text:
Fort Shaw, Montana

Fort Shaw is a census-designated place (CDP) in Cascade County, Montana, United States. The population was 280 at the 2010 census. Named for a former United States military outpost, it is part of the Great Falls, Montana Metropolitan Statistical Area.

First called Camp Reynolds, Fort Shaw is named for Col. Robert G. Shaw of Boston, the first white officer to lead a unit of the United States Colored Troops in the American Civil War. The U.S. government established this fort on the Mullan Road in 1867. A community developed around it.

Geography
Fort Shaw is located at 47.50444°N, -111.81139°W (47.504313, -111.811348). It is situated on Montana Highway 200. The Sun River flows north of town.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 5.6 sqmi, all land.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 274 people, 101 households, and 73 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 48.6 PD/sqmi. There were 115 housing units at an average density of 20.4 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the CDP was 97.81% White, 0.73% Native American, and 1.46% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.46% of the population.

There were 101 households, out of which 34.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.4% were married couples living together, 7.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.7% were non-families. 25.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.70 and the average family size was 3.32.

In the CDP, the population was spread out, with 29.6% under the age of 18, 6.2% from 18 to 24, 25.9% from 25 to 44, 25.5% from 45 to 64, and 12.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 101.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 105.3 males.

The median income for a household in the CDP was $36,250, and the median income for a family was $45,357. Males had a median income of $34,688 versus $16,250 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $17,381. About 7.4% of families and 9.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 14.5% of those under the age of eighteen and 6.3% of those 65 or over.

Education
Fort Shaw is part of the Sun River Valley School District. Fort Shaw Elementary School is located in town. Sun River Middle School and Simms High School are located in Simms.

title: Fort Shaw, Montana


text:
Great Falls, Montana

Great Falls is the third most populous city in the U.S. state of Montana and the county seat of Cascade County. The population was 60,442 according to the 2020 census. The city covers an area of 22.9 mi2 and is the principal city of the Great Falls, Montana, Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Cascade County. The Great Falls MSA's population stood at 84,414 in the 2020 census.

A cultural, commercial and financial center in the central part of the state, Great Falls is located just east of the Rocky Mountains and is bisected by the Missouri River. It is 180 mi from the eastern entrance to Glacier National Park in northern Montana, and 264 mi from Yellowstone National Park in southern Montana and northern Wyoming. A north–south federal highway, Interstate 15, serves the city.

Great Falls is named for a series of five waterfalls located on the Missouri River north and east of the city. The Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1805–1806 was forced to portage around a 10 mi stretch of the river in order to bypass the falls; the company spent 31 days in the area, performing arduous labor to make the portage. Three of the waterfalls, known as Black Eagle, Rainbow and the Great Falls (or the Big Falls), are among the sites of five hydroelectric dams in the area, giving the city its moniker, “The Electric City”. Other nicknames for Great Falls include “The River City” and “Western Art Capital of the World”. The city is also home to two military installations: Malmstrom Air Force Base east of the city, which is the community's largest employer; and the Montana Air National Guard to the west, adjacent to Great Falls International Airport. The federally recognized Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians of Montana are located in Great Falls.

Great Falls is a popular tourist destination in Montana, with one million overnight visitors annually, who spend an estimated $185 million while visiting, according to the Great Falls Montana Tourism group. Among Montana cities, Great Falls boasts the greatest number of museums, with 10, including the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center near Giant Springs and the C. M. Russell Museum and Original Log Cabin Studio on the city's north side. Great Falls was the largest city in Montana from 1950 to 1970, when it was eclipsed by Billings in the 1970 census; Missoula assumed second place in 2000.

History
For much of prehistory, no permanent settlements existed at or near Great Falls, though Salish Indians seasonally hunted bison in the region. Around 1600, Piegan Blackfeet Indians, migrating west, entered the area, pushing the Salish back into the Rocky Mountains and claiming the area now occupied by Great Falls. The area remained territory of the Blackfeet until long after the United States claimed the region in 1803 as part of the Louisiana Purchase.

Meriwether Lewis and William Clark led the Lewis and Clark Expedition into the newly purchased territory from 1804 to 1806. The expedition came upon the "Great Falls of the Missouri River" on June 13, 1805.

Politically, the future site of Great Falls passed through numerous hands in the 19th century. It was part of the unincorporated frontier until May 30, 1854, when Congress established the Nebraska Territory. On March 2, 1861, the site became part of the Dakota Territory. The Great Falls area was incorporated into the Idaho Territory on March 4, 1863, and then into the Montana Territory on May 28, 1864. It became part of the state of Montana upon that territory's admission to statehood on November 8, 1889.

Founding and early years
The founding of Great Falls was the brainchild of Paris Gibson, a Maine-born entrepreneur who became acquainted with railroad magnate James J. Hill in Minneapolis, Minnesota. By the 1880s, Gibson was a sheep man in Fort Benton, Montana. He visited the Great Falls of the Missouri River in 1880 and was deeply impressed by the possibilities for building a major industrial city near the falls with power provided by hydroelectricity. He returned in 1883 with friend Robert Vaughn and some surveyors and platted a permanent settlement on the south side of the river. The city's first citizen, Silas Beachley, arrived later that year. With investments from Hill and from Helena businessman Charles Arthur Broadwater, houses, a store, and a flour mill were established in 1884. The Great Falls post office was established on July 10, 1884, and Gibson was named the first postmaster. A planing mill, lumber yard, bank, school, and newspaper were established in 1885. By 1887 the town had 1,200 citizens, and the arrival of Hill's Great Northern Railway in October of that year helped cement the city's future. Great Falls was incorporated on November 28, 1888.

Great Falls quickly became a thriving industrial and supply center. A ground-breaking for a smelter in nearby Black Eagle took place in 1890, the same year that construction of a hydroelectric dam atop Black Eagle Falls was completed. The dam provided the fledgling city with electricity and marked the first major instance of hydroelectric power in Montana. In 1894, naturalist Vernon Bailey passed through and described Great Falls as "a very good town, appears prosperous and booming & I should judge contains 15000 inhabitants". By the early 1900s, Great Falls was en route to becoming one of Montana's largest cities. The rustic studio of famed Western artist Charles Marion Russell was a popular attraction, as were the famed Great Falls of the Missouri.

Among structures built in the early years were the sandstone Central High School (completed in 1896), now the Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art; the ornate copper-domed Cascade County Courthouse (1903); and railroad passenger depots of the Great Northern Railway (1909) and the Milwaukee Road (1915), both overlooking the Missouri River.

Railroad and hydroelectric expansion
James Jerome Hill, president and primary stockholder of the Great Northern Railway, established a subsidiary, the Montana Central Railway, on January 25, 1886. The mines in Butte were eager to get their metals to market. Gold and silver had been discovered near Helena, and coal companies in Canada sought to transport their fuel to Montana's smelters. Hill's close friend and business associate, Paris Gibson, promoted Great Falls as a site for the development of cheap hydroelectricity and heavy industry. As Hill was building the Great Northern across the northern tier of Montana, it made sense to also build a north–south railroad through central Montana to connect Great Falls with Helena and Butte. Surveyors and engineers had begun grading a route between Helena and Great Falls in the winter of 1885–1886, and by the end of 1886 had surveyed a route from Helena to Butte.

Construction on the Great Northern's line westward began in late 1886, and on October 16, 1887, the link between Devils Lake, North Dakota, Fort Assinniboine (near the present-day city of Havre, Montana), and Great Falls was complete. Service to Helena began in November 1887, and Butte followed on November 10, 1888.

Hill organized the Great Falls Water Power & Townsite Company in 1887, with the goal of developing the town of Great Falls; providing it with power, sewage, and water; and attracting commerce and industry to the city. To attract industry to the new city, he offered low rates on the Montana Central Railway. On September 12, 1889, the Boston and Montana ("B & M") signed an agreement with Great Falls Water Power & Townsite Company in which the power company agreed to build a dam that would supply the mining firm with at least 1,000 horsepower (or 0.75 MW) of power by September 1, 1890, and 5,000 horsepower (or 3.73 MW) of power by January 1, 1891. In exchange, B & M agreed to build a $300,000 copper smelter near the dam. Black Eagle Dam began generating electricity in December 1890. Water was permitted to flow over the crest of the dam on January 6, 1891, and the dam was considered complete on March 15, 1891. By 1912, Rainbow Dam and Volta Dam (now Ryan Dam) were all operating. Morony Dam was built in 1930 and Cochrane Dam in 1957–1958.

Smelting operations
On April 7, 1908, construction began on a masonry/brick chimney measuring 506 ft tall on the B & M's (now the city's largest employer) smelting site at Black Eagle by the Alphonse Custodis Construction Co. of New York, for dispersal of fumes from B & M's copper smelting process. B & M would soon merge with the Amalgamated Copper Company and become the Anaconda Copper Mining Company or "ACM". The B & M smelter stack was completed on October 23, 1908. The chimney had an interior measurement of 78.5 ft in diameter at the base and 50 ft in diameter at the top. At the time of its completion, it was the tallest chimney in the world (see List of tallest chimneys). With the moniker "The Big Stack", it immediately became a landmark for the community; after over 70 years of operation, the smelter closed in 1980.

The Big Stack's "sister" stack in Anaconda, also of masonry/brick construction, completed in 1919, and slightly taller at 585 ft, began to suffer from cracking and the ACM decided to remove the support bands from the upper half of the Big Stack in 1976 and send them to Anaconda. This action proved to be the Big Stack's ultimate demise, since the cracks it was also suffering from rapidly worsened such that the ACM, citing concern for public safety (due to the continual deterioration of the stack's structural integrity), slated the Big Stack's demolition for September 18, 1982.

