because the sky is so big and is free of interference from city lights. Ranch tours and adventures, and canoe trips on the Middle Loup and Dismal rivers are also available.

Call or e-mail us today for additional information. The Double R is a near-perfect, year round, retreat for your next get-away holiday!”

By -Pat Bridges

3) www.westnebraska.com


Select Lodging – Guest Ranches and then Double R Ranch

4) AAA Living Nebraska issue July/August 2006 pg. 25

7) Hooker County Tribune Mullen, NE December 14, 1995
And
Midland News Valentine, NE November 29, 1995

“Little Red Schoolhouse preserves Sandhills history
Editor’s Note: This article appeared in last week’s issue of the Midland News.

About 58 miles south of Valentine and three auto gates east, near the shores of Marsh Lake, lies a little piece of Sandhills history. It’s a one-room schoolhouse; merely a hutch by today’s standards, but which was, in it’s day a luxury borne of the high priorities placed in education by parents, many first- and second-generation immigrants.

When it was built around 1912, one-roomers were as common a sight as the buffalo that roamed the same hills scant decades before. But unlike the buffalo, which are enjoying resurgence in numbers, the one room country school is quietly; swiftly going the way of the sod house. And like the sod house, many abandoned country schools are being lovingly preserved as a time capsule of the education many remember, and many long for in this ever-changing, megabyte-ridden world.

This little red schoolhouse was once the home of Cherry County School District 66, according to its caretaker, Pat McDuffee Bridges, granddaughter of one of the school’s founders.
In the first decade of this century, Dr. R. G. (Doc) Roth, the man who delivered many of the “old-timers” in southern Cherry County, and other area residents began to see a need for a school in the area. Other one room schools in the county were accessible yet far enough away to create a hardship for the growing populations around the valleys surrounding the Horse and Big Creeks north of Mullen.

Around 1912, District 66 was opened with five students enrolled, Pat’s mother and aunt, Mildred and Elsie Roth, were two of its first students, who rode horseback from their sod house, which is still standing, north of the school.

Pat’s mother, the late Mildred Roth McDuffee, eventually became a teacher in Mullen and surrounding rural Mullen and surrounding rural schools before settling in Broken Bow where Pat was raised. Her aunt, Elsie, grew up to teach in District 66 upon completion of Normal School training in Mullen. Miss Roth eventually went on to become Cherry County Superintendent of Schools. Never failing in her love of learning, Elsie Roth now resides in the Mullen Nursing Home, where she still learns a new word every day.

After nearly 70 years, over 20 teachers and hundreds of little feet trodding upon its floors, District 66 was closed forever in 1981. A few years later, Pat and her husband, Jim Bridges, purchased her Aunt Elsie Roth’s ranch, 10 miles south of the school. In 1987, the Bridges’ and Miss Roth approached the school board with an offer to purchase the school and restore it if it could be moved to the Marsh Lake Valley.

The Board, concerned with the possible cattle damage potential to the school and out of affection to Elsie, presented the school to Miss Roth as a gift for her untiring devotion to the residents of District 66. Pat recalled this act as being one of the most meaningful experiences in her Aunt Elsie’s life.

The school was moved 10 miles with the help of a stack mover and four very patient men: Jim Bridges, his hired hand Johnny Golden, Jim O’Brien and Chuck Anders. It was reportedly a learning experience, and one the men are in no hurry to repeat.

For Pat, the work had just begun. She peeled off the wallpaper to find the paperboard beneath was rotten. Walls were sheet rocked and papered, the floor was refinished, and windows were repaired. The original outhouses and playground equipment were moved with the school and now stand in the one acre tract.

The walls are lined with shelves of books belonging to Bridges, her mother, aunt, and grandfather, Dr. Roth. There are novels, textbooks, travel, inspirational, and how-to books; books of poetry and medicine or any subject one can imagine. Pat hasn’t counted all of the books but she said, “Between the four of us, we’ve got pretty much every subject covered.”

Pat enjoys wading through the old books which include works of Shakespeare, Dickens, Sir Walter Scott and Zane Grey. She especially enjoys her grandfather’s old medical references. “I found a chapter in one book which tells how a woman should look, how she should behave and what is expected of her in public,” she laughed. Pat loves sharing the school with visitors, which have included friends and neighbors as well as people from Sweden, Spain, New York and Washington state, to name a few. She has begun recording a history of the school and keeps a list of the teachers and the students enrolled during their terms. Some of the families included are Marsh, Shears, Sweet, Long, Rice, Sherman, Hale, Wright, Carpenter, and Prentice, many of which still reside in the Mullen area.