BIG TIMBER, MT, 59011 US / MT
Taking its name from the cottonwood trees along Big Timber Creek, Big Timber became the county seat of Sweet Grass County in 1895. Captain William Clark led The Corps of Discovery into what is now Sweet Grass County in 1806, but it wasn’t until 1883, and the Northern Pacific Railroad came through, that Big Timber (formerly named Dornix) was born. A railroad station was constructed at Dornix, a small settlement at the confluence of the Boulder and Yellowstone rivers, whose economy revolved around a sawmill. Within a very short time, Dornix moved to higher ground and renamed Big Timber for the large cottonwood trees growing along the rivers. Big Timber was within the Crow Indian reservation lands until 1891 when the Crow Nation ceded their lands west of the Boulder River to the United States Government. In 1880, two Irishmen, Charles McDonnell, and Edward Veasey drove 3,000 head of sheep from California to Montana, beginning a long history of sheep and cattle ranching in the area. In 1901 the first woolen mill in Montana was built in Big Timber, and at one time Big Timber shipped more wool than any other city in the United States. While farming and ranching are still the backbones of the area, platinum/palladium mining has become a major contributor to the economy. On March 13, 1908, a spark from a passing locomotive set fire to the Northern Pacific stockyards. High winds carried flaming embers and started multiple fires. The Livingston fire department arrived by special train to save the community, but half of Big Timber's commercial houses and a third of its homes went up in flames. The Grand Hotel is listed in the National, survived. The post office was established in 1880, closed, then reopened in 1882 with Ella Burns as postmaster. Today Big Timber is a successful agricultural area, with strong community bonds. The beautiful Crazy Mountains provide a perfect backdrop for all types of outdoor recreation, photography and scenic drives. Big Timber is the gateway to the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness and has some of the best blue-ribbon trout fishing in the state. In more recent years, the entertainment industry has utilized the area's beauty capturing it through commercials as well as the previously noted Robert Redford films, A River Runs Through It and The Horse Whisperer. Also set in Big Timber, the award winning film Sweetgrass follows the migration of a group of cowboys and their enormous flock of sheep through the scenic mountain land of South Central Montana.
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