In an interesting twist of fate, the demolition crew failed to accomplish the task on the first try; the two worst cracks in the stack ran from just above ground level to nearly 300 ft up. The demolition team's intent was to create a wedge in the base so the stack's rubble would fall almost vertically into a large trench, but as the 600 lb of explosives were set off the cracks "completed themselves" all the way to the ground—effectively severing the stack into two-thirds and one-third pieces. Much to the delight of the spectating community, the smaller of the two pieces remained standing, but the failed demolition only solidified the safety issue whereas the community cited the event as the stack's defiance. The demolition team who had planted the charges was recalled and later the same afternoon they returned and finished the demolition, after packing another 400 lb of explosives into the smaller wedge.

1930–present
During the first two decades of the 20th century, Great Falls prospered from a homesteading boom, strong agricultural markets and favorable weather. It also became a financial center and regional shopping hub. In the late 1930s, the federal government's New Deal programs provided Great Falls with a new Civic Center building, and the city's business sector expanded with the arrival of military installations during World War II, helping Great Falls become the state's largest city from 1950 to 1970. During World War II, the Northwest Staging Route passed through Great Falls, along which planes were delivered to the USSR according to the Lend-Lease program. Great Falls prospered further with the opening of a nearby military base in the 1940s, but as rail transportation and freight slowed in the later part of the century, outlying farming areas lost population, and with the closure of the smelter and cutbacks at Malmstrom Air Force Base in the 1980s, its population growth slowed.

Great Falls was the location of the Mariana UFO incident in 1950, one of the earliest widely publicized UFO incidents.

In recent years, the economy of Great Falls has suffered from the decline of heartland industry, much like other cities in the Great Plains and Midwest.

Geography
Great Falls is located near several waterfalls on the Missouri River. It lies near the center of Montana on the northern Great Plains. It lies next to the Rocky Mountain Front and is approximately 100 mi south of the Canada–US border. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 22.26 sqmi, of which 21.79 sqmi is land and 0.47 sqmi is water.

Geology
The city of Great Falls lies atop the Great Falls Tectonic Zone, an intracontinental shear zone between two geologic provinces of basement rock of the Archean period which form part of the North American continent. The city lies at the southern reach of the Laurentide Ice Sheet, a vast glacial sheet of ice which covered much of North America during the last glacial period. Approximately 1.5 million years ago, the Missouri River flowed northward into a terminal lake. The Laurentide Ice Sheet pushed the river southward. Between 15,000 BCE and 11,000 BCE, the Laurentide Ice Sheet blocked the Missouri River and created Glacial Lake Great Falls. About 13,000 BCE, as the glacier retreated, Glacial Lake Great Falls emptied catastrophically in a glacial lake outburst flood. The current course of the Missouri River essentially marks the southern boundary of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. The Missouri River flowed eastward around the glacial mass, settling into its present course. As the ice retreated, meltwater from Glacial Lake Great Falls poured through the Highwood Mountains and eroded the mile-long, 500 ft Shonkin Sag, one of the most famous prehistoric meltwater channels in the world.

Climate
Great Falls has a cold semi-arid climate (Köppen: BSk), with a notable amount of summer precipitation occurring in the form of thunderstorms. Winters are very cold, long and often snowy, though periods of chinook winds do cause warm spells and raise the maximum temperature above 50 F on an average of fifteen afternoons during the three-month winter period. In the absence of such winds, shallow cold snaps are common; there is an average of 20.8 nights with a low of 0 °F or colder and 44 days failing to top freezing. The wettest part of the year is the spring. Summers are hot and dry, with highs reaching 90 °F on nineteen days per year, though the diurnal temperature variation is large and easily exceeds 30 F-change. Freak early and late summer snowfalls such as a two-day total of 8.3 in in August 1992 can occur, although the median snowfall from June to September is zero and on average the window for accumulating (0.1 in) snowfall is October 2–May 13. The average first and last freeze dates are September 21 and May 21, respectively, allowing a growing season of 122 days, although, excepting for July, a freeze has occurred in every month of the year. Extreme temperatures range from −49 °F on February 15, 1936, to 107 °F on July 25, 1933.

Suburbs
Census-designated places contiguous to the City of Great Falls include:
 * Black Eagle
 * Malmstrom AFB

Nearby communities
The entirety of Cascade County forms the Great Falls Metropolitan statistical area. Great Falls is an economic hub for a substantially larger region that includes most of north-central Montana. Small towns and census-designated places in Cascade County near Great Falls include:

 * Belt
 * Cascade
 * Fort Shaw
 * Gibson Flats
 * Monarch
 * Neihart
 * Sand Coulee
 * Simms
 * Sun Prairie
 * Sun River
 * Ulm
 * Vaughn

2010 census
As of the census of 2010, there were 58,505 people, 25,301 households, and 15,135 families residing in the city. The population density was 2684.9 PD/sqmi. There were 26,854 housing units at an average density of 1232.4 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the city was 88.5% Caucasian, 1.1% African American, 5.0% Native American, 0.9% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 0.6% from other races, and 3.8% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 3.4% of the population.

There were 25,301 households, of which 28.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 43.6% were married couples living together, 11.5% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.8% had a male householder with no wife present, and 40.2% were non-families. 33.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.26 and the average family size was 2.88.

The median age in the city was 39 years. 22.5% of residents were under the age of 18; 9.9% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 24.5% were from 25 to 44; 26.5% were from 45 to 64; and 16.6% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 48.9% male and 51.1% female.

2000 census
As of the 2000 census, there were 56,690 people, 23,834 households, and 14,848 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,909.1 PD/sqmi. There were 25,250 housing units at an average density of 1,295.7 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the city was 89.96% caucasian, 0.95% African American, 5.09% Native American, 0.86% Asian, 0.09% Pacific Islander, 0.60% from other races, and 2.45% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 2.39% of the population.

There were 23,834 households, out of which 30.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.4% were married couples living together, 11.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.7% were non-families. 31.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.31 and the average family size was 2.92.

In the city, the age distribution of the population shows 24.9% under the age of 18, 9.0% from 18 to 24, 27.7% from 25 to 44, 22.7% from 45 to 64, and 15.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 94.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.4 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $32,436, and the median income for a family was $40,107. Males had a median income of $29,353 versus $20,859 for females. The per capita income for the city was $18,059. About 11.1% of families and 14.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 20.3% of those under the age of 18 and 9.2% of those 65 and older.

Historic economy
Built as a railroad hub, Great Falls initially relied heavily on ore smelting in its early years. Black Eagle Dam, opened in 1890, was the first hydroelectric dam built in Montana and the first built on the Missouri River. The energy industry helped give the city of Great Falls the nickname "The Electric City". The same year, the Boston and Montana Consolidated Copper and Silver Mining Company broke ground on a large smelter in the city, drawn to the location by the power provided by the dam. Elements came online over the next few years, with the final works—an electrolytic refinery and blast furnaces—completed in February and April 1893. By 1892, more than 1,000 workers were employed at the smelter. Energy production received a boost with the discovery of petroleum about 100 mi north of the city in the late 1910s. Great Falls boasted two oil refineries by 1920, although a devastating fire left the city with just one after 1929.

Great Falls suffered its first major economic crisis in 1893. Banks and industry in the city were severely undercapitalized, and the Panic of 1893 cut off access to money in the east. The price of silver collapsed and nearby mines closed. Markets for beef, mutton, and wool largely disappeared, leaving area ranchers destitute. A large number of businesses in Great Falls shut their doors. The city was largely saved by the smelter, which continued to employ about 900 workers from 1895 to 1900. A North Montana Agricultural Society was formed to bring improvements in the practice of cattle ranching and wheat farming, and to lobby for federal- and state-funded irrigation projects. An attempt to win state legislative approval for an official state fair to be located at Great Falls failed in 1894, but organizers were successful in holding the first Cascade County Fair in May 1895.

The city became even more prominent as an agricultural products center. Wheat production began to soar in Montana during the 1906-1907 growing season, and by 1920 there were 11 railroad spur lines radiating from the city to collect the grain from local farmers. The city's easy access to inexpensive electrical power made it ideal for grain milling and meat refrigeration, and enabled Great Falls to become a major center for farmers and ranchers. The Royal Milling Company was founded in Great Falls in 1892, and within seven years was making half the flour in the state. It tripled its capacity to 10500 USbsh per day in 1917, then in 1928 merged with about 25 other mills nationwide to form General Mills. Montana Flour Mills opened its Great Falls facility in 1916, and had a capacity of 4500 USbsh per day in 1920. Royal had a regional grain storage capacity in 1920 of more than 1500000 USbsh, while Montana Flour's approached 2250000 USbsh. Brewing became a major industry in the city, with the 1892 Montana Brewing Company (makers of Great Falls Select beer) leading the way. The city's close proximity to Montana's cattle-rich Judith Basin also led to the development of a large meat packing industry. Led by the Great Falls Meat Co., Needham Packing Company, Stafford Meat Co., Valley Meat Market, and other slaughterhouses, Great Falls was the largest meat packing center between Spokane, Washington, and Minneapolis, Minnesota, by the 1930s.

The city's population boomed, reaching 30,000 by 1913. The 145-bed Columbus Hospital (a Catholic Church-owned facility) opened in 1892 and the 330-bed Montana Deaconess Medical Center (originally a Methodist Episcopal Church facility) opened in 1898, making the city a destination for those with serious healthcare needs for central Montana. During the 1910s, Great Falls became known as a regional banking city, with three national- and three state-chartered banks (although just two national and one state bank would survive the Great Depression). Large regional deposits of clay, coal, gypsum, limestone, and sandstone led to the emergence of large brick works, cement works, plaster works, and stone cutting facilities in the town.

