Carbon County is located in south central Montana. Carbon County was created on March 4, 1895 from portions of Park and Yellowstone counties and includes an area of 2,066 square miles.
The county seat is located in Red Lodge; other towns located within Carbon County include Bearcreek, Belfry, Bridger, Fromberg, Edgar, Silesia, Joliet, Boyd, Roberts, Luther and Roscoe.
To the south and west lie the picturesque Beartooth Mountains whose lofty peaks include Montana’s highest, Granite Peak with an elevation of 12,799 feet. Flowing from the mountains, the Clark’s Fork of the Yellowstone River meanders through central portions of the county.
On the eastern edge of the county are the Pryor Mountains and the Big Horn River. Coal deposits were originally discovered in the Red Lodge area, those portions were ceded from the Crow Indian Reservation to allow for development. The Rocky Fork Railroad was constructed to access those coal deposits.
As the Crow Indian Reservation diminished settlers moved in to acquire 160 acre homesteads. Settlers arrived from such diverse locations as England, Scotland, Ireland, Germany, Scandinavia, Finland, Austria,Yugoslavia, Italy and Russia.
Many of those early residents worked in the coal mines in the area, the largest of which were located between Red Lodge and Bearcreek. Oil and gas were also discovered in Carbon County with two abundant fields, the Dry Creek Field and the Elk Basin Fields. As the demand for coal dwindled, agriculture became a mainstay in the region, with cattle and hay primarily in the mountain areas and foothills, while more cropland opportunities lay in the Clark’s Fork Valley.
Today with a population of just under 10,000 Carbon County has become a tourist destination. Strategically located at the base of the Beartooth Mountains, Carbon County visitors are treated to spectacular vistas visible from the Beartooth Highway located within the Custer National Forest, and extending south from Red Lodge to the northeast entrance of Yellowstone Park.
Welcome to Genealogy Trails History Group, Volunteers Dedicated to Free Genealogy. Our goal at
Genealogy Trails is to transcribe and post genealogical source data so that family researchers can track ancestors through time, throughout the country. This is Carbon County, Montana web site. My name is Jo Ann Boyd Scott. I grew up in Montana. This is “Big Sky Country”. I will do lookups, just e-mail me. Send me text or picture data, information on Carbon County and I will post it. Your data is owned by you not the web site. SEND DATA to this e-mail. All work is copyrighted, 2007-2008.
If you would like to help transcribe, e-mail, I can really use the help. Check back, lots more coming. State site National site
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CARBON COUNTY, MONTANA
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