Harlowton is a city in and the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US ...

of Wheatland County,

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...

, United States. The population was 955 at the 2020 census.

Description

The city was once the eastern terminus of electric operations (1914–74) for the "Pacific Extension" of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad ("Milwaukee Road"). Here, steam or diesel locomotives were changed or hooked up to electric locomotives for trip through the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico ...

Avery, Idaho Avery is a small unincorporated community in the northwest United States, located in the St. Joe River Valley in Shoshone County, Idaho. Avery is located in the middle of the St. Joe District of the Idaho Panhandle National Forest, and is a ...

. Harlowton was founded in 1900 as a station stop on the

Montana Railroad The Montana Railroad was an American railroad built and operated between the towns of Lombard and Lewistown, Montana, a distance of approximately 157 miles. The railroad connected with the national railway network via a connection with the North ...

, a predecessor to the Milwaukee, and was named for Richard A. Harlow, the Montana Railroad's president. The area around Harlowton is rich in agriculture, the leading products being wheat, barley, cattle, sheep and honey bees. Major employers are Wheatland Memorial Healthcare, Harlowton High School, Hillcrest Elementary School, Musselshell Ranger District, Midtown Market 2 Grocery Store, Rays Sport and Western Wear, Cream of the West, Rocky Mountain Cookware, TicketPrinting.com, and the Judith Gap Wind Farm. The local newspaper is the ''Times Clarion''. Harlowton is surrounded by the

Crazy Insanity, madness, lunacy, and craziness are behaviors performed by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. Insanity can be manifest as violations of societal norms, including a person or persons becoming a danger to themselves or to ...

Little Belt The Little Belt (, ) is a strait between the island of Funen and the Jutland Peninsula in Denmark. It is one of the three Danish Straits that drain and connect the Baltic Sea to the Kattegat strait, which drains west to the North Sea and Atla ...

and Big Snowy Mountains, which are a part of the

Lewis and Clark National Forest Lewis and Clark National Forest is located in west central Montana, United States. Spanning , the forest is managed as two separate zones. The eastern sections, under the Jefferson Division, is a mixture of grass and shrublands dotted with "islan ...

. The National Forest offers plenty of acreage for recreational activities; camping, sightseeing, hunting,

OHV An overhead valve (OHV) engine, sometimes called a ''pushrod engine'', is a piston engine whose valves are located in the cylinder head above the combustion chamber. This contrasts with earlier flathead engines, where the valves were located be ...

riding,

snowmobiling A snowmobile, also known as a Ski-Doo, snowmachine, sled, motor sled, motor sledge, skimobile, or snow scooter, is a motorized vehicle designed for winter travel and recreation on snow. It is designed to be operated on snow and ice and does not ...

, etc. Fishing access sites are located along the Musselshell River or at nearby Deadman's Basin or Martinsdale Reservoir. There are three parks located within Harlowton: Chief Joseph Park, Deer Park, and Fischer Park. The old Milwaukee Railroad trackbed has been converted into the “Smoking Boomer” trail. Of special interest are the pioneer bronze sculpture (entitled ''And They Called the Land Montana'') and the Veteran's Honor Wall located in front of the Wheatland County Court House. The Rodeo, Wheatland County Youth Fair, and Harlowton

Kiwanis Kiwanis International ( ) is an international service club founded in 1915 in Detroit, Michigan. It is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, and is found in more than 80 nations and geographic areas. Since 1987, the organizat ...

Show are annual events that take place in Harlowton. Area attractions include th
Upper Musselshell MuseumMilwaukee Depot Museum
an
Jawbone Creek Country Club
There is a public library, pool, theater, airport, and rifle range. Within 100 miles are the

Nez Perce National Historic Trail The Nez Perce (Nee-Me-Poo) National Historic Trail follows the route taken by a large group of the Nez Perce tribe in 1877 to avoid being forced onto a reservation. The 1,170-mile (1,883 km) trail was created in 1986 as part of the National ...

Charles M. Bair Museum
and Showdown Ski Area.

