Something dumb about the ranch war?

The point of this season is for Spencer to get home and defend the ranch from Whitfield, right?

But don't we already know they successfully defended the ranch in 1923 because they have the ranch at the start of modern-day Yellowstone?

What am I missing?

Maybe this season should've been about the two young families trying to survive on the ranch (Elizabeth + Jack, Alex + Spencer) to see who would produce the Dutton ancestor.