Tom Elpel’s roots in Pony go back through his extended family that preceded him. His Great Aunt Evie lived down on the flats, and her daughters Sandy and Lila both raised families here. Great Uncle Johnny moved in next to Evie. Tom visited the family in Pony and recalls rollerskating in the gymnasium back before the shooting range was removed and the floors refinished. Grandma Josie, Great Aunt Edith, and Great Aunt Alice all migrated into Pony to live out their sunset years.

Grandma Josie mentored Tom in edible and medicinal plants and wilderness survival skills. They attended a survival class together at Tom Brown Jr.’s Tracker School in New Jersey in 1985, the same year she relocated to Pony. Tom graduated from high school the following year and largely moved in with his grandmother to braintan hides and practice his skills. He started his own homestead in 1989, built a stone and log house on the hill, raised a family, and never left. Home is where the heart is. That’s Pony, Montana.