Prehistory

The Upper Musselshell River Valley is named for the Musselshell River, which got its name from the large number of freshwater

mussel Mussel () is the common name used for members of several families of bivalve molluscs, from saltwater and freshwater habitats. These groups have in common a shell whose outline is elongated and asymmetrical compared with other edible clams, which ...

s found in its river bed. In the fall and winter weather, the

bison Bison are large bovines in the genus ''Bison'' (Greek: "wild ox" (bison)) within the tribe Bovini. Two extant and numerous extinct species are recognised. Of the two surviving species, the American bison, ''B. bison'', found only in North A ...

would migrate to the lower altitudes along the Musselshell River. Early plains hunters, taking advantage of the large bison population, frequented this area. Some of the tribes that traveled through the area were the

Crow A crow is a bird of the genus '' Corvus'', or more broadly a synonym for all of ''Corvus''. Crows are generally black in colour. The word "crow" is used as part of the common name of many species. The related term "raven" is not pinned scientifica ...

Blackfeet The Blackfeet Nation ( bla, Aamsskáápipikani, script=Latn, ), officially named the Blackfeet Tribe of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation of Montana, is a federally recognized tribe of Siksikaitsitapi people with an Indian reservation in Mon ...

, Flathead, Gros Ventre,

Northern Cheyenne The Northern Cheyenne Tribe of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation ( chy, Tsėhéstáno; formerly named the Tongue River) is the federally recognized Northern Cheyenne tribe. Located in southeastern Montana, the reservation is approximately ...

Nez Perce The Nez Percé (; autonym in Nez Perce language: , meaning "we, the people") are an Indigenous people of the Plateau who are presumed to have lived on the Columbia River Plateau in the Pacific Northwest region for at least 11,500 years.Ames, K ...

Shoshone The Shoshone or Shoshoni ( or ) are a Native American tribe with four large cultural/linguistic divisions: * Eastern Shoshone: Wyoming * Northern Shoshone: southern Idaho * Western Shoshone: Nevada, northern Utah * Goshute: western Utah, easte ...

Sioux The Sioux or Oceti Sakowin (; Dakota: /otʃʰeːtʰi ʃakoːwĩ/) are groups of Native American tribes and First Nations peoples in North America. The modern Sioux consist of two major divisions based on language divisions: the Dakota and ...

, and

Assiniboine The Assiniboine or Assiniboin people ( when singular, Assiniboines / Assiniboins when plural; Ojibwe: ''Asiniibwaan'', "stone Sioux"; also in plural Assiniboine or Assiniboin), also known as the Hohe and known by the endonym Nakota (or Nakod ...

. Harlowton lies within the Montana High Plains that form a part of the Northwestern Plains. The area is most known archeologically for the line of demarcation which was mutually established between the Crow and Blackfeet tribes that passed through the area. This fifty-mile rock line fence crossed east to west from the

Big Snowy Mountains The Big Snowy Mountains ( ats, níichʔibííkʔa, lit=it is never summer) are a small mountain range south of Lewistown in Fergus County, Montana. Considerably east of and isolated from the main crest of the Northern Rockies, they are one of the ...

to the

Crazy Mountains The Crazy Mountains, often called the Crazies, is a mountain range in the Central Montana Alkalic Province in the U.S. state of Montana. They are a part of the northern Rocky Mountains. Geography Spanning a distance of 40 miles (64 km) ...

. The rock line hunting boundary was the cause of several battles in the area. Within Wheatland County, site surveys have recorded and assigned archaeological site numbers to Sentinel Rock, the Fish Creek

Pictograph A pictogram, also called a pictogramme, pictograph, or simply picto, and in computer usage an icon, is a graphic symbol that conveys its meaning through its pictorial resemblance to a physical object. Pictographs are often used in writing and g ...

, Owl Canyon Pictograph, Winnecook

Petroglyph A petroglyph is an image created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions ...

, Fortification site, and to several

buffalo jumps A buffalo jump, or sometimes bison jump, is a cliff formation which Indigenous peoples of North America historically used to hunt and kill plains bison in mass quantities. The broader term game jump refers to a man-made jump or cliff used for hun ...

in the area. The Big Snowy, Little Belt,

Castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

and Crazy Mountains have produced five wickiup (conical timbered lodges) sites and several pictograph sites. On May 7, 1868,
treaty
with the

Crow Nation The Crow, whose autonym is Apsáalooke (), also spelled Absaroka, are Native Americans living primarily in southern Montana. Today, the Crow people have a federally recognized tribe, the Crow Tribe of Montana, with an Indian reservation loc ...

and the United States Government opened the Musselshell River Valley to settlement. The first sheep operation on the Upper Musselshell was started by P.J. Moore in 1878. The first large cattle operation in the area was the Chicago Montana Livestock Company in 1882, with S.S. Hobson as part owner and manager.

