Ubet (also written U-Bet or U-bet) was a

stage stop A stage station or relay station, also known as a staging post, a posting station, or a stage stop, is a place where exhausted horses could be replaced by fresh animals, since a long journey was much faster without delays when horses needed rest ...

settlement in Fergus 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 ...

(but what is now

Judith Basin County Judith Basin County is a county in the U.S. state of Montana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 2,023. Its county seat is the town of Stanford. History Judith Basin County was formed of area taken from western Fergus and eastern Casca ...

), United States. It is approximately west of Garneill, which was reputedly the best-known stagecoach station in the

Montana Territory The Territory of Montana was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 26, 1864, until November 8, 1889, when it was admitted as the 41st state in the Union as the state of Montana. Original boundaries T ...

History

Ubet was founded in 1880 on the Ft. Benton–

Billings Billings is the largest city in the U.S. state of Montana, with a population of 117,116 as of the 2020 census. Located in the south-central portion of the state, it is the seat of Yellowstone County and the principal city of the Billings Met ...

stagecoach route by

lumberman Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks or skeleton cars. Logging is the beginning of a supply chain ...

(and former

Wisconsin State Assembly The Wisconsin State Assembly is the lower house of the Wisconsin Legislature. Together with the smaller Wisconsin Senate, the two constitute the legislative branch of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Representatives are elected for two-year terms, ...

Speaker of the House The speaker of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body, is its presiding officer, or the chair. The title was first used in 1377 in England. Usage The title was first recorded in 1377 to describe the role of Thomas de Hungerf ...

) A. R. Barrows (who with his family was among the first permanent white settlers of the

Judith Basin Judith Basin County is a county in the U.S. state of Montana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 2,023. Its county seat is the town of Stanford. History Judith Basin County was formed of area taken from western Fergus and eastern Casca ...

). The name supposedly came from Barrows' response to a challenge for a name for the settlement's proposed post office: "You bet!" At one time, it included not only a two-story log hotel, but a stagecoach barn, post office, icehouse, saloon,

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

shop, and a

stable A stable is a building in which livestock, especially horses, are kept. It most commonly means a building that is divided into separate stalls for individual animals and livestock. There are many different types of stables in use today; the ...

. At one time, there were less than ten fixed human habitations between Ubet and Billings, making the respite there (including Mrs. Barrows' cooking) particularly treasured. Clientele included

Liver-Eating Johnson John "Liver-Eating" Johnson, born John Jeremiah Garrison Johnston (July 1, 1824 – January 21, 1900), was a mountain man of the American Old West. Biography Johnson is said to have been born with the last name Garrison, in the area of the Hick ...

and local cowboy Charlie Russell, who would become the first well-known "cowboy artist". After the advent of railroads in the area, the stage stop became less vital, and the settlement seems to have withered away (although the railroad stops at both Garneill and Judith Gap were initially named "Ubet" as well). In 1934, Barrows' son John (by then an attorney in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

) published a boyhood memoir titled, ''Ubet'' (1934; reprinted in 1990 as ''Ubet: A Greenhorn in Old Montana'') which was reviewed in the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' as "dramatic and colorful." As of the 1939 ''Montana: A State Guide Book'' by the

Federal Writers Project The Federal Writers' Project (FWP) was a federal government project in the United States created to provide jobs for out-of-work writers during the Great Depression. It was part of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), a New Deal program. It wa ...

, only one or two log buildings remained, used in the earlier 1930s by sheepherders. There is a Ubet Cemetery located on the Ubet Ranch(also called Ubet-Garneill Cemetery) still extant at longitude 46°44′50″ N latitude 109°46′33″W 46.747178.Location for Ubet Cemetery
at

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...

Geonames

References

1880 establishments in Montana Territory Geography of Judith Basin County, Montana Ghost towns in Montana {{JudithBasinCountyMT-geo-stub