A major drought hit the counties north of the Missouri River in 1917, and spread to the rest of the state in 1918. Massive swarms of locusts struck the state in 1919, and in 1920 strong, steady winds eroded the topsoil, damaging the productivity of the soil and creating a "dust bowl" effect. Montana farmers were therefore largely unable to take advantage of the high price of wheat and other agricultural products created by wartime demand and the loss of agricultural output in Europe caused by World War I. The drought did not end: Just six of the 13 years from 1917 to 1930 saw average or above-average precipitation in the state. As agricultural production in Europe recovered after 1920, war-inflated agricultural prices collapsed. The high costs associated with the Great Falls-area underground coal mines led to the collapse of this local industry in the 1920s as well, devastating Great Falls coal dealers and shippers. Although the post–World War I recession lifted nationally by 1922, the economy of Great Falls and the rest of the state remained mired in depression until the mid-1920s.

The city's economy stagnated during the Great Depression. The price of copper fell by nearly 75 percent to just 5 cents a pound between 1929 and 1933. Anaconda cut production in the state by 75 percent and closed its plant in Great Falls, throwing hundreds out of work. Agricultural prices, too, collapsed. Half of the state's farmers lost their land to foreclosure, and 60,000 of the 80,000 homesteaders who had arrived between 1900 and 1917 left the state. By the time the Great Depression ended in 1940, 11,000 farms (20 percent of the state's total) had been abandoned and 2000000 acre of farmland had gone out of cultivation. Even as the national population grew by 16 percent between 1930 and 1940, Montana's population declined. Great Falls was one of the rare places in Montana which saw population growth. The city grew from 28,822 residents in 1930 to 29,928 residents in 1940.

World War II saw the establishment of East Base (now Malmstrom Air Force Base) in Great Falls in 1941, proved to be a turning point economically. The war not only created a huge demand for the agricultural products and metal products provided by the city but also fueled significant population growth in Great Falls. The base brought 4,000 new residents to the city; by 1943, the city's population had shot up by about 5,600 to 35,000. These new residents created a huge demand for goods and services, and a large number of new businesses sprang up to supply the base with its needs. The rapid population growth created a housing construction boom in Great Falls. The federal government paid for the construction of 300 new single-family homes during the war, although this was nowhere near the amount of new housing needed. East Base created a fundamental cultural and social shift in the city, one which became more pronounced over time as active-duty personnel stayed in the city after retirement. The war also saw a major improvement to the Great Falls Municipal Airport. The 1928 facility received its first air traffic control tower in 1942, paid for by the federal government after the vast increase in flights over the city after the construction of the new air base.

By 1950, Great Falls was Montana's largest city, having added 33 percent more residents during the 1940s. Much of the city's growth was due to rising federal investment in defense and healthcare, and it was an important regional convention, trade, and medical center. In 1951, Anaconda consolidated its statewide zinc production in Great Falls, adding substantial numbers of new workers, and in 1955 opened an aluminum smelter in the city. The O.S. Warden Bridge opened in 1951. Designed to turn a then-mostly undeveloped 10th Avenue S. into a straight-line bypass through the city, Extraordinary increases in traffic on 10th Avenue S. led the state to transform the two-lane street in 1956 into an 80 ft wide four-lane highway with a central median. Previously an undeveloped area with only the occasional residence, the 1956 changes to 10th Avenue S. turned the highway into a vibrant business district. Construction of the new campus of the College of Great Falls began on 10th Avenue S. in 1959, and the new Deaconess Hospital in 1963. 10th Avenue S. received its first traffic signals in 1964.

Great Falls' reputation as a retail hub for central Montana emerged in the 1960s. The Holiday Village Mall opened as an open-air shopping center in 1959, and by 1969 had expanded to become a modern enclosed shopping mall. Westgate Mall opened in 1965, Agri-Village Warehouse (later Agri-Village Shopping Center) in 1967, and Evergreen Mall in 1983. The city was one of Montana's most important agricultural equipment sales and distribution hubs, and the Great Falls Livestock Commission Company (established in 1936) had become an important multistate livestock auction center.

In the 1960s, Great Falls' economic future appeared bright. The city's population reached 55,357 in 1960, an 85 percent increase since 1940. It was one of the fastest-growing cities in the nation. Including the adjacent unincorporated town of Black Eagle, Malmstrom Air Force Base personnel, and certain minor adjacent residential blocks, the population was estimated to be more than 72,000 by 1964. The largest city in Montana in 1965, state planning agencies believed Great Falls would have a population of 100,000 by 1981.

The economy of Great Falls began a significant diminution in the 1970s. The nation of Chile nationalized Anaconda Copper's extensive, lucrative copper mines in 1971, causing the company to suffer massive financial losses. It closed its Great Falls zinc operation in 1971, and the rest of the smelter in 1980. About 1,450 high-wage Anaconda employees lost their jobs during the decade. Changes in the defense posture of the United States led to significant cutbacks at Malmstrom Air Force Base as well. These included the loss of 476 airmen and officers in 1972, 30 airmen in 1974, 1,015 airmen and officers in 1979, 100 airmen in 1981, 30 airmen in 1982, and 360 airmen and officers in 1983. The job losses stripped $18.2 million from the local economy in 1985 alone. The base lost another 1,017 jobs between 1992 and 1996.

Current economy
Since the Great Recession of 2008–2010, the Great Falls economy proved sluggish, growing at an annual rate of 0.9 percent, compared to a statewide average of 1.8 percent and a national rate of 2.0 percent. Growth was strongest in construction and manufacturing, followed by back-office business services (such as Blue Cross Blue Shield of Montana's new insurance claims processing center), healthcare (such as the opening of the Great Falls Clinic Hospital), retail sales, social welfare (such as the opening of the Cameron Family Center, which houses 26 homeless families), and tourism. The city's lack of population growth, coupled with low commodity prices for agricultural producers, has significantly hindered growth in the city for two decades.

The lack of growth worsened poverty in the city. There were no neighborhoods of concentrated poverty in the city in 2010, but by 2016 1,254 city residents lived in such areas. The number of Great Falls residents living in poverty during the same period rose by 10.37 percent (1,100 people), for a citywide poverty rate of 19.9 percent. Great Falls suffered from more concentrated poverty than any other city in the state.

Low economic and population growth have also harmed real estate values in the city. While the median price of a home in five other large Montana cities (Billings, Bozeman, Helena, Kalispell, and Missoula) was $262,960 ($0 in dollars) in 2017, it was just $169,500 ($0 in  dollars) in Great Falls during the same period. (That is $93,460, or 35.5 percent, less.) The median price of a home statewide in Montana during that period was $217,200 ($0 in dollars), with Great Falls home prices $47,700, or 22 percent, less.

A 2016 report by the Bureau of Business and Economic Development at the University of Montana predicted the city's economy would be driven by manufacturing, retail sales, and tourism over the next several years. The city had long tried to rebuild its agricultural processing industry, and egg production and specialty milling both saw expanded operations in the city in 2015. In 2016, the city won an $8 million grant from the state of Montana to open a Food and Ag Development Center (only one of four in Montana). Working with BNSF Railway, the city's development agency converted 197 acre of disused railroad yard into a full service heavy industrial food and agricultural processing site. Named AgriTech Park, the site won an Excellence in Regional Transportation Award from the National Association of Development Organizations. FedEx Ground, Helena Chemical, Montana Specialty Mills, Pacific Steel and Recycling, and Cargill all took space in the park by the end of 2018.

Military
Great Falls is home to Malmstrom Air Force Base and the 341st Missile Wing. The 341st Operations Group provides the forces to launch, monitor and secure the wing's Intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and missile alert facilities (MAF). These ICBMs and MAFs are dispersed over the largest missile complex in the Western Hemisphere, an area encompassing some 23000 sqmi (approximately the size of the state of West Virginia). The group manages a variety of equipment, facilities, and vehicles worth more than $5 billion. The 819th RED HORSE Squadron and the 219th RED HORSE Squadron (MTANG), both rapid deployment units, are also located at Malmstrom AFB. The Malmstrom squadrons is the first "associate" RED HORSE squadrons in the Air Force, approximately two-thirds active-duty and one-third Air National Guard (the Montana Air National Guard 219th RED HORSE Squadron). The 819th RED HORSE squadron was reactivated on August 8, 1997, at Malmstrom AFB.

Great Falls International Airport is home to the Montana Air National Guard's 120th Airlift Wing. The 120AW is composed of C-130 Hercules (C-130H) cargo aircraft and associated support personnel.

Great Falls is also home to the 889th Army Reserve Unit.

Arts and culture

Great Falls has a symphony orchestra, founded in 1959, which performs concert series, sponsors the youth orchestras the Cascade String Quartet and Chinook Winds Quintet, offers chamber ensembles, and offers an educational outreach program.

The community also is notable for the unique Sip 'n Dip Lounge, a tiki bar located downtown in the O'Haire Motor Inn. Built in 1962, it features an indoor swimming pool visible through a window in the bar where women dressed as mermaids swim underwater. In 2003, GQ magazine rated the lounge as one of the top 10 bars in the world, and the #1 bar in the world "worth flying for". With the added feature of an octogenarian piano player named "Piano Pat", noted for her "unusual covers" of songs by Frank Sinatra and other performers of the 1960s, Frommer's travel guide calls it "one of the kitschiest, wackiest, and flat-out coolest nightspots, not just in Montana, but in the entire West".

Four Seasons Arena
The Four Seasons Arena is a multi-purpose indoor sports and exhibition arena located in the city of Great Falls, Montana, in the United States. Constructed in 1979, it served primarily as an ice rink until 2005. The failure of the practice rink's refrigeration system in 2003 and the management's decision to close the main rink in 2006 led to the facility's reconfiguration as an indoor sports and exhibition space. As of May 2011 it was the largest exhibition, music, and sports venue in the city.