Big Nose George robbery

In 1878, JV Salazar (Mexican John) was robbed of his horses, grub, and guns near the present site of Harlowton by the noted horse thief George Parrott (Big Nose George). At the time of the Salazar robbery, George Parrott was known to be camping on the Musselshell River with Andrew Garcia, where he was holding a bunch of stolen horses on his way to Canada. Big Nose George was later lynched at

Rawlins, Wyoming Rawlins is a city in Carbon County, Wyoming, Carbon County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 8,221 at the United States Census, 2020, 2020 census. It is the county seat of Carbon County. It was named for Union Army, Union General John Aa ...

Merino/Harlowton

The town of Merino was officially established in 1881. The name Merino came from the breed of sheep (

Merino The Merino is a breed or group of breeds of domestic sheep, characterised by very fine soft wool. It was established in Spain near the end of the Middle Ages, and was for several centuries kept as a strict Spanish monopoly; exports of the bree ...

) that were run in the area by Charles Severance at the time. The trading post owned by John and Archie McEachnie housed the post office, store and saloon. The first railroad into the area was the

(nicknamed the �
Jawbone Railroad
��) in 1899. The Montana Railroad terminal was located one mile northwest of Merino, so it was decided to relocate the town site. On June 10, 1900 Richard Harlow, father of the Montana Railroad, and Arthur Lombard, surveyor and promoter of the Montana Railroad, auctioned off lots of the new town site. The name Merino was changed to Harlowton on November 9, 1900. The first building to be erected in the new town site was a barber shop, owned by Thomas Hanzlik. On June 17, 1907, a fire destroyed 24 buildings on the north side of Harlowton's Main Street. The town was rebuilt, though most of the construction took place on Central Avenue to correspond with the Milwaukee Railroad plot. The first town election was held on June 6, 1908. Mr. A. T. Anderson was elected mayor. The grand opening of th
Graves Hotel
was on June 19, 1909, with a banquet and dance. Andrew Chris Graves was the principal owner. The Graves Hotel was added to the National register of historic places on August 6, 1980. On February 22, 1917 legislature passed an act which created Wheatland County from Meagher and Sweet Grass Counties. The act took effect on April 1, 1917. Wheatland County became the 41st county in Montana, and Harlowton became the county seat. Wheatland County was the first county in the US to go over its goal in the

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

Liberty Bond drive of 1918. For this effort, a ship, the , was named after the county. The 163rd Infantry Regiment is a regiment of the Montana National Guard based in Harlowton. It went overseas with the 41st Infantry Division in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

Milwaukee Road

In 1906, the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad ("Milwaukee Road") started building west with its route coming though Harlowton. On December 5, 1907, work was started on the Milwaukee Railroad Roundhouse in Harlowton. The first passenger train from the east rolled into Harlowton on March 9, 1908, with freight trains to follow. In 1915 th
Milwaukee Railroad was electrified from Harlowton to Avery, Idaho
— over 450 mountainous miles. Harlowton became the eastern terminus of electric operations and was known as “the place where electricity replaces steam.” The Milwaukee Railroad dropped its electrified system in 1974, just months before the

OPEC The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC, ) is a cartel of countries. Founded on 14 September 1960 in Baghdad by the first five members (Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela), it has, since 1965, been headqua ...

oil embargo of the United States. The Milwaukee Railroad was abandoned following a bankruptcy settlement and the last train that went through Harlowton was in March 1980. Milwaukee Road Historic District was listed in the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

on July 8, 1988. The depot has been converted into the Harlowton Milwaukee Depot Museum.

21st century

Agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people ...

has remained a staple for the local economy. The main products are

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...

barley Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Globally 70% of barley p ...

oat The oat (''Avena sativa''), sometimes called the common oat, is a species of cereal grain grown for its seed, which is known by the same name (usually in the plural, unlike other cereals and pseudocereals). While oats are suitable for human con ...

s, hay, cattle, sheep, and hone

There are many businesses supporting the agriculture industry in Harlowton; the Wheatland County Farm Service Agency, veterinary clinics, a

feed store The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often vo ...

