Accordion Dog Gates

- [mark] up next ontoday's wild west: a montana dude ranch thatcould change your life. - and every bit ofthis we cut by hand. - [mark] a lifechanging encounter with montana sweet grass.

Accordion Dog Gates, the art of thecustom cowboy hat. plus a visit with atrue woman of the west, montana horsetrainer, boot-maker and artist, tammy pate.

- i was on a horsewhen i was a week old. (laughs) with my dad. (harmonica music) - [mark] cowboymusic in monterey. ♪ she belongs to the land - [mark] it's all next on today's wild west! the wild west... it's still out there.

we'll show you how to find it. this is today's wild west. (clattering hooves) - [mark] the rocky mountains. god's greatest sculpture. that line from themovie jeremiah johnson rings especially trueon this summer day in northern montana. there's no better wayto gaze at the towering

peaks and awesome vistas,than from the back of a horse. it may look like we're inthe middle of the wilderness, but this is actuallyjust a day ride out of deep canyon ranch. on a ride of justa couple of hours, we'll ford a mountain river, ride trails that cutthrough deep woods, and emerge into avast mountain meadow with spectacular views.

our leader iswrangler dave hovde, who's been givingtourists what he calls his backyard formore than 35 years. - [dave] you like to showpeople your backyard, your house, whatever. something thatyou've put together. well i didn't put this together, but it's a really cool place and it's my backyard and ilove to show it to people.

- [mark] at lunch wetie up the horses, take a perch up topa cliff that towers above the nearby ranchheadquarters far below. but as magnificentas this country is, it wouldn't be much fun tobe out here all by yourself. although the rocky mountainfront is a powerful attraction, but there's something deeperthat draws guests to this ranch and keeps people likejoanne vincent coming back year after year.

- [joanne] well, thepeople are very nice. that's one thing, everybody'sso relaxed and so friendly and everything is so nice,like the scenery, everything. it's just incredible. (laughs) i always wanna go back. i feel more home here, than my own place. - yeah?- yeah. i always cry when i leave.

that's for sure. - [mark] lots of tearsare shed at this place that's really more ofa refuge for the soul than anything else. - [debra] we get a lotof guests, i think, that come here with a lot going on in their lives, anda lot of times it's women, surprisingly enough, that come here,

cause they're goingthrough something they find that they're needingto sort through. - a trip to deep canyon ismore than just a vacation, as important as that is. time spent here givespeople a chance to get out from under the pressuresof day to day life and perhaps reflect onwhere their lives are going. and the wonderful familythat owns this ranch, believes it's their missionto help people do just that.

- they come andwithin the first day they're just layingit all out there and they find an environmentthat they can trust and we really feel likeit is a ministry of sorts, because we just treatthem like they're a friend and we do genuinely care forwhat they're going through. - [mark] debra renteria runsthe ranch with her parents chuck and sharon blixrud,who've been welcoming guests to this part of the westfor more than 56 years.

- [chuck] our mission is tohelp people reset their clocks. sometimes when you're working,you can't see a solution and then you get awayfrom it for a little while and all of a suddenthe answers come. that's a lot of what ithink we're here for. - [mark] now don't get me wrong, deep canyon is a western ranch. it's great to be up in themorning and watch the sun light up thesurrounding granite.

a cool old buffalo skullhangs from the ranch gate. dave is up early to saddleup the wrangle horse who's been kept inovernight in the corral, to ride out and gather theguest horses from their pasture. - we'll see you in alittle while, alright? - [mark] there's nocows here om the ranch. instead this mountaincountry is home to elk, deer and bear. dave's more of apacker than a cowboy,

a horseman who leadswilderness pack trips into the back country asopposed to cattle drafts. but, it's still plenty western. - [dave] there is a certainmystique about the west and cowboys and we'repart of that, you know, just with our horses andmules and what we do. (cowbell rings) - [mark] people come hereto experience the west, however without people,

the west can be nothingmore than real estate. but this magnificent country, the horses, the rusticlodge and all the rest, provides the perfect settingfor people to connect. - [dave] you know, it'sjust a cool place to be, but once they come here,what you end up doing is building arelationship with them. so they end up goinghome as friends. they come as guests,go home as friends.

and that's the big thing,you know, that's what causes them to come back again. - [mark] you might just comeback for the good food too. like thick slices of ham, and dutch babypancakes for breakfast. - [debra] that's all apart of the experience too, is eating well. we have a long history ofgood cooks in our family and so we,

that's important tous, the standard of what comes out of the kitchen. - [mark] this is a riding ranch, but the streams thehorses cross are also excellent for fishing. you can hike, watch birds, explore the wildflowers, or just chill. - we've got one guy fromnew york that comes for three weeks every spring.