Sports
For the 1979–80 WHL season, Great Falls and the Four Seasons Arena was the home of the Great Falls Americans hockey team (see below). The team was 2–25 before folding. Great Falls has a rich baseball history with the Voyagers. Formerly called the White Sox, Dodgers and Giants, baseball players such as Pedro Martínez, José Offerman, and Raúl Mondesí have spent time in Great Falls with the team. Since 1988, the team has won the Pioneer League championship six times (1988, 1989, 1990, 2002, 2008, and 2011). In 2007, the Great Falls Explorers basketball team were the CBA National Conference Runner-up.

Great Falls has been home to the Great Falls Americans Junior A ice hockey team since the 2011–2012 season.

Great Falls is home to the Great Falls Gladiators semi-professional football team. The Gladiators are currently the defending Rocky Mountain Football League champions, recording an 11–0 record and winning the AA division championship at home in Memorial Stadium.

Government
The city has a commission-manager form of government. The commission is composed of the mayor and four elected commissioners. The mayor serves a two year term. Cory Reeves became mayor in 2024. The commissioners are elected to overlapping four-year terms.

Education
The Great Falls Public Schools system, including both elementary and high school districts, covers the entire city.

The elementary school district and high school district have the same territory, and include: Great Falls, Black Eagle, Gibson Flats, Malmstrom Air Force Base, and portions of Sun Prairie and Ulm.

There are 20 schools within the system. These include two public high schools, an alternative high school, two middle schools, and 15 elementary schools. The two public high schools are Great Falls High School and Charles M. Russell High School. The alternative high school is Paris Gibson Education Center, located in the former Paris Gibson Junior High School building. The two middle schools are North Middle School and East Middle School.

The state-operated Montana School for the Deaf & Blind is in Great Falls.

Great Falls also is home to many private schools, all of them sponsored by religious organizations. The Catholic Church sponsors several schools in the city, including Great Falls Montessori (grades Pre-K to K), Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School (Pre-K to grade 8), Holy Spirit Catholic School (Pre-K to grade 8), and Great Falls Central Catholic High School (grades 9 to 12). The Conservative Baptist Association of America sponsors two schools in the city: Heritage Baptist School (K to grade 9) and Treasure State Baptist Academy (Pre-K to grade 12). The Seventh-day Adventist Church also sponsors two schools: Adventist Christian (grades 1 to 8) and Five Falls Christian Church (grades 1 to 8). There is also a nondenominational Christian school, Foothills Community Christian School (Pre-K to grade 12).

Great Falls is home to three institutions of higher education. Great Falls College Montana State University is a two-year public institution of higher learning. It was founded as the Great Falls Vocational-Technical Center in 1969, and received its current name after the state restructured the two-year comprehensive colleges in the state in 2012. Although a public institution since its creation, it became part of the Montana University System in 1994. The University of Providence, formerly named the University of Great Falls, a private, four-year Catholic university, was founded in 1932 by the Sisters of Providence and the Ursuline Sisters. Apollos University is a private, distance education university, founded in 2005 and headquartered in Great Falls since 2016. Also opening in July 2023 will be a school of Osteopathic Medicine from the New York-based Touro University System, the first Medical School in Montana. It will operate as TouroCOM Montana under the Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine (TouroCOM) branding and will be the fifth school of Osteopathic Medicine and sixth overall Medical School (five Osteopathic and one Allopathic) under the Touro University System.

Great Falls has a public library, the Great Falls Public Library.

AM radio

 * KMON 560
 * KEIN 1310
 * KXGF 1400
 * KQDI 1450

FM radio

 * KGPR 89.9
 * KLFM 92.9
 * KMON-FM 94.5
 * KVVR 97.9
 * KAAK 98.9
 * KLSK 100.3
 * KMXM 101.9
 * KINX 102.7
 * KIKF 104.9
 * KQDI-FM 106.1
 * KIMO 107.3

Television

 * KRTV 3 (CBS)
 * KFBB 5 (ABC)
 * KTGF-LD 50 (NBC) – (rebroadcasts KTVH-DT Helena)
 * KUGF-TV 21 (PBS)

Newspapers
The Great Falls Tribune is published in Great Falls. Great Falls is the second largest media market in the state of Montana. As of 2022, The paper is no longer printed locally. Instead it is printed in Helena Montana and distributed daily via carrier.

Airports
Great Falls is served by Great Falls International Airport, with four passenger and five cargo airlines. Of those, only Allegiant Air and Fed Ex Express provide service to the city with mainline (large) jet aircraft.

Highways
Great Falls is served by the following highways:

 * I-15.svg Interstate 15
 * Business Loop 15.svg Interstate 15 Business/Interstate 315 (not official signed as I-315)
 * US 87.svg U.S. Route 87
 * US 89.svg U.S. Route 89
 * MT-3.svg Montana Highway 3
 * MT-200.svg Montana Highway 200

Notable people

 * Valeen Tippetts Avery, biographer and historian
 * Bosco, Contestant on RuPaul's Drag Race (season 14)
 * Walter Breuning (1896–2011), once the oldest man in the world
 * Mal Bross, National Football League player
 * James R. Browning, judge and former Chief Judge on U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and former clerk of U.S. Supreme Court
 * Dorothy Coburn, silent-movie actress
 * Walter Coy, actor
 * Brian Coyle, Minnesota community leader and gay activist
 * Garrison Courtney former federal employee and con-artist
 * Scott Davis, figure skater
 * Dave Dickenson, Canadian Football League quarterback
 * Patrick Dwyer, National Hockey League player
 * Cory Fong, North Dakota State Tax Commissioner
 * Todd Foster, Olympic boxer
 * Norman A. Fox, Western author
 * Ted Geoghegan, horror filmmaker
 * John Gibbons, Major League Baseball manager
 * Paris Gibson, U.S. Senator, city founder
 * Missy Gold, child actress on Benson
 * Tyler Graham, professional baseball player
 * Melony G. Griffith, member of Maryland House of Delegates
 * A.B. Guthrie Jr., author of The Way West
 * Malcolm Hancock, magazine cartoonist
 * Charles S. Hartman, U.S. Representative from Montana
 * Paul G. Hatfield, Federal District Court Judge (1979 to 2000), former U.S. Senator, former Chief Justice of the Montana Supreme Court, former Montana state District Court Judge
 * Lester Hogan, pioneer in microwave and semiconductor technology
 * George Horse-Capture, Native American activist and museum curator
 * Joseph Kinsey Howard, author and historian
 * Josh Huestis, NBA player
 * Patrick M. Hughes, Lieutenant General, United States Army, Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, 1996–1999
 * Alma Smith Jacobs, director, Great Falls Public Library; first African American Montana State Librarian
 * Jay L. Johnson, U.S. Navy admiral, Chief of Naval Operations
 * Raymond A. Johnson, aviation pioneer, worked at Great Falls airport in 1940s
 * Nathaniel Bar Jonah, convicted kidnapper, child molester, suspected serial killer and cannibal
 * Edward McKnight Kauffer, early 20th-century graphic designer and poster artist
 * Pert Kelton, actress, the original Alice Kramden on The Honeymooners
 * Ryan Lance, CEO of ConocoPhillips
 * Ryan Leaf, former NFL quarterback
 * Barbara Luddy, actress
 * Howard Lyman, vegetarian activist
 * Mike Mansfield, U.S. Representative, Senator, longest-serving Senate majority leader, U.S. Ambassador to Japan
 * Linda McDonald, drummer in all-girl metal band Phantom Blue
 * Cyra McFadden, writer
 * Hugh Mitchell, served in United States Senate 1945–1946 and House of Representatives 1949–1953 for the state of Washington
 * Gerald R. Molen, film producer
 * George Montgomery, actor, painter, sculptor and stuntman, born in nearby Brady
 * Matt Morrison, Fox Sports Net sportscaster
 * Dallas Neil former NFL punter
 * Andrew Nelson, Japanese-language lexicographer
 * Tom Neville, NFL player
 * Tera Patrick, adult film actress
 * John Misha Petkevich, figure skater
 * Charles Nelson Pray, former U.S. Representative from Montana
 * Charley Pride, country singer
 * Traver Rains, half of the New York fashion design duo Heatherette
 * Merle Greene Robertson, artist, art historian, archaeologist, and Mayan researcher
 * Hannah Rose, Christian musician
 * Adam Rosendale, Montana state legislator and businessman
 * William V. Roth, Jr., U.S. Representative and Senator from Delaware
 * Charles Marion Russell, western artist
 * Brian Salonen, tight end for the Dallas Cowboys
 * Jaymee Sire, ESPN sportscaster
 * Jon Steele, American expat author
 * Wallace Stegner, author of Angle of Repose
 * Haila Stoddard, actress, writer, producer and director
 * Anton D. Strouf, Montana and Wisconsin state legislator, lawyer
 * Gary W. Thomas, California state judge
 * Edward L. Thrasher, Los Angeles, City Council member 1931–1942, born in Great Falls
 * Al Ullman, U.S. Congressman from Oregon
 * Thomas C. Wasson (1896–1948), diplomat who was killed while serving as the Consul General for the United States in Jerusalem
 * Reggie Watts, comedian, musician, performance artist
 * John Warner, justice of the Montana Supreme Court
 * Irving Weissman, scientist
 * Bill Zadick, wrestler
 * Mike Zadick, wrestler

In popular culture
Several motion pictures have been filmed in Great Falls. These include:

 * Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974)
 * Telefon (1977)
 * The Stone Boy (1983)
 * Unsolved Mysteries (Season 3, Episode 12; 1990)
 * Holy Matrimony (1994)
 * The Slaughter Rule (2002)
 * Northfork (2003)
 * Iron Ridge (2008)
 * The Vessel (2009)
 * Reborn (2008)
 * Tomorrow Will Be... (2010)
 * Who's in the Mirror (2013)
 * The Best Bar in America (2013)

Sister city
Great Falls has one sister city, as designated by Sister Cities International (SCI): Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Great Falls, Montana


text:
Neihart, Montana

Neihart is a town in Cascade County, Montana, United States. It is located in the center of Little Belt Mountains. The population was 43 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Great Falls, Montana, Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Geography
The town has a total area of 1.99 sqmi, all land. Its elevation is 5661 ft. Neihart is on U.S. Route 89, also known as the Kings Hill Scenic Byway. Snow removal crews work throughout the winter to keep the road open. It is the only town between Monarch to the north and White Sulphur Springs to the south. The Lewis and Clark National Forest surrounds the town. The ski area at Showdown, Montana is nearby and takes advantage of the mountainous terrain. Just south of Neihart, Route 89 begins to follow Sawmill Creek. The highway then climbs toward King's Hill, a major pass through the Little Belt Mountains.

