After a protracted battle for signatures and proxy votes between those who wanted a new county created, and those opposed to such a move, a vote held in Glendive brought about the creation of Prairie County in January 1915, with land taken from neighboring Custer (# 14), Dawson (# 16) and Fallon (# 39) Counties. Wheels Across Montana's Prairie, available through the Montana Memory Project, tells of the at times humorous exploits of the early Prairie County settlers. The county, which covers 1,743 square miles, is bisected by the Yellowstone River, and is home to 1,179 people, according to the 2010 U.S. Census. The first census after the formation of the county showed 3,684 people (1920), and that number grew by 7% to 3,941 by 1930. Since then, as in most of eastern Montana, the population has steadily declined, with the sole exception of a small bump of less than 5% in 1980. The 2013 census estimate shows no difference from the 2010 actual count. I'm not sure what to make of that because surely people have died and babies have been born in that three year period. The county took its name from the predominate topography of the lower Yellowstone River country--prairie land.
The Prairie County Courthouse
Terry, Montana
March 26th, 2010
The only town in the county is Terry, which serves as the County Seat. Terry got its start as a supply point on the Yellowstone River, and when the Northern Pacific Railroad came through in 1881, the town, originally named Joubert's Landing, was renamed for General Alfred Howe Terry, a Connecticut native who attended Yale Law School, led Union forces in the Civil War, and became military commander of the Dakota Territory in 1866. Although he worked with General Custer, he avoided that man's fate and continued to serve in the Army until 1886. It was the men under Terry who found what was left of the Seventh Cavalry after the Battle of the Little Bighorn, and it was Terry who went to Canada to negotiate with Sitting Bull.
Terry the town is a community of 605 people, pretty much right in the center of the county. The courthouse is a rather nondescript modern building that replaces a much more colorful building a block away that suffered a major fire. The Roy Rogers Saloon (and Pizza) is the main (but not only) eatery in town, and is located conveniently across the street from the Kempton Hotel, the oldest continuously operated hotel in the state of Montana. I can personally vouch for the Kempton, but be forewarned, if you're looking for a room during hunting season, you may be out of luck. The place fills up fast. The Kempton family, who no longer owns the hotel, was a prominent family in what would become Prairie County, and their story is told at length in Wheels Across Montana's Prairie.
The Kempton Hotel
Terry, Montana
March 25th, 2010
Imagine a Scottish Laird and his high-born English fiancée honeymooning in frontier Montana, and falling in love with the place, and you have the story of Ewen and Evelyn Cameron. Perhaps the most famous Prairie County resident, Evelyn Cameron bought a camera in 1894 and spent much of the rest of her life documenting Montana landscapes, wildlife and ranchwork, strapping her camera to her back and riding her horse across the countryside. Lord Cameron was an ornithologist, and his wife would photograph the birds that he wrote up in the articles he submitted to European journals. Evelyn died in 1928 and was buried in Terry. She is the subject of a PBS documentary, "Evelyn Cameron: Pictures from a Worthy Life," which is available on DVD from Montana PBS for less than $20.00. She is also the subject of a book by Donna Lucey, former editor at Time-Life Books and Look Magazine, titled Photographing Montana 1894-1928: The Life and Work of Evelyn Cameron. (See the link below to purchase this book.) The Prairie County Museum at 101 South Logan in Terry is home to the Evelyn Cameron Gallery, and many of her photographic glass plates are now part of the collection of the Montana Historical Society.
The Terry Badlands
March 26th, 2010
Evelyn Cameron continues to bring countless visitors to Terry and Prairie County, even almost ninety years after her death. The other area draw is the Terry Badlands Wilderness Study Area, a triangular section of land measuring ten miles along the Yellowstone River and eight miles north, brings students and tourists alike. According to the VisitMontana website,
The badlands exhibit soft marine and non-marine sedimentary rock which has been eroded by eons of wind and water into arches, bridges, flat tabletops, pinnacles, spires and scoria escarpments. Landforms reach up to 2,900 feet in elevation in some areas.In addition to Terry, there is a Census Designated Place some nine miles east of Terry along Interstate 94, Fallon, named for the same Benjamin O'Fallon who gave his name to neighboring Fallon County (# 39). According to Roberta Carkeek Chaney, in her work Names on the Face of Montana, Fallon had its post office established in October, 1884, only to see it close in December of that same year. The current post office was established in 1890. The Fallon area population was 164 as of the 2010 Census.
Wildlife viewing, rock collecting, photography, hiking and camping are popular at this unique area.
Mildred, twenty-miles southeast of Terry, was a station on the Milwaukee Railroad and had its post office established in 1909, again according to Chaney. Chaney gives no reason for the name of the community, nor can she be of any help with Zero, although she does note that Zero had a post office from 1915 to 1957. The "town" is located southwest of Terry on the Yellowstone River. Between Zero and Terry, my Montana atlas shows Blatchford and Kamm. Of the former, Chaney relates that this station on the Northern Pacific Railway had a post office from 1885 to 1896 and was named for a US Circuit Court Judge who came from New York. Of Kamm, Chaney makes no mention, but a rather intriguing website, Roadside Thoughts: A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada has this to say:
- While we have added Kamm to our Gazetteer, we don't have any information about how large it might be or even if it still exists. Is it a cluster of houses and buildings or is the community scattered throughout the area. If it's gone, have all traces of Kamm been erased or is there some kind of indication of where it was located?
The Road North (Montana Highway 253)
Prairie County, Montana
March 26th, 2010
While not the kind of news to please local Chambers of Commerce, Prairie County was home to the worst rail disaster in Montana history. On June 19, 1938, the Custer Creek Bridge collapsed under the Milwaukee's Olympian, an eleven car passenger train. There was no prior indication of danger, so the train approached the bridge at speed, with no braking being done. When the bridge collapsed, the locomotive and seven passenger cars were thrown into the creek. Officially 47 people died and 75 were injured, but this is just a guesstimate, as bodies were washed downstream in the flash flood that weakened the bridge supports.
To get a copy of Donna Lucey's biography of Evelyn Cameron, click on the link below.
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