, ranch supply store, auto and mechanical shops, hardware stores, and a

saddle The saddle is a supportive structure for a rider of an animal, fastened to an animal's back by a girth. The most common type is equestrian. However, specialized saddles have been created for oxen, camels and other animals. It is not kno ...

repair shop. Harlowton and Wheatland County boast an industrial business segment, with some truly unique products from stone to steel

griddle A griddle, in the UK also called a girdle, is a cooking device consisting mainly of a broad, usually flat cooking surface. Nowadays it can be either a movable metal pan- or plate-like utensil, a flat heated cooking surface built into a stove or ...

s, honey for your local pancakes to event tickets. The wide variety of products span the globe. E S Stone & Structure Incorporated and Montana Rock and Stone LLP have multiple stone

quarries A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their envir ...

around the area from which an extensive line of rock and stone products are produced. Rocky Mountain Cookware manufactures die stamped steel griddles and broilers, it was established in 1992. Steve Park Apiaries provides

pollination Pollination is the transfer of pollen from an Stamen, anther of a plant to the stigma (botany), stigma of a plant, later enabling fertilisation and the production of seeds, most often by an animal or by Anemophily, wind. Pollinating agents can ...

and offers a variety of

beeswax Beeswax (''cera alba'') is a natural wax produced by honey bees of the genus ''Apis''. The wax is formed into scales by eight wax-producing glands in the abdominal segments of worker bees, which discard it in or at the hive. The hive work ...

and honey products. Cream of the West whole grain hot cereal was established in 1914 and its production facility was moved to Harlowton in 2002. TicketPrinting.com is an internet-based ticket printing company that provides online services and printed products for event hosts. The main printing facility was opened on September 11, 2001 in Harlowton.
TicketPrinting.com
is the largest private employer in Wheatland County. The Judith Gap Wind Farm is located north of Harlowton along US Highway 191. There are 90

wind turbine A wind turbine is a device that converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. Hundreds of thousands of large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, now generate over 650 gigawatts of power, with 60 GW added each year. ...

s situated on 8000 acres of land that produce 135

Megawatts The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wat ...

power Power most often refers to: * Power (physics), meaning "rate of doing work" ** Engine power, the power put out by an engine ** Electric power * Power (social and political), the ability to influence people or events ** Abusive power Power may a ...

. The Judith Gap Wind farm was established in 2011 and is owned b
Invenergy LLC
The power produced by this facility enters the Northwest Energy grid and is distributed where needed. Other wind farms located near Harlowton are the Musselshell Wind Project by Shawmut, the Two Dot Wind Farm by Two Dot, and Gordon Butte Wind LLC by Martinsdale. Health facilities include Wheatland Memorial Healthcare, Deer Creek Dental, Remedies Pharmacy, Harlowton Mental Health Center, Public Health & Human Service Department, Massage Therapy, Wheatland County Senior Citizens Center, and Wheatland Memorial Nursing Home. The Wheatland Memorial Healthcare Center has a Clinic, Emergency Room, Laboratory, X-ray, and Physical Therapy Department. The financial institutions are the Citizens Bank and Trust Company and the Tricounty Federal Credit Union. Offering insurance needs are the Farm Bureau Insurance Company an
Mid-Montana Insurance Company
Harlowton has two motels; the Corral Motel and Country Side Inn. There are clothing stores, thrift stores, boutiques, restaurants and saloons. School District 16 includes the Hillcrest Elementary (K-6) and Harlowton High School (7-12). The mascot is the Harlowton Engineer and school colors are maroon and gold. The Jawbone Creek Country Club is listed in the

Guinness Book of World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

for being the only

golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". ...

with a

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a bu ...

in it. The nine-hole course has a front and back nine by tee placement and offers clubhouse facilities, a driving range, and practice green. Th
Barnsion
is a first class vacation rental, wedding venue, and event center located on the Miller Ranch in Harlowton. Harlowton has two museums, th
Upper Musselshell Museum
and th

The Upper Musselshell Museum was founded in 1984 by the Victor Fischer family. It occupies two historic buildings and is filled with rotating displays of the Upper Musselshell's history and paleontology. The Museum centerpiece is a full-size replica of the Avaceratops lammersi dinosaur, the first dinosaur found of its kind. The Upper Musselshell Museum is located along Montana's 'Dinosaur Trail' and is open from May until September. The Milwaukee Depot Museum train depot was built in 1908, it was a "Standard Class A Passenger Station", one of several standardized depot plans used by the Milwaukee Road. The passenger Service was discontinued in 1961, and the depot and yards were abandoned by the Milwaukee in 1980. The depot was restored as a Milwaukee Railroad museum.

