Discover Carbon County

Located in south central Montana, Carbon County spans 2,026 square miles and includes some of the state’s most diverse geography. Equally diverse is the county’s population, which includes farm and ranch families, small rural towns, an Amish community, and one of Montana’s leading tourist destinations, the City of Red Lodge, which is also the county seat.

Carbon County Communities

Bearcreek | Belfry | Boyd | Bridger | Edgar | Fromberg |
Joliet | Luther | Red Lodge | Roberts | Roscoe | Silesia

Carbon County map

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A Look Back

1851

U.S. Government and Crow Tribe entered a treaty with the Crow owning land around Red Lodge

1866

Coal was discovered

1880

U.S. Government and Crow Tribe entered a treaty that allowed the area to be settled by Anglo-Saxon pioneers starting in 1882

1884

Red Lodge Post Office opened

1887

Rocky Fork Coal Company opened the first mine in the county

1888

Mining began in the Bearcreek and Washoe valleys

1888

First deputy sheriff elected

1889

Railroad came to Red Lodge

Winter 1894-1895

Montana Legislature introduced a bill recommending the creation of Carbon County since the Red Lodge Coalfield was one of the largest producers of coal in Montana

March 4, 1895

Carbon County created from sections of Park and Yellowstone Counties

1907

Montana, Wyoming & Southern Railroad Depot opened and resulted in the creation of Belfry

1915

Carbon County becomes the site of the first producing oil well in Montana at the Elk Basin oilfield.

1931-1936

Beartooth Highway constructed for $1.1 million

1943

74 miners killed in an underground explosion at Smith Mine near Bearcreek

1946

Shangri-Law Ski Area resort developed

1949

Shangri-Law Ski Area resort destroyed by forest fire

1950s

Montana, Wyoming & Southern Railroad line closed

1960

Grizzly Peak Ski Area established (now Red Lodge Mountain Resort ski area)

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Peaks in the Beartooth Mountains