Welcome to the Harlowton, Montana Picture Tour
Before we start the Harlowton, Montana picture tour, how about a little background on the surrounding area.
The Musselshell River area around Harlowton, Montana has seen it’s share of different occupants. In the 18th through the 19th century the land was Crow Indian Territory. The tribal land stretched from what is now Yellowstone National Park north to the Musselshell River, then northeast to the Yellowstone’s mouth at the Missouri River, then southeast to the confluence of the Yellowstone and Powder rivers.
The Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868
The Fort Laramie Treaty with the Crow Indians and the US Government on May 7, 1868 opened the Musselshell river valley to settlement. In 1879, one of the earliest Musselshell River pioneer ranches, the Oscar Smart Ranch was established west of present day Harlowton. The first large cattle operation in the Harlowton area was the Chicago-Montana Livestock Co. with S.S. Hobson as part owner and manager. This operation was headquartered at the Hopley Creek Ranch NW of Harlowton in 1882. The first sheep operation on the Upper Musselshell was started by P.J. Moore in 1878. Between 1882 and 1885 the last large bison herd was exterminated near the present Winnecook Ranch east of Harlowton.
Jawbone Rail Road
The first railroad into the Harlowton area was the Montana Railroad (nicknamed the “Jawbone Railroad”) arrived in 1899. This caused the movement of several Montana towns. The town of Big Elk was moved to be near the tracks and became Two Dot, Montana after “Two Dot” Wilson who donated the land for the new townsite. The town of Merino, Montana established in 1881, found itself a mile southeast of the of the newly established rail line so it was decided to relocate the town site. On June 10, 1900 Richard Harlow, father of the Montana Railroad, and Arthur Lombard, surveyor and promoter of the Montana Railroad, auctioned off lots of the new town site. The name Merino was changed to Harlowton on November 9, 1900.
Electric Rail Road
In 1906, the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Rail road (“Milwaukee Road”) started building west with its route coming though Harlowton. In 1915 the Milwaukee Railroad was electrified from Harlowton to Avery, Idaho; over 450 mountainous miles. The Milwaukee Railroad was abandoned following a bankruptcy settlement and the last train that went through Harlowton was in March 1979. The Milwaukee Road Historic District was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on July 8, 1988.
Harlowton Montana Archaeology
Within Wheatland County, site surveys have recorded and assigned Archaeological site numbers to Sentinel Rock, the Fish Creek Pictograph, Owl Canyon Pictograph, Winnecook Petroglyph, Fortification site, and to several buffalo jumps in the area. The Big Snowy, Little Belt, Castle and Crazy Mountains have produced five Wickiup Sites (conical shaped timbered lodges) and several Pictograph sites. To read more, read the Harlowton Women’s Club book called: “Yesterdays And Pioneers” (1972)
Harlowton Montana Paleontology
The town of Harlowton is located in the Fort Union Geological formation and is famous for its Paleocene fossils. In 1902 Albert Silberling, a local homesteader and self-taught paleontologist, discovered the Douglass Quarry southwest of Harlowton.
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