Geology
The Neihart area is rich in mineral deposits. Gold, lead, sapphires, silver, and zinc have all been discovered and mined in the area. Much of the exposed rock in the area is dated to the Precambrian era, or around or before 542 million BC. Rocks in the area belong to what is known as the Belt Supergroup and rest against granitic gneiss. Amethyst and marine fossils are common in the area. Pinto diorite, a red-and-green spotted diorite, is found in large quantities in the area.

The area is one of only three places in the world where Neihart quartzite (a reddish, coarse-grained sandstone with interbedded dark-green sandstone and shale) may be found. The rock unit was named for the locality.

Climate
According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Neihart has a semi-arid climate, abbreviated "BSk" on climate maps.

History
On October 20, 1879, E.A. "Buck" Barker and Patrick Hughes, two prospectors, discovered silver ore on Galena Creek in the Little Belt Mountains. The mining towns of Barker, Galena Creek, and Hughesville soon sprang up in the area. Among the many small mining camps which were erected was Jericho, which soon went bust. In July 1881, three prospectors from Barker—James LeRoy Neihart, John O'Brien, and Richard Harley —discovered silver near the present-day town of Neihart and established the Queen of the Mountains Mine. When the news reached Barker, several parties of prospectors headed for the area and established a new mining camp on Belt Creek named Canyon City. Canyon City was later renamed Neihart after the aforementioned James LeRoy Neihart, who was also an uncle of poet John Neihardt. The mining district was never formally organized, but for many years was called the "Montana District". More than 40 mines operated in the area over the next 75 years.

In 1882, the town was large enough for the United States Post Office Department to establish a post office there. A road to White Sulphur Springs was constructed shortly thereafter, although ore was packed out by mule to Barker and smelted there. When the Barker smelter closed in 1883, a new smelter was built close to Neihart at the Mountain Chief Mine in 1885. By this time, the town featured a blacksmith's shop, a boarding house, restaurants, two saloons, and stables. About 50 houses had been built in Neihart, although many residents still lived in tents. From 1882 to 1929, about $16 million in silver was taken out of the area around Neihart. The Galt and Broadwater mines were dug in 1883, and a year later the Ball and Mountain Chief mines were in operation. The M and I, Rochester, and Silver Dyke mines also opened near Neihart. Despite the area's rich ore deposits, investment in mining in the Neihart region remained low due to the expense of ore extraction. In 1887, these early mines largely shut down, as most of the richest and easily accessible veins of ore had been exhausted. By 1890, Neihart was almost deserted.

On November 15, 1891, a spur of the Montana Central Railway reached Neihart, and a strong mining boom began. Now even low-grade ore could be easily and cheaply shipped to the huge smelter in Great Falls. The Panic of 1893 wiped out the area's mining economy, but the town continued to exist. This was largely because some mines, such as the Benton, Big Seven, and Florence, continued in operation.

Neihart went through a series of booms and busts over the next half-century. Mining booms occurred during and after World War I, in 1929, and in 1935. The 1935 boom was built primarily around zinc mining, and Neihart continued to be a major source for zinc during World War II. In 1939, the town's population was 168. After World War II, the rail spur was abandoned and the track removed.

Portions of Neihart have been abandoned, and ghost town ruins can be seen in the city's outer limits, among them being Wu Tang's former laundry and drug store. The remains of Jericho can also still be found in Neihart.

2010 census
As of the census of 2010, there were 51 people, 32 households, and 17 families residing in the town. The population density was 25.6 PD/sqmi. There were 170 housing units at an average density of 85.4 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the town was 92.2% White, 3.9% Native American, and 3.9% from two or more races.

There were 32 households, of which 3.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.1% were married couples living together, and 46.9% were non-families. 43.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 31.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 1.59 and the average family size was 2.06.

The median age in the town was 68.2 years. 2% of residents were under the age of 18; 3.9% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 5.9% were from 25 to 44; 31.4% were from 45 to 64; and 56.9% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the town was 54.9% male and 45.1% female.

2000 census
As of the census of 2000, there were 91 people, 44 households, and 27 families residing in the town. The population density was 45.8 PD/sqmi. There were 164 housing units at an average density of 82.5 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the town was 93.41% White, 1.10% Native American, 1.10% from other races, and 4.40% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.10% of the population.

There were 44 households, out of which 15.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.5% were married couples living together, 2.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.4% were non-families. 29.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 15.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.07 and the average family size was 2.36.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 17.6% under the age of 18, 19.8% from 25 to 44, 30.8% from 45 to 64, and 31.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 54 years. For every 100 females there were 152.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 167.9 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $21,458, and the median income for a family was $25,625. Males had a median income of $11,250 versus $18,750 for females. The per capita income for the town was $20,266. There were 20.7% of families and 21.7% of the population living below the poverty line, including 20.0% of under eighteens and none of those over 64.

title: Neihart, Montana


text:
Simms, Montana

Simms is a census-designated place (CDP) in Cascade County, Montana, United States. The population was 354 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Great Falls, Montana Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Geography
Simms is located at 47.49°N, -111.93222°W (47.489984, -111.932102), in the Sun River valley, 30 mi west of Great Falls, 35 mi south of Choteau, 24 mi north of Cascade and 21 mi east of Augusta.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 7.7 sqmi, of which 0.13% is water.

Climate
According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Simms has a semi-arid climate, abbreviated "BSk" on climate maps.

History
The town of Simms, surrounded by buttes and benches, was built on a low spot in the Sun River valley. This made a perfect place to build an irrigation system. In 1902 President Theodore Roosevelt signed the Reclamation Act, and in 1906 the Sun River Irrigation Project was begun. The townsite of Simms consists of 160 acre. The town was named after Simms Creek, which flows into the Sun River, approximately 1 mi west of the town. The creek was named after a pair of brothers who were woodcutters along the Sun River in earlier days. After the irrigation project was started, Simms became a grain and hay growing area. Simms is an unincorporated municipality of Cascade County.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 373 people, 148 households, and 103 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 48.5 PD/sqmi. There were 160 housing units at an average density of 20.8 per square mile (8.0/km$2$). The racial makeup of the CDP was 91.96% White, 4.83% Native American, 0.80% Asian, 0.54% from other races, and 1.88% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.61% of the population.

There were 148 households, out of which 25.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 61.5% were married couples living together, 4.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.4% were non-families. 25.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.52 and the average family size was 3.06.

In the CDP, the population was spread out, with 27.1% under the age of 18, 4.3% from 18 to 24, 20.4% from 25 to 44, 29.5% from 45 to 64, and 18.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 44 years. For every 100 females, there were 108.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 101.5 males.

The median income for a household in the CDP was $28,333, and the median income for a family was $32,500. Males had a median income of $31,875 versus $20,714 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $11,758. About 15.9% of families and 25.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 40.6% of those under age 18 and 11.3% of those age 65 or over.

Primary and Secondary Schools

 * Sun River Middle/Simms High School

Climate
According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Simms has a semi-arid climate, abbreviated "BSk" on climate maps.

title: Simms, Montana


text:
Sun Prairie, Montana

Sun Prairie is a census-designated place (CDP) in Cascade County, Montana, United States. The population was 1,630 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Great Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area and may have evolved as a remote suburb of Great Falls.

This Sun Prairie should not be confused with the longstanding tiny rural hamlet of Sun Prairie in southern Phillips County, Montana.

Geography
Sun Prairie is located at 47.5425°N, -111.49°W (47.542427, -111.490057). Located on Interstate 15, the Sun River flows south of town.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 14.0 sqkm, of which 13.8 sqkm is land and 0.2 sqkm, or 1.75%, is water.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 1,772 people, 626 households, and 503 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 297.5 PD/sqmi. There were 656 housing units at an average density of 110.1 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the CDP was 91.59% White, 0.45% African American, 4.57% Native American, 0.73% Asian, 0.11% from other races, and 2.54% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.52% of the population.

There were 626 households, out of which 39.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 65.7% were married couples living together, 9.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 19.5% were non-families. 14.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 2.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.83 and the average family size was 3.15.

In the CDP, the population was spread out, with 31.0% under the age of 18, 5.8% from 18 to 24, 30.6% from 25 to 44, 24.7% from 45 to 64, and 8.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females, there were 108.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 101.5 males.

The median income for a household in the CDP was $42,353, and the median income for a family was $44,286. Males had a median income of $34,271 versus $20,833 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $15,685. About 15.1% of families and 13.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 18.9% of those under age 18 and 4.1% of those age 65 or over.

title: Sun Prairie, Montana


text:
Sun River, Montana

Sun River is a census-designated place (CDP) in Cascade County, Montana, United States. The population was 124 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Great Falls, Montana Metropolitan Statistical Area.

History
The town is named after the Sun River, by which it is located. The name was from the Indian word Nataeosueti, translated by the English as "Medicine" or "Sun" river. Artifacts have been found in the area related to native cultures dating back to 2000 B.C. More recent Native tribes include Blackfeet and Crow.

