AMHA Remembers...Bill Jackson

   Bill Jackson & Mortana Jaguar

  (Photo by: Heidi Osgood-Metcalf)  

Third generation Montana rancher William T. (Bill) Jackson, 96, passed away peacefully on June 19, 2021, leaving his Pleasant View Ranch in the hands of the next generations. Bill was born the second son to Joel and Virginia (Ellis) Jackson on the ranch two miles north of Harrison, Montana, on October 24, 1924. His father's diary entry listed the high and low temperatures of the day and stated simply, "son born."  He grew up working on the ranch and rode horseback four up with his brothers and sister to school.  He graduated in 1942 as valedictorian of his class. 

Bill was part of the long line of the multi-generational Jackson family to breed Morgans with the Mortana prefix, carefully stewarding them as ranch horses. Notably, his father, Joel, brought Fleetfield (Mentor x Norma) west to Montana in 1950. In addition to siring mares for the Jackson Ranch herd, Fleetfield gave them an important son, Senatefield, out of Parka by Senator Graham. The stallion would become a certerpiece of both the Mortana program and Working Western breeding in general. 

Billl served as President of the National Morgan Reining & Stock Horse Association for several years and served on the Pacific Northwest Morgan Horse Association Board. The American Morgan Horse Association inducted him into the Hall of Fame in 2003, and the Pleasant View Ranch was inducted into the Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame in 2019. Bill last took what he referred to as a "vacation" riding in the Jackson Ranch cattle drive in 2020 when he was 95.