he brings several bottlesof scotch and several cigars and he never leaves thegrounds on foot by any means. he drives to town everyday and gets the newspaper and comes back and he just sits. he stays in the track vinewhere he can see ear mountain and he's happy. he feels like he comes home. he feels like he's cominghome for three weeks. - [mark] but deep canyonalso has a history of

drawing those whoneed more than that, like the newlywidowed 28 year old, who wound up sharing hertearful story with debra. - the day she was checking out, she said, "i don't wanna leave". and she says, "idon't suppose you have something for me to do?". long story short,i got to thinking, cause we ended up short-handed.

we knew we were gonnabe short-handed comethe 1st of august and i called her and i said,"hey, what do you think", and she said, "i would love to". she just felt that thiswas a really good place to work through hersadness and her grief. she felt safe andloved and cared for, and so she'll be back. that's actually, i think,what this place does. - [mark] debra says manypeople take a vacation

that doesn't provideany real relief. not the case here. as grand as themountain ride can be, it's really just a gatewayto a place of restoration and even healing. - the feeling of contentmentand peace and relaxation, i think, doessomething to your soul. - when people leave andyou see a tear in their eye or you get a good firmhandshake when they leave,

that's what's rewarding. - people come and they justfall into an easy pace here that i think when theyleave, they just feel like they've really had a vacation. - [mark] up next,making candles, soaps, and dreams come true,with montana sweetgrass. on a quiet country roadoutside great falls, montana, you'll find a small field oftenderly cultivated grass. it may not look like much,but this fragrant plant

is known as sweetgrass. braided bundles of thegrass have been burned as a kind of incense forcountless generations in sacred nativeamerican ceremonies. today the precious harvestfrom this tiny plot of ground, and the candles, soaps andother products made from it, are making the dreams ofnative american toni mcclue finally come true. - my daughter in law few upfrom california and said,

"you're gonna do this." i'm getting choked up. (people laughing) anyway, it's -- (clears throat)give me a minute. - [mark] 15 yearsearlier, the single mom spotted an intriguing basketof sweetgrass displayed at a gift store. - [toni] and i thought, hmm,that's very interesting.

you know, i think thatwould be interesting. let's go this way. - [mark] an idea began to grow,one that never let her go. - and i had this businessin my head for a long time. i had not... i knew what my labelswere gonna look like. i knew what the bottling wasgonna look like and everything, but it was all in my head. - [mark] but at times workingseveral jobs just to survive,

an idea is all it remained. then six yearsbefore our interview, toni's hours werecut back to part time and she finally quit, took the plunge, launched her business and never looked back. - [toni] one day i walkedout there and i thought, "just do it", you know?

- [mark] a one timeart instructor, toni put her creativity to work. cultivating her grass,marketing it in bunches, braids, soaps, body mist,baths salts, candles, and other products. candles made of sweetgrass. - [toni] well it has thesweetgrass scent to it. - [mark] the great appeal ofsweetgrass is its sweet scent, which comes from thecoumadin the plant contains,

a chemical used tomake blood thinner. toni grows all of herown grass and gets two harvests a yearout of this plot. but it's a lot of work. - we actually sitdown in the grass and every bit ofthis we cut by hand. with scissors, we'll grab ahandful and cut, cut, cut, cut. we've done this whole field. - once it's harvested and cut

and it's laying in aswath out in the field, then we'll bring it in and we'll clean it. - [mark] it takes upto three cleanings to get the grass prepared tomarket in bunches or braids. - [toni] and we do thousandsof these at a time. - [mark] and nothing is wasted. any excess clippingsare used to create toni's handmade candlesand other scented products.

and the learning never ends. - the sweetgrass has taught me, every year it teaches mesomething new, doesn't it? every year. i'm always, i'vetold jill, i said, i learn something every yearin how to raise sweetgrass or how to tie or do, you know. - [mark] nativeamericans still burn sweetgrass braids asa smudging incense.

sunlight can fade the color,but the bunches and braids can last for year. - now it's a questionthat's always asked. so i found some grassthat was five years old and i hydrated it and braided it and it smelled like ipicked it yesterday. and it looked like ipicked it yesterday. - [mark] toni's sweetgrassproducts have three endorsements from the state of montana.

montana grown, montana made,and since she is chipeewa-cree, native american made as well. the only challengeis making enough. - [toni] well itwas such a big hit, i can't grow enough grass now. and my crop is probablyfour times bigger than when i first started, andthat still isn't enough. - [mark] toni's montanasweetgrass business has blossomed through nothingmore than word of mouth,

without even a website, carried by storesall over montana and shipped all over thecountry and around the world. - [toni] i just didn't realizewhat demand there was for it or how many people evenreally knew about it. you know, it was somethingi thought that only maybe the natives knewabout at that time, but as i've been sellingit i'm finding out that there's a lot of interest in it.