The town was established in 1867 by John Largent, who laid out the town, sold lots, and opened a store and post office. Largent and Joe Healy also built a toll bridge across the Sun River to profit from the Mullan Road traffic between Fort Benton and the new gold mines to the south.

Geography
Sun River is located at 47.53194°N, -111.72972°W (47.531915, -111.729648). It is located at the intersection of U.S. Route 89 and Montana Highway 200. It is about 23 miles from Great Falls.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 1.8 square miles (4.7 km$2$), all land.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 500 people, 230 households, and 58 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 98.8 PD/sqmi. There were 65 housing units at an average density of 35.8 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the CDP was 96.95% White, 2.29% Native American, and 0.76% from two or more races.

There were 58 households, out of which 27.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.4% were married couples living together, 5.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.2% were non-families. 31.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.26 and the average family size was 2.84.

In the CDP, the population was spread out, with 26.0% under the age of 18, 5.3% from 18 to 24, 23.7% from 25 to 44, 27.5% from 45 to 64, and 17.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females, there were 92.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.0 males.

The median income for a household in the CDP was $25,357, and the median income for a family was $28,750. Males had a median income of $24,583 versus $19,531 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $14,647. There were 13.5% of families and 10.2% of the population living below the poverty line, including 14.7% of under eighteens and 14.3% of those over 64.

Climate
Like most of Montana outside of the highest mountains, Sun River has a cold semi-arid climate (Köppen BSk) characterised by hot summers with chilly nights, and cold winters with very high temperature variability due to warming by chinook winds contrasting with occasional severe chilling by polar air from Canada.

During winter, maximum temperatures exceed 50 F on an average of 18.4 days between December and February, and a total of 26.7 days in November and March. During cold outbreaks minima fall below 0 F on 25.5 nights in an average winter, though only seven such nights occurred during the very mild winter of 1999–2000 but as many as fifty-two in the cold winter of 1968–69. In the summer temperature exceed 90 F on 14.2 days, although 100 F is exceeded merely once in five summers on average.

Most precipitation comes from thunderstorms in late spring and summer, but even then it is less heavy than further into the Plains. The wettest recorded month has been May 1953 with 6.74 in, whilst in September 2012 not even a “trace” was reported. Snowfall is moderate due to the dry winters, with a mean of 39.2 in and a median of 29.4 in. The most snow in a month has been 28.8 in in April 1967, whilst the most snow on the ground has been 19 in on 17 February 1959 following a storm depositing 13.9 in over the previous two days.

title: Sun River, Montana


text:
Ulm, Montana

Ulm is a census-designated place (CDP) in Cascade County, Montana, United States. It was originally a large ranch owned by Indiana-born cattleman William Ulm. The population was 738 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Great Falls, Montana Metropolitan Statistical Area. The Zip Code is 59485.

The post office opened in 1883. In 1887 Ulm became a stop on the Montana Central Railway. A bridge across the Missouri River was built in 1914.

Geography
Ulm is located at 47.42861°N, -111.51°W (47.428684, -111.510044). Interstate 15 passes through the community, with access from Exit 270. The town is situated along the Missouri River.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 53.9 km2, of which 52.2 km2 is land and 1.7 km2, or 3.07%, is water.

Climate
According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Ulm has a semi-arid climate, abbreviated "BSk" on climate maps.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 750 people, 254 households, and 210 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 37.3 PD/sqmi. There were 267 housing units at an average density of 13.3 per square mile (5.1/km$2$). The racial makeup of the CDP was 98.00% White, 0.93% Native American, 0.13% Asian, 0.27% from other races, and 0.67% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.07% of the population.

There were 254 households, out of which 43.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 71.3% were married couples living together, 7.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 17.3% were non-families. 16.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 3.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.95 and the average family size was 3.30.

In the CDP, the population was spread out, with 31.7% under the age of 18, 7.3% from 18 to 24, 26.8% from 25 to 44, 26.3% from 45 to 64, and 7.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 104.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 101.6 males.

The median income for a household in the CDP was $40,795, and the median income for a family was $41,705. Males had a median income of $32,279 versus $22,045 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $14,602. About 12.3% of families and 17.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 21.8% of those under age 18 and 3.3% of those age 65 or over.

Education
Headquartered in Cascade, Cascade Public Schools educates students from kindergarten through 12th grade. It also serves the nearby towns of Deep Creek, Craig, and Wolf Creek.

Media
The Cascade Courier is a local newspaper. It is printed weekly and is also available online.

title: Ulm, Montana


text:
Vaughn, Montana

Vaughn is a census-designated place (CDP) in Cascade County, Montana, United States. The population was 737 at the 2020 census, compared to 658 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Great Falls, Montana Metropolitan Statistical Area. It is named for Montana pioneer Robert Vaughn, whose homestead on the Vaughn Ranch encompassed part of the town.

History
While trying to make his fortune gold mining in Nelson Gulch near what is now Helena, Montana, Welsh American immigrant Robert Vaughn became convinced that Montana was excellent ranching and farming country. In the fall of 1869, he traveled into Chouteau County, Montana, which at the time covered nearly a sixth of the state. About 9 mi upstream from where the Sun River joined the Missouri River, he decided to homestead. He returned to Helena and filed paperwork to claim the land, and learned he was the first individual to formally file for a homestead in Chouteau County. Although Vaughn started out farming, he quickly turned to ranching. He imported a large number of pure-bred cattle and horses, and his horses were some of the best in the state.

Vaughn's young wife, Elizabeth, died of complications from childbirth on January 13, 1888. Devastated by her death, Vaughn determined to sell his ranch and move into nearby Great Falls. Vaughn sold his ranch in 1890 to "Captain" Thomas Couch, a Cornish immigrant and expert miner who managed the Boston and Montana Consolidated Copper and Silver Mining Company in Great Falls.

In 1890, the North Western Coal and Navigation Company constructed the Great Falls & Canada Railway, a narrow gauge railway (3 ft) which ran from Sweet Grass, Montana (at the Canada–US border) to a terminus adjacent to the Robert Vaughn Ranch. Designed to carry coal to Lethbridge, Alberta, the railroad was dubbed the "Turkey Trail". The railroad led to settlement around the terminus, and in 1910 Couch platted a town there. This town he named Vaughn, after Robert Vaughn.

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 3.5 sqmi, all land.

The Sun River flows south of town.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 701 people, 264 households, and 195 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 198.4 PD/sqmi. There were 287 housing units at an average density of 81.2 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the CDP was 92.72% White, 1.00% African American, 2.14% Native American, 0.71% Asian, 0.14% Pacific Islander, 0.14% from other races, and 3.14% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.43% of the population.

There were 264 households, out of which 40.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.6% were married couples living together, 11.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 25.8% were non-families. 22.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.66 and the average family size was 3.11.

In the CDP, the population was spread out, with 32.0% under the age of 18, 5.4% from 18 to 24, 31.0% from 25 to 44, 22.8% from 45 to 64, and 8.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females, there were 113.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 104.7 males.

The median income for a household in the CDP was $31,250, and the median income for a family was $36,111. Males had a median income of $26,375 versus $18,984 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $13,600. About 8.0% of families and 9.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 8.7% of those under age 18 and 4.6% of those age 65 or over.

Media
The Fairfield Sun Times is the local newspaper. The FM radio station KWGF is licensed there.

Infrastructure
U.S. Route 89 cuts through town from east to west. It can be reached by exit 290 on Interstate 15.

Notable people

 * Johnny Couch, former MLB pitcher, was born here

title: Vaughn, Montana


text:
Big Sandy, Montana

Big Sandy is a town in Chouteau County, Montana, United States. The population was 605 at the 2020 census.

The Lewis and Clark Trail, following U.S. Route 87, goes through Big Sandy.

Big Sandy native Jeff Ament, Pearl Jam bassist, built the town a skatepark with his Montana Pool Service non-profit organization in 2010.

Big Bud 747, claimed to be the largest farm tractor in the world, was located here from 1997 until 2009, and returned in 2020.

History
At one time the site of a saloon that served Missouri River freighters, the community of Big Sandy is named for nearby Big Sandy Creek. The town began in 1887 with the arrival of the St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba Railway (later the Great Northern Railway). By early 1900, Cornelius J. McNamara and Thomas A. Marlow, owners of the McNamara Cattle Company, had opened the town's first store. Homesteaders began arriving in Big Sandy in 1909, and an influx continued for a decade.

Several stories explain the creek's name. The most colorful involves a muleskinner, “Big Sandy” Lane, who arrived one day near the present townsite and, to his dismay, discovered the creek at flood stage. He cursed the uncooperative weather, his bad luck, and the flooded creek crossing so fluently that the offending stream dried up immediately and he was able to cross.

For decades Big Sandy's primary landmark was the town water tower, which was visible for many miles. The water tower was dismantled in 1993. As of 2019 some local and former residents have banded together to establish a particularly charismatic and recurring puddle on Main Street (which has been dubbed, simply, "Puddle") as a new and recognizable landmark of the municipality. Two of the higher profile natives of Big Sandy, Craig Edwards and Steve Sibra, are among those who actively promote "Puddle" as a body of water of consequence.

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 0.48 sqmi, all land.

The town is located in what is referred to as the "Golden Triangle", a region renowned for its wheat and barley production.

Nearby Lonesome Lake is a shallow lake providing a prairie wetland complex. It becomes a resting area for migrating waterfowl and shorebirds. In the summer, pronghorn, coyotes, and badger can be found.

Climate
According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Big Sandy has a semi-arid climate, abbreviated "BSk" on climate maps.