Paleontology

The town of Harlowton is located in th
Fort Union Geological formation
and is famous for its

Paleocene The Paleocene, ( ) or Palaeocene, is a geological epoch that lasted from about 66 to 56 million years ago (mya). It is the first epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name is a combination of the Ancient Greek ''pala ...

fossils. In 1902 Albert Silberling, a local homesteader and self-taught

paleontologist Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...

, discovered th
Douglass Quarry
southwest of Harlowton. Albert Silberling and Earl Douglass, a

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

paleontologist, discovered fossil remains of primitive mammals including the

Ptilodus ''Ptilodus'' (meaning "soft-haired") is a genus of mammals from the extinct order of Multituberculata, and lived during the Paleocene in North America. ''Ptilodus'' was a relatively large multituberculate of in length, which is about the same s ...

, Phenacodus, and Plesiadapis in the

southwest of Harlowton. Albert Silberling's discoveries from fossils excavated in the Harlowton area have subsidized the information about life in the

Paleozoic The Paleozoic (or Palaeozoic) Era is the earliest of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic Eon. The name ''Paleozoic'' ( ;) was coined by the British geologist Adam Sedgwick in 1838 by combining the Greek words ''palaiós'' (, "old") and ...

era. The '' Rugocaudia cooneyi'' and '' Tatankacephalus cooneyorum'' are two new dinosaur species that were found southwest of Harlowton. Th
''Rugocaudia cooneyi''
is a new

sauropod Sauropoda (), whose members are known as sauropods (; from '' sauro-'' + '' -pod'', ' lizard-footed'), is a clade of saurischian ('lizard-hipped') dinosaurs. Sauropods had very long necks, long tails, small heads (relative to the rest of their ...

dinosaur that was described and named by the paleontologist Cary Woodruff in 2012. The genus name ''Rugocaudia'' means “wrinkle tail” and the species name honors the landowner J. P. Cooney. The ''Tatankacephalus'' is a new

ankylosaur Ankylosauria is a group of herbivorous dinosaurs of the order Ornithischia. It includes the great majority of dinosaurs with armor in the form of bony osteoderms, similar to turtles. Ankylosaurs were bulky quadrupeds, with short, powerful limbs. ...

dinosaur species found in 1997 by Bill and Kris Parsons, research associates of the

Buffalo Museum of Science The Buffalo Museum of Science is a science museum located at Martin Luther King Jr. Park in Buffalo, New York, United States, northeast of the downtown district, near the Kensington Expressway. The historic building was designed by August E ...

. The ''

Avaceratops lammersi ''Avaceratops'' is a genus of small herbivorous ceratopsian dinosaurs which lived during the late Campanian during the Late Cretaceous Period in what are now the Northwest United States. Most fossils come from the Judith River Formation. Dis ...

'' dinosaur was found on the Lammers family Careless Creek Ranch northeast of Harlowton and is the first of its kind. Th
''Aveceratops''
is a small horned dinosaur that belongs to the Ceratopsidaie family. Eddie and Ava Cole discovered the fossil remains in 1981. Dr. Peter Dodson, Professor of Paleontology and Veterinary Anatomy at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest- ...

, participated in further excavation and transported the specimen to the

Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, formerly the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, is the oldest natural science research institution and museum in the Americas. It was founded in 1812, by many of the leading nat ...

. A cast of the ''Avaceratops lammersi'' is on display at the Upper Musselshell Museum in Harlowton.

Geography and climate

Harlowton is located at (46.436455, -109.833553). The town is located on the slopes of the

. Other surrounding mountain ranges include the

Little Belt Mountains The Little Belt Mountains are a section of the Rocky Mountains in the U.S. state of Montana. Situated mainly in the Lewis and Clark National Forest, the mountains are used for logging and recreation for the residents of Great Falls, Montana. Show ...

Bull Mountains The Bull Mountains, el. , are a mountain range of the Rocky Mountains located in Yellowstone and Musselshell Counties in the U.S. state of Montana, lying northeast of Billings Billings is the largest city in the U.S. state of Montana, with ...

, and the Castle Mountains. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of th ...

, the city has a total area of , all land. According to the

Köppen Climate Classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...

system, Harlowton has a

cold semi-arid climate A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi ...

, abbreviated "BSk" on climate maps.

Demographics

2010 census

At the 2010

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses inc ...

, there were 997 people, 478 households and 267 families residing in the city. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopu ...

was . There were 585 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 95.4%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White ...

, 0.7% Native American, 0.2% Asian, 0.5% from

other races Other often refers to: * Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy Other or The Other may also refer to: Film and television * ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent film directed by Max Mack * ''The Other'' (1930 film), a ...