- [mark] step throughthe swinging doors of the law dog hat companyand you've actually entered an artist's studio. - [randy] it's awearable piece of art. not only is it a piece of art, it becomes part of that person. - [mark] the son ofmontana artist bill rains, known for hislife-sized sculptures, randy rains has been usinghis own creative talent

and design to buildcustom cowboy hats for the past 35 years. - just being artistic,it's in the blood. and when you takethat piece of felt and turn it into something, it's just a wonderfulfeeling to me. i just love it. - [mark] the dozensof hand crafted hats displayed in his billing shop,

are an amazing varietyof shapes, sizes, styles and colors. who would imagine thereare so many variations on a cowboy hat? - people sometimes think, there's black and brownand silver, really and that's all thechoices there are. there's more than that. same with the brim.

some people like a big brimthat they can't find anywhere? we'll do all that. whatever you wannado, i'm your guy. - [mark] some derby hatswere in the mix as well and the one that grabseveryone's attention is the purple top hat, ordered by a musicianwho never picked it up. - [randy] yeah, thatone is one of the most tried on hats in the shop.

- [mark] randy was just19 when he was first hired to clean and repair hatsat a custom hat shop and within months was promotedto making hats himself. - [randy] somethingcoming from me has got to look really good. so i took that as my ownproduct, if you will. these are called hatbodies or hat blanks. - [mark] like apainter's blank canvas, randy starts with araw felt hat body.

- when it's finished and done into a customer's hat,we finish like that. so we'll take the raw blank,put it over the steamer. - [mark] it usuallytakes a good half day to craft a custom hat. - and i pull thatover the block. - [mark] but on this saturday, randy gives us aquick-time demonstration. - the rope here ensuresthat the size isn't gonna

stretch out on it. - [mark] locking inthe hat is step one. - it's gonna be a 7 and an 8. - [mark] to sizing. - a six inch crown,which is open, from this point to that point and forward-spread isthe most common size. (sizzling) - [mark] a steam ironflattens out the brim,

which is then trimmed. - [mark] then comesthe sandpaper. - [randy] as long as youknow what you're doing you're not gonna hurt it. you're actually gonnamake this felt smooth, cause it's got a roughfeel to it right now. - [mark] afteranother dose of steam and a spray or two of stiffener, shaping begins, withthe crease of the crown.

- you wanna make sure it'sexactly in the middle. - [mark] the fit of thehat depends on the shape of the customer's head,which come in a wide variety. - round, crooked. we've had a hat thatsat on them for years, it's always sat off the leftor always set off the right. i've never had one fit. i think we talkedabout it with you. - [mark] i'm one ofthose who's always had

a tough time getting acowboy hat to fit right, until i came to see randy. - [randy] they always thoughtthe hat was messed up. what does it mean? that person's headmight be crooked. it might be too round. all that i can fix. and that's what peoplelike, is it's for years i dealt with this and ididn't know it was me.

but when they leave hereand they're thrilled, because their hatsits straight on, that's a great feeling also. see this has all beenwhat i call the fun part. - [mark] some hatmakers use a machine to measure a customer'shat size and shape, but all randy needs isa cloth tape measure. - as looking at their hat,i can always tell if it's round or crooked,long-oval, round-oval.

it's part of being inbusiness for so many years. i can't help but lookat a person's head. their hat. i see movies, i'mlooking at hats. - [mark] and he can makeany custom hat you want, including duplicating one fromyour favorite western movie. - most of the time i'llhave the movie and i just fast-forward, pause it on justa perfect shot of that hat and make it just like it.

- [mark] a westernfilm is always playing on the big screentv in randy's shop, which is decorated withhis collection of vintage western movie posters. - i love old westermovie posters. this particular print i found. - [mark] randy makes therustic wood frames himself, along with much of thefurniture in his shop. most of which is for sale.

woodworking, another passionof this talented man. - [randy] i had ideas offurniture i wanted for my shop and you couldn't just findwhat i'm looking for anywhere. so i thought, you know, i'dbeen wood working for years, so i'm just gonnamake my own stuff. - [mark] that's beautiful. - thank you. - [mark] it is a very cool shop. - [randy] i'll be working ona hat or i might see a movie

or something and belike, i like that hat, this could be done or thiscan be done and i'll go, you know, i need tomake one like that. - [mark] many ofrandy's customers never actually set foot in billings, ordering over the phoneor online instead. but however it's done, thegoal is always the same. - whatever makes themhappy, that's what i do. ♪ california or bus, yeah

♪ that's the storyof the wagon rolling ♪ story of thewagon rolling, yes ♪ story of thewagon rolling west (audience applauds) - [mark] welcome tothe monterey cowboy poetry and music festival. - [festival goer] there'snot a whole lot of people that really paintthe way he painted. - i'm so excitedabout this happening.