2010 census
As of the census of 2010, there were 598 people, 276 households, and 161 families residing in the town. The population density was 1359.1 PD/sqmi. There were 337 housing units at an average density of 765.9 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the town was 93.1% White, 0.2% African American, 2.8% Native American, 0.8% Asian, 0.7% Pacific Islander, 0.3% from other races, and 2.0% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.3% of the population.

There were 276 households, of which 25.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 43.1% were married couples living together, 10.9% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.3% had a male householder with no wife present, and 41.7% were non-families. 39.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 15.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.12 and the average family size was 2.83.

The median age in the town was 47.5 years. 21.9% of residents were under the age of 18; 6.2% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 19.7% were from 25 to 44; 31.6% were from 45 to 64; and 20.6% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the town was 47.0% male and 53.0% female.

2000 census
As of the census of 2000, there were 703 people, 296 households, and 179 families residing in the town. The population density was 1,588.1 PD/sqmi. There were 371 housing units at an average density of 838.1 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the town was 95.31% White, 2.84% Native American, 0.14% Pacific Islander, 0.57% from other races, and 1.14% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.71% of the population.

There were 296 households, out of which 24.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.7% were married couples living together, 8.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 39.2% were non-families. 36.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 19.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.18 and the average family size was 2.83.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 21.6% under the age of 18, 5.8% from 18 to 24, 16.8% from 25 to 44, 28.7% from 45 to 64, and 27.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 48 years. For every 100 females there were 90.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.1 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $28,523, and the median income for a family was $35,417. Males had a median income of $23,000 versus $17,917 for females. The per capita income for the town was $14,801. About 10.2% of families and 14.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 19.7% of those under age 18 and 11.0% of those age 65 or over.

Arts and culture
The Big Sandy Montana Historical Society has a museum in town. They have several exhibits focusing on the early days of the town.

Chouteau County Library, headquartered in Fort Benton, has a branch in Big Sandy.

Education
Big Sandy Public Schools educates students from kindergarten through 12th grade. Big Sandy High School serves the area. They are known as the Pioneers.

Media
The local newspaper is The Big Sandy Mountaineer. It is published weekly.

Infrastructure
U.S. Route 87 travels through town. It is intersected by Montana Highway 432.

Big Sandy Airport is a public use airport one mile south of Big Sandy.

Notable people

 * Jeff Ament of Pearl Jam was born in nearby Havre and grew up in Big Sandy.
 * Jon Tester, Democratic U.S. Senator and organic farmer
 * Lori Archibald Troxel, PhD, professor of civil engineering at Vanderbilt University, winner of the 2020 Vanderbilt University Chancellor’s Cup

title: Big Sandy, Montana


text:
Boneau, Montana

Boneau is a census-designated place (CDP) in Chouteau County, Montana, United States. The population was 380 at the 2010 census, up from 190 in 2000.

Geography
Boneau is located in northeastern Chouteau County at 48.29028°N, -109.86083°W (48.290258, -109.860880). It is part of the Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation of the Chippewa-Cree Tribe and is bordered to the east by the CDP of Sangrey in Hill County. It is located at the western edge of the Bear Paw Mountains and is 8 mi east of the town of Box Elder and U.S. Route 87.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the Boneau CDP has a total area of 6.35 km2, of which 6.09 km2 is land and 0.26 km2, or 4.09%, is water. Boneau Reservoir on Boxelder Creek is in the northeast corner of the CDP. Boxelder Creek flows west to Big Sandy Creek, a tributary of the Milk River.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 190 people, 42 households, and 40 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 82.8 PD/sqmi. There were 42 housing units at an average density of 18.3 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the CDP was 2.63% White and 97.37% Native American. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.53% of the population.

There were 42 households, out of which 83.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.8% were married couples living together, 35.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 2.4% were non-families. 2.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and none had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 4.52 and the average family size was 4.39.

In the CDP, the population was spread out, with 56.3% under the age of 18, 5.3% from 18 to 24, 31.1% from 25 to 44, 5.8% from 45 to 64, and 1.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 13 years. For every 100 females, there were 95.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 76.6 males.

The median income for a household in the CDP was $21,750, and the median income for a family was $19,688. Males had a median income of $26,250 versus $30,313 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $5,200. About 51.2% of families and 44.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 47.6% of those under the age of eighteen and none of those 65 or over.

Education
Boneau is the location of Stone Child College.

title: Boneau, Montana


text:
Carter, Montana

Carter is a census-designated place (CDP) in Chouteau County, Montana, United States. The population was 58 at the 2010 census.

Carter's name was changed from Sidney in 1905 to honor Thomas H. Carter, the state's first congressional representative.

Geography
Carter is located in western Chouteau County at 47.78125°N, -110.9558°W (47.781252, -110.955800). It is along U.S. Route 87, which leads northeast 14 mi to Fort Benton, the county seat, and southwest 26 mi to Great Falls.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 7.5 km2, of which 0.01 sqkm, or 0.14%, is water.

Climate
According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Carter has a semi-arid climate, abbreviated "BSk" on climate maps.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 62 people, 31 households, and 19 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 21.3 PD/sqmi. There were 34 housing units at an average density of 11.7 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the CDP was 100.00% White.

There were 31 households, out of which 12.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.1% were married couples living together, 3.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.7% were non-families. 32.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.00 and the average family size was 2.42.

In the CDP, the population was spread out, with 12.9% under the age of 18, 4.8% from 18 to 24, 27.4% from 25 to 44, 30.6% from 45 to 64, and 24.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 47 years. For every 100 females, there were 100.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 116.0 males.

The median income for a household in the CDP was $24,583, and the median income for a family was $33,125. Males had a median income of $16,250 versus $23,125 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $19,397. There were 9.5% of families and 13.4% of the population living below the poverty line, including 33.3% of under eighteens and 12.0% of those over 64.

Hall of Fame
The Carter, Montana Hall of Fame honors celebrities who have visited the city. As of 2010, there were seven inductees, including Keanu Reeves, Arsenio Hall, Charlie Sheen, Eddie Vedder, Steve Smith and Harry Truman. Professional wrestler CM Punk was inducted into the Hall of Fame on May 15, 2010.

title: Carter, Montana


text:
Fort Benton, Montana

Fort Benton is a city in and the county seat of Chouteau County, Montana, United States. Established in 1846, Fort Benton is the oldest continuously occupied settlement in Montana. Fort Benton was the most upstream navigable port on the Mississippi River System, and is considered "the world’s innermost port".

The city's waterfront area, the most important aspect of its 19th century growth, was designated the Fort Benton Historic District, a National Historic Landmark, in 1961.

The population was 1,449 at the 2020 census.

History
Established in 1846 as Fort Lewis and relocated 15 miles downstream in 1847 by Alexander Culbertson, who worked for Auguste Chouteau and Pierre Chouteau, Jr. of St. Louis, the original fort was the last fur trading post on the Upper Missouri River, which soon made it an important economic center. For 30 years, the port attracted steamboats carrying goods, merchants, gold miners and settlers, coming from New Orleans, Memphis, St. Louis, Hannibal, Bismarck, and Kansas City, among other places. As the eastern terminus for the 642-mile-long Mullan Road, completed by the United States Army in 1860, and at the head of navigation of the Missouri River, Fort Benton was part of the overland link between the Missouri and the Columbia River, with its own head of navigation at Fort Walla Walla in Washington. Twenty thousand migrants used the road to travel to the Northwest in its first year. It became an important route for miners from both directions going into the interior of Idaho and north to Canada. Steamboat travel to Fort Benton from St. Louis, Missouri, helped broadly fuel the development of the American West between 1860 and 1890, when it was supplanted by railroad transport. The river was an important route for miners to the newly discovered gold fields of southern Montana at what became Bannack and Virginia City beginning in 1862, and Helena beginning in 1865.

With the decline of the fur trade, the American Fur Company sold the fort to the Northwest Fur Company in 1865, and the fort became a U.S. Army post from 1868 until the army units departed in 1881. Founder Alexander Culbertson formally named it Fort Benton on Christmas Day 1850, in honor of Senator Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri. Beginning in the early 1860s, with the arrival of the first steamboats, a town began to grow up around the fort. Besides being one of the most important ports on the Missouri-Mississippi river system, Fort Benton was once the "World's Innermost Port" – the furthest point of navigable water on the Missouri River. It was served by numerous well-known "mountain boats" (designed specifically for the Missouri River), including the Yellowstone and the Far West, and their famed captains, Joseph LaBarge and Grant Marsh, respectively.

Fort Benton's importance in trade was superseded by the construction of transcontinental railroads in the late 19th century. In 1867, Fort Benton was the site where Union General Thomas Francis Meagher, then acting governor of Montana Territory, fell overboard from his steamboat and drowned in the river; his body was never recovered.

Conflict with Natives
In 1869, Mountain Chief, then Chief of the Pikuni Blackfeet Indians, travelled to the town of Fort Benton to request the agent of his reservation to remove illegal whiskey traders from Blackfeet land. The chief was physically assaulted by a gang of white residents. In the same year, Mountain Chief's brother and a teenage boy were assassinated in Fort Benton, supposedly in retaliation for the death of a white cattle rancher near to the town. In both cases, officials neglected to file criminal charges on behalf of these three Blackfeet Indians. In 1870, a group of 10 Blackfeet Indians would be killed by Fort Benton soldiers and vigilantes for the alleged crime of cattle raiding.

Geography
Fort Benton is located at 47.81944°N, -110.66972°W (47.819307, -110.669726). It is located off U.S. Route 87

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 2.07 sqmi, all land.

The community sits in a narrow river valley on the west bank of the Missouri River and is in a geographic area known as the Golden Triangle (one of several dozen folk regions of Montana) due to the strength of the wheat industry of the region. For example, in 2007, Chouteau County was one of two counties in the United States with the highest wheat production. The long summer days (due to being at almost 48 degrees N latitude) and fertile soil of the area (due in part to ash deposits from the Elkhorn Volcanics to the south) leads to exceptionally "hard" wheat (high protein content) thriving in the area.

