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Please add profiles of those who were born, lived or died in Big Horn County, Montana.
Official Website
The county, like the river and mountain range, were named for the bighorn sheep in the Rocky Mountains. The county was founded in 1913. It is located on the south line of the state.
The Bozeman Trail, used by immigrants from 1863-1866 in search of gold, crosses through the southwest corner of Big Horn County. Markers are placed along the trail and can be seen from various state and county roads.
Fort C. F. Smith, Montana’s second military post, was established by the U.S. Army in August 1866 along the Bozeman Trail to protect immigrants. No evidence of the site remains.
On June 25, 1876 the Battle of the Little Bighorn, one of the last efforts of the Northern Plains Indians to preserve their ancestral way of life, took place approximately 15 miles south of what is now Hardin, Montana.
Fort Custer was established in 1877 after the Battle of the Little Bighorn on the high bluff near the junction of the Little Bighorn and Bighorn Rivers.
The million dollar fort was funded by Congress to hold the Indians in check and protect the white men who were rapidly occupying the land. Fort Custer, where 500 to 700 men were stationed, became known as the finest cavalry post in the world. Nothing remains of the fort today. In 1930 a monument was placed on site by the Daughters of the American Revolution. The monument was moved to the Big Horn County Museum in 2016.
One of the main attractions in the museum gallery is the Fort Custer exhibit. The exhibit includes: the Fort Custer Stage Coach, uniforms, weapons, artifacts, photographs and a scale model of the fort.
Adjacent Counties
- Carbon County
- Yellowstone County
- Treasure County
- Rosebud County
- Powder River County
- Sheridan County, Wyoming
- Big Horn County, Wyoming
Cities, Towns & Communities
- Aberdeen
- Benteen
- Busby
- Corinth
- Crow Agency
- Decker
- Dunmore
- Fort Smith
- Forty Mile Colony
- Garryowen
- Hardin (County Seat)
- Kingley
- Kirby
- Lodge Grass
- Muddy
- Pryor
- Quietus
- St. Xavier
- Toluca
- Wyola
Links
Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area (part)
Little Bighorn Battlefield & National Monument
Rosebud Battlefield State Park