- [mark] a three daygathering of western art, artisans, cowboy poetsand singer-songwriters. - [mark] all in celebrationof the western lifestyle. - [festival goer]everything about it. i like being on myhorses, you know. i like roping, doctoring cattle. - it's just great toshow our history and, you know, getting togetherwith other ranch families. - we came for the sonsof the san joaquin.

(cowboy music) - [mark] the cowboy musicyou hear at this festival is not the country musicyou hear on the radio. instead, it's stories of thecowboy life of the rural west often told by performerswho've lived it. - i tell him that cowboy'sa verb, not a noun. it's what you domore than a name. - [mark] like poet and storyteller waddie mitchell, who spent decades as aworking nevada cowboy.

- i spent 26 years as a buckaroo and now i talk about it. - of course, it'smore of a lifestyle than it is a business, ya know? we just love the music and the poetry and allthat kind of thing. keeping the westernlifestyle alive. ♪ last night i had ♪ a cowboy's dream

- [mark] the beloved donedwards is one of the best known performersin cowboy music, which has been aroundas long as cowboys. - [don] actually cowboy musicwas a branch of folk music. everybody knew old cowboy songs. you know, the old chishamtrail and whoopie ti yi yo and all those old cowboysongs that they sang. - this is a song thati wrote after some conversations with myson on a satellite phone

a few weeks before he cameback from afghanistan. - [mark] but the tunes aren'tjust about loping along and singing a song. after all, life in the west,with its harsh weather, hard work and a long day'shorseback, is no easy thing. the performers aren't shyabout ranting about those realities and otherissues as well. ♪ that transportchopper is leaving now ♪ to take us to the plane

♪ me and my boys just go ♪ so lord, heal our nation ♪ oh lord, heal our land - [mark] but while the topicscan sometimes get serious -- - it's not that easy trying to make a go ofit in this day and age as an accordionplaying gilding cowboy. - [mark] there's no onequite like sourdough slim to lighten the mood.

- in fact, i hate to bringit up, but this accordion has been in to the pawnbroker so many times, he can play the thingbetter than i can. (audience laughing) (accordion and harmonica music) - [mark] cowboy musiccomes in many forms. (guitar music)(vocalizes) - [mark] katymoffatt is seranading to a girl's best friend.

her pistol. ♪ it's radiating heat ♪ from the custom holster (violin music) - [mark] the westernswing and jazz flavored music of cow bop. ♪ real real real love ♪ for it is hard to be alone ♪ maybe he can love me

- [mark] there's othertalent on display at the festival as well. - one of the cool thingsabout the monterey festival is the gear show. here you can find allkinds of cool cowboy stuff, art to hang on your wall, jewelry to hangaround your neck, and saddles, bits andspurs for your horse. - and this is ourline of what we call

horseshoe-brand hardware, which you would useon the western gear. - [mark] colleen wightis manning the booth for husband jeremiah, a wellknown custom saddle maker and silver smith. - he does it all hand engraved. here's a piece of his. this is a bracelet thathe made many years ago. and it's filigree, whichhe cuts all that out

of the silver afterhe engraves it. - [mark] that was carmel beach. nearby is the western art of the late jack swanson. - [cache] he was very muchinto the california history, like the bandits of california,like joaquin murrieta. you'll see grizzly bearsbeing roped on carmel beach. - [mark] celebratingthat history and heritage and its timeless values,are what this festival

and others like it acrossthe country are all about. ♪ she belongs to the land. - few people would associatemonterey, california with cowboys, but this iswhere the spanish introduced the cattle ranching lifestyle that gave birth to thevocaral traditions, that eventually developedinto what we now know as the american cowboy. - the spanish peoplebrought the cattle here

and the spanish peoplebrought the horses here. so kinda gotta say, thatthere'd be no cowboys without the spanish culture. and we honor thathere in old monterey and california is a greatexample historically of the true rootsof our calling. - california was one of thelargest cattle producing states in the nationfor many, many years and it's still avery huge competitor

in the cattle industry. - it's gotta comefrom the heart. it ain't something thatcomes from the mind. (guitar music) ♪ and if his hands could talk ♪ the stories they could tell. - [mark] but as long as thereare cowboys and cowgirls, horses and cattle. - here we go now.