Climate
Fort Benton experiences a semi-arid climate (Köppen BSk) with cold, dry winters and hot, wetter summers. On July 5, 1988, the Fort Benton area was struck by an F3 tornado that injured two people.

2010 census
As of the census of 2010, there were 1,464 people, 686 households, and 412 families residing in the city. The population density was 707.2 PD/sqmi. There were 811 housing units at an average density of 391.8 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the city was 97.4% White, 0.1% African American, 0.5% Native American, 0.2% Asian, 0.1% from other races, and 1.7% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.6% of the population.

There were 686 households, of which 20.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.3% were married couples living together, 7.6% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.2% had a male householder with no wife present, and 39.9% were non-families. 37.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 18.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.08 and the average family size was 2.67.

The median age in the city was 52.1 years. 17.6% of residents were under the age of 18; 5.1% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 17% were from 25 to 44; 32.7% were from 45 to 64; and 27.7% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 47.5% male and 52.5% female.

2000 census
As of the census of 2000, there were 1,594 people, 636 households, and 422 families residing in the city. The population density was 763.2 PD/sqmi. There were 731 housing units at an average density of 350.0 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the city was 97.68% White, 0.19% African American, 0.56% Native American, 0.38% Asian, 0.38% from other races, and 0.82% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.56% of the population.

There were 636 households, out of which 30.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.4% were married couples living together, 9.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.5% were non-families. 31.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 14.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.34 and the average family size was 2.93.

In the city, the population was spread out, with 24.8% under the age of 18, 6.2% from 18 to 24, 23.1% from 25 to 44, 22.3% from 45 to 64, and 23.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43 years. For every 100 females, there were 92.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.2 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $29,406, and the median income for a family was $32,072. Males had a median income of $22,813 versus $20,787 for females. The per capita income for the city was $14,861. About 11.6% of families and 13.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 16.6% of those under age 18 and 6.7% of those age 65 or over.

Education
Fort Benton Public School educates students from kindergarten through 12th grade. They are known as the Longhorns. Fort Benton High School is a Class C school for sports, but will be moving back up to Class B at the start of 2025 school year.

Choteau County Library is headquartered in Fort Benton.

Media
The local paper is The River Press. The newspaper is published weekly and has an e-edition.

Fort Benton is home to radio station KYPZ. It is a public radio satellite from KEMC in Billings.

Infrastructure
Montana Highway 80 exits from U.S. Route 87 to enter Fort Benton. Montana secondary highway 386 enters from the west and 387 enters from the east.

Fort Benton Airport is a public-use airport located one mile northeast of town.

Notable people

 * Denise Curry, basketball player and coach
 * Eleanor Dumont (1834–1879), also known as "Madame Moustache", professional card dealer and gambler
 * Charles S. Hartman, United States Congressman
 * William Henry Hunt, state and federal judge, and governor of Puerto Rico
 * Daniel Webster Marsh, mayor of Calgary, Alberta
 * Charles Nelson Pray, United States Congressman
 * U.S. Grant Sharp, Jr., four-star admiral and Commander-in-Chief of the United States Pacific Fleet

title: Fort Benton, Montana


text:
Geraldine, Montana

Geraldine is a town in Chouteau County, Montana, United States. The population was 207 at the 2020 census. The area around the town is an agricultural, largely wheat-producing, region.

History
Geraldine was originally created as a stop on the Milwaukee Railroad. It was named for Almira Geraldine Rockefeller (or perhaps her daughter, Ethel Geraldine Rockefeller Dodge), the wife of William Rockefeller, the director of the railroad at the time.

The Milwaukee Road built a branch line from Harlowton to Great Falls in 1916. The town's wood-constructed railroad depot, also built in 1916, has been restored in recent years, now contains displays on the history of the area, and is a Montana Historic Site which is on the National Register of Historic Places. The Central Montana Rail runs a tourist train from Lewistown to Geraldine in the summer and passengers get to tour the restored depot.

Geography
Geraldine is located at 47.6025°N, -110.26778°W (47.602384, -110.267779). Montana Highway 80 cuts through town. It is near both Kingsbury Lake and Big Lake.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 0.52 sqmi, all land.

2010 census
As of the census of 2010, there were 261 people, 110 households, and 69 families residing in the town. The population density was 501.9 PD/sqmi. There were 140 housing units at an average density of 269.2 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the town was 96.9% White, 0.4% Native American, 0.4% from other races, and 2.3% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.3% of the population.

There were 110 households, of which 31.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.5% were married couples living together, 10.0% had a female householder with no husband present, 7.3% had a male householder with no wife present, and 37.3% were non-families. 33.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 18.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.37 and the average family size was 3.06.

The median age in the town was 45.3 years. 29.9% of residents were under the age of 18; 4.2% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 15.2% were from 25 to 44; 30.7% were from 45 to 64; and 19.9% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the town was 47.1% male and 52.9% female.

2000 census
As of the census of 2000, there were 284 people, 115 households, and 79 families residing in the town. The population density was 547.0 PD/sqmi. There were 141 housing units at an average density of 271.6 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the town was 99.65% White, and 0.35% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.06% of the population.

There were 115 households, out of which 37.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 60.9% were married couples living together, 5.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.3% were non-families. 29.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.47 and the average family size was 3.09.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 29.9% under the age of 18, 5.3% from 18 to 24, 25.7% from 25 to 44, 17.6% from 45 to 64, and 21.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 97.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.0 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $30,893, and the median income for a family was $36,429. Males had a median income of $25,833 versus $16,250 for females. The per capita income for the town was $15,403. About 2.4% of families and 6.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 10.2% of those under the age of eighteen and 4.4% of those 65 or over.

Education
Geraldine School District educates students from kindergarten through 12th grade. They are known as the Tigers. Geraldine High School is a Class C school.

Choteau County Library, headquartered in Fort Benton, has a branch in Geraldine.

Infrastructure
Geraldine Airport is a public use airport. It is primarily used by agricultural spraying aircraft.

title: Geraldine, Montana


text:
Highwood, Montana

Highwood is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Chouteau County, Montana, United States. The population was 176 at the 2010 census.

History
Highwood first had a post office in 1881, which closed and reopened a few times until 1886, since which it has remained open continuously. The community took its name from nearby Highwood Creek.

The valley was popularized in the 1962 movie Shoot Out at Big Sag, starring Walter Brennan.

Geography
Highwood is located in southwestern Chouteau County. It is in the valley of the northwest flowing Highwood Creek, a tributary of the Missouri River, and Big Sag Creek. It is 29 mi east of Great Falls and just northwest of the Highwood Mountains.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 11.6 km2, all land.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 189 people, 66 households, and 50 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 42.2 PD/sqmi. There were 73 housing units at an average density of 16.3 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the CDP was 97.35% White, 0.53% African American, 0.53% Asian, and 1.59% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.53% of the population.

There were 66 households, out of which 45.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 65.2% were married couples living together, 9.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.2% were non-families. 16.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.86 and the average family size was 3.36.

In the CDP, the population was spread out, with 31.7% under the age of 18, 4.8% from 18 to 24, 28.6% from 25 to 44, 22.2% from 45 to 64, and 12.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 105.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.5 males.

The median income for a household in the CDP was $44,375, and the median income for a family was $44,375. Males had a median income of $24,375 versus $22,857 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $14,457. About 11.5% of families and 8.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 12.7% of those under the age of eighteen and 10.7% of those 65 or over.

Education
Highwood Public Schools educates students from kindergarten through 12th grade. They are known as the Mountaineers. Highwood High School is a Class C school (fewer than 108 students) which helps determine athletic competitions.

title: Highwood, Montana


text:
Loma, Montana

Loma is a census-designated place (CDP) in Chouteau County, Montana, United States. The population was 85 at the 2010 census.

History
James Kipp, of the American Fur Company founded the first community here in 1831. The Blackfeet laid siege to the fort, and inhabitants quickly abandoned the site. The next year, the American Fur Company established another trading post, Fort McKenzie, a few miles upstream of the old site. During the 1860s, businessmen built a townsite near the confluence of the Marias and the Missouri rivers, called Ophir. On May 25, 1865, the Blackfeet killed 10 men in the developing town.

Geography and climate
Loma is located in central Chouteau County at the confluence of the Marias and Missouri rivers. U.S. Route 87 passes through the community, leading southwest 10 mi to Fort Benton, the Chouteau County seat, and northeast 60 mi to Havre.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 8.86 km2, all land.

The Loma area's dry climate supports a natural vegetation of low shrubs and grass. Trees, mostly cottonwood, grow on developed land and in floodplains.

World record temperature change
Loma is the location of the most extreme recorded temperature change in a 24-hour period in the United States. On January 15, 1972, the temperature rose from -54 F to 49 F, an extreme example of the regional Chinook wind in action.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 92 people, 40 households, and 25 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 26.6 PD/sqmi. There were 47 housing units at an average density of 13.6 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the CDP was 97.83% White and 2.17% Native American.

There were 40 households, out of which 32.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.5% were married couples living together, 7.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.5% were non-families. 37.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 15.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.30 and the average family size was 3.00.

In the CDP, the population was spread out, with 28.3% under the age of 18, 8.7% from 18 to 24, 27.2% from 25 to 44, 23.9% from 45 to 64, and 12.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females, there were 109.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 106.3 males.

The median income for a household in the CDP was $25,208, and the median income for a family was $26,875. Males had a median income of $18,750 versus $11,250 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $12,885. There were 13.0% of families and 17.1% of the population living below the poverty line, including no under eighteens and 27.8% of those over 64.

title: Loma, Montana