26. Pondera County

I have seen the name spelled many different ways, but this one is the closest to the phonetic spelling of the original French.  In Idaho, the lake with the same name uses the original Pend Oreille, and the Idaho town is Ponderay.  In short, the name means "ear ring" (or at least something hanging from an ear), and refers to the pendants worn in the ears of the Kalispel people who lived in what is now northeastern Washington State.  The county covers 1,640 square miles and is home to 6,153 people, according to the 2010 U.S. Census.  This figure is down 4.2% from the 2000 Census count, and down 1,500 from the county's all time high of 7,653 which was recorded in the 1960 Census.  Eighty-four percent of the population claims white heritage, and 14.5% are Native American (mostly members of the Blackfoot Confederacy whose reservation extends into Pondera County).  The Montana Legislature created Pondera County on April 1, 1919, by taking land from the northern section of Teton County (31) and western Chouteau County (19).  The town of Conrad became the county seat.  Interestingly the county's own website gives two different accounts for the name, both coming from the French.  In addition to the ear pendant version, another explanation is that the name actually means "Gilded bread," or "pain d'oré" which would fit the agricultural heritage of the county.  Even today the primary crop raised in Pondera County is wheat.

In the 1860s, the fur trade opened up a wagon route running from Fort Benton on the Missouri River (now the county seat of Chouteau County, #19), and Fort Macleod in what is now the Canadian Province of Alberta.  Fort Benton was as far up-river as the riverboats could run, and much of early day Alberta was built on supplies carried north along this trail, which came to be known as the Whoop Up Trail.  Buffalo robes made up the principal cargo of the south-bound wagons. By 1890, the wagon road had been replaced by a narrow-gauge railroad, The Great Falls and Canada Railway, which ran between Great Falls, Montana and Lethbridge Alberta.  One trading post along the way, Pondera, was established just east of the current site of Conrad, and a post office named "Pondera" appears in the U.S. Post Office's historical records as of  March 15, 1892.  When the narrow-gauge railway became part of the Great Northern Railroad, standard gauge tracks were laid one mile west, and the buildings of Pondera followed.  This was the beginning of the town of Conrad.  According to the 2010 U.S. Census, 2,570 people call Conrad home.

 The Pondera County Court House

Conrad, Montana

 The town of Conrad takes its name from the Conrad brothers, W.G. and Charles E., who owned the 7 Block Ranch, a spread of over 200,000 acres that stretched across much of this part of Montana.  Originally a sheep raising operation begun in 1886, the 7 Block sold off all their sheep in 1903 and brought in a type of cattle not before seen in Montana, the Hereford.  On average, the 7 Block ran 10,000 head of cattle.  In 1909, the Conrad brothers sold the ranch to a Wisconsin family, the Cargills, and the ranch's last horse mounted round up took place, bringing 1,000 head of cattle to auction.  The purpose of the sale was to fund the creation of an irrigation pond which today is the largest body of water in Pondera County, Lake Frances. Today, Lake Frances continues to supply area ranchers with water, but it is also a major recreation spot with fishing, boating and wind surfing being popular activities.  With the construction of the lake, a town grew up nearby to house and serve the workers.  That town is  today Pondera County's second largest, and in addition to Conrad, the county's only other incorporated city, Valier.

Lake Frances, Valier, Montana

In 1927, oil was discovered in the area, and this led to a boom of sorts.  Today you'll find pumps working in many farmers' fields, and the county's website notes that oil and gas production accounts for a significant portion of the employment in the county.  With the discovery of the vast reserves under the Bakken field in eastern Montana and western North Dakota, speculation is that this major new find extends all the way to the Rocky Mountain front, an area that includes Pondera County.  More exploration is almost certainly in the forecast.  

Agriculture remains the predominate industry in the county, with 30% of the men and 6% of the women involved in agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting, the catch-all category used by city-data.com.  The average size of a Pondera County farm is 1,731 acres, and the average value of agricultural products sold per farm is $92,657.  The county's website reports:  

Agriculture -- small grains and cattle -- is the largest income producing segment of the Pondera County economy. Most farms are family-owned and of above average size. Crops include wheat, barley, hay and livestock. In recent years, there has been an increase in such alternative crops as oilseeds, peas, and lentils.

 Working Oil Pump on a Pondera County Farm

As is the case in much of north central Montana, there is a strong German heritage in the county.  Twenty-four percent of the county residents report German ancestry with another fourteen percent reporting Norwegian family origin.  There are five Hutterian Brethren colonies in the county, which no doubt accounts for the number of people reporting German as their native language.  Among the various religious groups in the county, the Hutterites are the third largest, accounting for 13% of the county's religious population.  They have more adherents than any other denomination except for Roman Catholics (43%) and members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (21%).  The Hutterites are German Anabaptists, as are the Amish and Mennonites, but unlike those more familiar groups, the Hutterites do not eschew modern equipment and do practice communal living.  Their colonies in the United States (and most of them are located in Montana) tend to be large tracts of farm land where the people live and work together, raising crops that allow the colonies to be completely self-sufficient. 

A Pondera County Farm with the Rocky Mountains in the background

The Pondera County website can be found at http://ponderacountymontana.org/
The City of Conrad has its site at http://www.conradmontana.com/
Valier also has a very informative site at http://www.valier.org/index.html