THE RANCH

Every piece of land has its own story.

One can try to tell ours, but you really have to visit the Sandhills and let them speak to your soul. The ranch we call home has been affectionately referred to as the Elkink place for years. While the Elkinks left the Sandhills in 1994, they certainly left their mark on this country and community.

In 1941 Garrit Elkink moved to the Sandhills from the Suffied Area to run sheep on the ranch. After seven years they decided that sheep were hard on the soil and land so they sold the woolies and moved into the cattle market. As the book “Hazlet and It’s Heritage” reads, the Elkink’s grew their family and farming operation over the next 53 years. It was then that Steve’s grandparents, Ken and Chrissy McKnight purchased the land.  Since then the land has changed hands a number of times within the McKnight family.  The most recent acquisitor is Steve McKnight who moved here in 2007 and has owned and operated the land ever since.

Whenever someone learns where we live, they often find a connection to the people or the land. If I had a nickel for every time someone asked if we lived at the old Elkink place, well I would have spent them all on cows. My point is, many people seem to have had a connection to the ranch or the many folks who have called it home. The common theme we hear is community. 

The Elkink ranch was a community. A vast landscape for riding, visiting sand dunes, and recreating at the Boyer Lakes, (I’m sorry to report but they have turned alkaline and are not fit for swimming). Everyone seems to have a memory.  As modern technology allows us to ranch the same land with less help, our community has shrunk, or rather grown in area. 

The ranch itself is home to our little family and the ranch hand we convince to saddle up with us, but that’s it. There used to be three houses (maybe four at one point) and a bunkhouse in our yard, and now there is just one. We get visitors probably once a year, someone drives in and just wants to look around. Sometimes they tell me their piece of history here and I really enjoy it. I have searched the history books for pictures and pieces of what was here. I try to answer questions about who lived in which house, but the truth is I don’t know. I love learning the history of our land. So yes, we live on the old Elkink Ranch. You can call it what you like, but we will fondly refer to it as home.  

While we can’t allow public access to the sandhills, we do invite you here or to our instagram page to follow along with us. Send us an email with your memories, we really do love hearing them. This land is a part of our family.