, and 3.2% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties for ...

or Latino of any race were 1.9% of the population. There were 478 households, of which 21.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 43.7% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between ...

living together, 8.2% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.0% had a male householder with no wife present, and 44.1% were non-families. 40.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 19.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.03 and the average family size was 2.71. The median age in the city was 49.8 years. 19.3% of residents were under the age of 18; 5.9% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 19.3% were from 25 to 44; 29.2% were from 45 to 64; and 26.1% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 48.5% male and 51.5% female.

2000 census

At the 2000

, there were 1,062 people, 496 households and 281 families residing in the city. The

was 1,842.9 per square mile (707.0/km). There were 599 housing units at an average density of 1,039.5 per square mile (398.8/km). The racial makeup of the city was 97.08%

, 0.75% Native American, 0.19% Asian, 0.19% from

, and 1.79% from two or more races.

or Latino of any race were 1.98% of the population. There were 496 households, of which 21.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.6% were

living together, 6.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 43.3% were non-families. 41.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 21.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.07 and the average family size was 2.79. 20.9% of the population were under the age of 18, 5.3% from 18 to 24, 20.0% from 25 to 44, 26.4% from 45 to 64, and 27.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 47 years. For every 100 females there were 91.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.8 males. The

median household income The median income is the income amount that divides a population into two equal groups, half having an income above that amount, and half having an income below that amount. It may differ from the mean (or average) income. Both of these are ways ...

was $23,636 and the median family income was $34,205. Males had a median income of $22,750 compared with $19,265 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population. Per capita i ...

was $13,717. About 4.7% of families and 10.3% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 8.0% of those under age 18 and 14.1% of those age 65 or over.

Infrastructure

Wheatland County Airport is a county-owned, public-use airport located two miles (4 km) northwest of town.

Education

Harlowton Public Schools educates students from kindergarten through 12th grade. Harlowton High School's team name is the Engineers. Harlowton Public Library serves the area.

Notable people

* S. Stillman Berry, zoologist, died at Winnecook Ranch, near Harlowton * Marcel "Dutch" Callant, prominent merchant, established the Callant Family Foundation for the community of Harlowton. * Edward Mathias Gans, recipient of the Nation's Doctor of the Year award in 1956. * Thomas Patrick Gerrity, former United States general and commander of the

Air Force Logistics Command The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, known collectively as air, retained by Earth's gravity that surrounds the planet and forms its planetary atmosphere. The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by creating pressure allowing fo ...

, was born here. * Andrew Chris Graves, prominent merchant in Harlowton's early years, built the Graves Hotel and donated the land for the Harlowton Park. * Thomas Hanzlik, bought the first lot in Harlowton, there he built the first house and first barbershop in town. * Richard Harlow, founder of Harlowton and president of the

. * James F. Jenks, paleontologist and geologist, specialist of the Triassic

Ammonoidea Ammonoids are a group of extinct marine mollusc animals in the subclass Ammonoidea of the class Cephalopoda. These molluscs, commonly referred to as ammonites, are more closely related to living coleoids (i.e., octopuses, squid and cuttlefis ...

. * Bertha L. Lunceford, Wheatland County's first superintendent of schools. * Dick and Mac McQuitty owned the Harlowton Grocery Store. They made possible the building of the McQuitty Football Field in 1950. * Albert Silberling, paleontologist, discoverer of the Douglass, Gidley, and Silberling Quarries and some Paleozoic fossils. * Thomas Sorboe, Harlowton's first photographer, many of his photographs are on display in the Upper Musselshell Museum and on th
Museum of the Rockies website
He was also an architect and helped build many of the first businesses in Harlowton. * Ernest Stein, engineer on the

Milwaukee Railroad The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (CMStP&P), often referred to as the "Milwaukee Road" , was a Class I railroad that operated in the Midwest and Northwest of the United States from 1847 until 1986. The company experienced ...

and artisan of elaborate woodwork. His carvings are on display at the Upper Musselshell Museum. * Ben Urner, founder of the Urner Mercantile Company, the first business in Harlowton. * Bill Wilkerson, artist, writer and engineer on the Milwaukee Road. Wrote a series of books about the Milwaukee and Montana Railroads.

References

External links

{{authority control Cities in Montana Cities in Wheatland County, Montana County seats in Montana Populated places established in 1900 1900 establishments in Montana