Saugus is a rural

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

in Prairie 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 Columbi ...

, United States, along the

Yellowstone River The Yellowstone River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately long, in the Western United States. Considered the principal tributary of upper Missouri, via its own tributaries it drains an area with headwaters across the mountains an ...

. It was the location of the

Custer Creek train wreck The Custer Creek train wreck (sometimes called the Saugus train wreck) is the worst rail disaster in Montana history. It occurred on June 19, 1938 when a bridge, its foundations washed away by a flash flood, collapsed beneath Milwaukee Road's '' ...

. Saugus was once one of the biggest

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult mal ...

and

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million y ...

shipping points in eastern Montana. In 1909, then in Custer County, Saugus opened its post office. Saugus was also home to a school. In 1925, the post office was discontinued. The community is now served by the

Terry Terry is a unisex given name, derived from French Thierry and Theodoric. It can also be used as a diminutive nickname for the names Teresa or Theresa (feminine) or Terence (given name), Terence or Terrier (masculine). People Male * Terry Albrit ...

post office (Zip Code 59349). The town was on the

Milwaukee Road 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 Midwestern United States, Midwest and Pacific Northwest, Northwest of the United States fr ...

railroad line. On June 19, 1938, the ''Olympian #15'', a Trans-Missouri passenger train, derailed when bridge piers were undermined by the high water of Custer Creek caused by a

cloudburst A cloudburst is an extreme amount of precipitation in a short period of time, sometimes accompanied by hail and thunder, which is capable of creating flood conditions. Cloudbursts can quickly dump large amounts of water, e.g. 25 mm of prec ...

. Seven of the 11 cars derailed. Of the 175 people aboard, 47 people drowned and 75 were injured. Some bodies were never recovered. The Milwaukee Road changed the named of the station to Susan to honor Cattlewoman Susan Haughian (who, along with her sons, owned the land the station was located on) and to remove its association with the accident. The last railroad to run through Saugus was the

Burlington Northern Railroad The Burlington Northern Railroad was a United States-based railroad company formed from a Mergers and acquisitions, merger of four major U.S. railroads. Burlington Northern operated between 1970 and 1996. Its historical lineage begins in the e ...

External links

Saugus on Google Maps Interstate Commerce Commission Report
Unincorporated communities in Montana Unincorporated communities in Prairie County, Montana {{PrairieCountyMT-geo-stub