♪ home ♪ home on the range - [mark] people will gatherto celebrate the life in the west so many of us love. (chuckles) with my dad. and every, aboutevery day since. - [mark] there's lots tolove about the american west, but the best part ofit all are westerners. - my dad was a rodeosteer wrestler.

- [mark] and there may beno better example of that than tammy pate. - [tammy] all of my summers, any time that i couldget away from my parents, i was with my grandmabetty, riding. the horse trainer,covergirl, cowgirl, mother, and wife of acclaimedhorse and livestock trainer kurt tate, is alsoan artist, bootmaker, and instructor of a uniqueprogram that combines yoga

and horsemanship. - when we're riding,what are we trying to do? yoke or unite withanother living being. - [mark] we met tammyat her family's ranch in tiny rygate, montana. - [tammy] my grandmaraised four boys in it and it's about athousand square feet. - [mark] this home'sbeen in tammy's family for four generations.

- [tammy] this wasa railroad building that was moved here. - [mark] driving by,what might appear to be a rather modest-lookingranch property, you'd never guessat the hard work, entrepreneurial spiritand can-do attitude that goes on here. - this was an oldice-house, years ago, and we have remodeledit into my boot shop.

i love butterflies. butterflies are verytraditional in boots. - tammy was a newlywedliving in helena, working as a tailor andrepairing some western furniture when she asked to usethe sewing machine of local bootmaker mike ryan. - he said, "i'm five years behind in my bootmaking orders." he said, "do you wannalearn to build boots?"

and i did. these are a couple ofpairs that i built. - [mark] tammy built dozensof pairs of boots for mike and now has all the toolsand machines to make her own. - [tammy] they're ancient. sole stitcher. shape the heels with. so the only nails in this boot are the nails holdingon the rubber heel cap.

everything else is wood-peggedand hand-sewn together. - [mark] bootmaking wasreally just another expression of her artistic talent. - [tammy] i love todo inlays, that's my my thing. - that seed was planted byher beloved grandmother. - [tammy] i thinkshe was 89 here. - she was your mentor?- yes. taught me everything:to cook, sew, ride.

- [mark] tammy spent many aday riding with her grandmother while growing upin this country, where she also learned to rodeo. - [tammy] my dadwas a bulldogger. he was our coach. i have two youngersisters, and we practiced every single night. - [mark] she went on tobecome miss rodeo montana. - [tammy] and we hada fundraiser, and

i drew that picture, andmy grandpa, who owned this place, grandpajean clark, bought that. and so, my grandma left itin the house and i got it. i love art, yeah. i wanna be an artistwhen i grow up. - [mark] so is horsetraining just a sideline? - yeah, i think so. actually, they're all sidelines. - [mark] her husband kurtis her favorite subject.

- [tammy] i lovepainting our life. - [mark] kurt was on theroad teaching a clinic when we stopped by, butbronco-riding son miles was down the trailsomewhere too. - this is mesa. - [mark] her daughter mesawas home from oklahoma, where she's enjoyinggrowing success raising bucking bullsfor the rodeo business. - i had a bull calledhighway 12, and

he was in the running forbucking bull of the year. - [mark] it's a massivefamily operation, raising bucking bulls, huh? - yes.- yep. takes a village. - [mark] that's a whole'nother story, but trading and handling cows is verysimilar to dealing with horses. - [tammy] the sameprinciples apply, working cattle or workinga colt in a round pen.

balance point,pressure, flight zone. - [mark] tammy also usesthose principles in her yoga and horsemanship seminars,teaching fundamentals that can be applied anywhere. - [tammy] the main thingthat i try to get through to people is confidence, because when we're confident,we can have fun. we can aspire to our dreams. and confidence is the hardestthing to teach, really.

- [mark] there's no confidencebuilder quite like becoming confident at horseback,which can lead you to try other things. - [tammy] have goals thatare realistic to achieve, and then when we achievethese goals, i think that's how we build confidence. it was found on this place. - [mark] perhaps that'swhat the spirit of the west is really all about.

why, as long as there arepeople like tammy pate and her family, the americanwest will have a great future. that's it for now. we're back next timewith more cool stuff, on today's wild west. i'm mark bedor, we'llsee you down the trail. for more information onthe people and places featureed in today'swild west, or to order show dvds and books,visit todayswildwest.com.

(lively banjo music)