Contact:
Linda Netschert, 406-444-5103
[email protected]
Suzan Glosser, 406-444-5104
[email protected]
Sorcha Jones, 406-444-5102
[email protected]

THE HOUSE OF BAIR:
Sheep, Cadillacs and Chippendale

By: Lee Rostad
Published by: Lee Rostad
Produced by: Sweetgrass Books
Specs: 232 pages, 6" x 9",
98 blackand-white photos, 2 illustrations
Softcover: $18.95

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THE BAIRS: MONTANA’S FIRST DYNASTY
In The House of Bair: Sheep, Cadillacs and Chippendale, longtime friend of the Bair sisters and author Lee Rostad tells the story of one of the most remarkable families of the early nineteenth century.

The Bairs built a dynasty in the small ranching community of Martinsdale, Montana. Rostad details Charlie Bair’s astonishing financial success in ranching, mining, oil, and real estate.

The family left behind a legacy of philanthropy—and, displayed in their ranch house, a vast and invaluable collection of art and antiques.

A rich repository of Indian artifacts and Western art by such painters as C. M. Russell and Joseph Sharp blend with the priceless antiques—many gathered by Charlie’s daughters, Marguerite and Alberta, during their many trips to Europe—making the Bair ranch house one of the West’s most remarkable homes.

The Bairs left their home as a museum to the people of Montana—a seemingly simple request that ultimately divided friends, sparked numerous lawsuits, and made national headlines. Rostad details the community’s fight to save the ranch museum and uphold the wishes of these
beloved and colorful figures in Montana’s history.

The House of Bair is available at local bookstores and gift shops, through online retailers, or from distributor Farcountry Press at 1.800.821.3874, www.farcountrypress.com.

Praise for The House of Bair:
“Lee Rostad has done it again. Like her award-winning biography of poet and fiction writer Grace Stone Coates, The House of Bair offers us an insider’s view of the life and times of extraordinary
but undersung Montanans. With her deft storytelling, meticulous research and close ties to her subjects, Lee provides key insights into the history of the entire Bair clan, but it is especially her lively recounting of Alberta’s remarkable character and key contributions to Montana culture—including the house museum that bears the family name—that make The House of Bair such an engaging (and delightful) read.”
—RICK NEWBY, editor of The New Montana Story

“Lee Rostad has brought us a warm account of the Bair family and their place in Montana history, based on meticulous research and the reminiscences of a close friend. The wonderful photographs Lee has reproduced here will give readers an additional glimpse into a time so recent and yet so lost.”
—MARY CLEARMAN BLEW

“In The House of Bair, Lee Rostad vividly captures the adventurousness, derring-do and sharp-eyed dealings of Montana’s first dynasty, the Bair family—a dynasty that began with Charles Bair,
who arrived in Billings as a conductor on the Northern Pacific Railroad, and ended with heiress Alberta Bair, who hunted deer in her Cadillac on her sprawling Martinsdale ranch.”
—CAROLINE PATTERSON, editor of Montana Women Writers: A Geography of the Heart

“How wonderful to have a biography of such an important Montana family written by Lee Rostad, who actually knew her subjects and can give her readers personal accounts of the members of the “House of Bair.” So often biographies are pieced together from newspaper articles, letters, and interviews, and while they may be factually correct, they lack the personal touch that is so evident in this entertaining and enlightening read. I read it in one sitting, and I suspect most readers will, too!”
—SUE HART, Montana State University–Bilings

About the Author
LEE ROSTAD and her husband Phil ranch in the northern foothills of the Crazy Mountains, not far from the Bair Ranch. For many years, Lee wrote the Cattlewomen’s Column and also the social news for the county newspapers. Her first book was The Meagher County Sketchbook with LaVonne Rice, followed by Honey Wine and Hunger Root, Fourteen Cents and Seven Green Apples, Mountains of Gold, Hills of Grass, a history book of Meagher County, and Grace Stone Coates, Her Life in Letters (finalist, 2004 Willa Literary Awards). A graduate of the University of Montana, Lee did a year of postgraduate work as a Fulbright Scholar in England and spent a
year in Japan with her Air Force husband before settling down as a ranch wife in the Upper Musselshell Valley. She was recognized with a Governor’s Humanities Award in 2001 and an honorary doctorate from Rocky Mountain College in 1994, and she was named a Distinguished Alumni by the University of Montana in 2004. She currently serves on the Montana Historical Society Board.

For an interview, contact the author at 406-220-5528.

About Farcountry Press
Formed in 1980 and based in Helena, Montana, Farcountry Press is an award-winning publisher of softcover and hardcover color photography books, children’s series, guidebooks, cookbooks, and regional history titles nationwide.

Farcountry Press also distributes books for several publishers, including Northern Rockies Publishing, University Pride Publishing, and Sweetgrass Books, Farcountry’s custom-publishing division. www.farcountrypress.com

For a press kit (cover image, interior photos, author contact information), contact Linda Netschert at [email protected], 406.444.5103.