Bruce and Betty Smith
The Smith Home

When Bruce and betty Smith lived in Fort Wayne, Ind., back in the 1990s, their vacation destination of choice was far to the west. In the rugged mountain country that makes Montana a favorite of both vacationers and retirees, they decided it would be their next home base.

“I’d fallen in love with the place the first time I visited,” says Bruce, “back in 1956.” Forty years later, the search for an ideal home site began. It ended four years later with the purchase of 20 acres of sagebrush, grasses, and pine on a former ranch about an hour from Yellowstone National Park. The setting for a dream log house was now ready.

“Betty and I bought log home magazines and checked out the photos,” says Bruce, “and we sent for brochures and floor plans.” But finally, the couple realized they had so many individual preferences they’d be better off doing their own design. They took their rough sketches to architect T.K. Ladd in Fort Wayne, who drew up a plan laid out in a unique modified fan shape. The wide curve would allow the most expansive views of a remarkable panorama. Sited on a bluff above the Yellowstone River, the house offers a perspective on five mountain ranges. “On a clear day, you can see 95 miles away to Bozeman,” says Bruce.

Getting the house built was another journey. “Our initial choice of log home producer didn’t work out at the agreed-on price,” Bruce reports. But at Real Log Homes, the regional sales manager, Ted Patterson, was able to accommodate to the Smiths’ design and budget requirements. Real Log Homes provided the specified 10-inch Swedish cope logs of western pine, plus all the working plans. Next stop was the recommended contractor, Bill Sielinsky.

“He’s an excellent builder,” says Bruce. “Being in Indiana and so far from Montana, we really had to rely on him. Over several months we went just two or three times to see how the work was going.” Today, the spacious three-level house looks well worth the wait. A long driveway curves around one side of the house to a roomy two-car garage. From here, there’s access to the basement level, which holds a family room, bedroom, full bathroom, exercise room, storage space, and wine cellar.

A staircase ascends to the main level and a great room flooded with daylight. This impressive space, furnished with a grand piano and comfortable leather seating, affords clear views of sky and mountains. For a closer look at nature, two doors lead to a wrap-around deck— 10 feet wide and 110 feet long—that just about doubles living space in seasonable weather.

In the great room, a hickory bar invites relaxation with its cane-back armrest barstools. Adjacent structural posts of 12-inch lodgepole pine not only provide support but also add to the Old West ambience. “There’s one post that seems to go right through the bar,” Bruce explains, “but it’s the result of precision sawing of the log and careful wedging.”

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