Distinctly Montana Magazine

D I S T I N C T L Y M O N T A N A M A G A Z I N E • S P R I N G 2 0 2 2 78 G E T T O K N O W G E T T O K N O W A C O U N T Y A C O U N T Y P O W D E R R I V E R P O W D E R R I V E R S HOULD ANYONE TELL YOU EASTERN MONTANA IS FLAT, just send them to Powder River County in the south- eastern portion of the state. Bordered by Bighorn and Rosebud Counties to the west, Carter County to the east, and Custer County to the north, Powder River County is a 3,300-square-mile rectangle that lies on the Wyoming border. With a 2020 U.S. Census count of 1,694 residents, the county is 48th of Montana's 56 coun- ties in population. With the exception of 1970, Powder River County has lost population every decade since 1930, when 3,909 folk lived in the county. That count placed it at number 46 in the state, but somehow the county ended up with 9 on its license plates. Created on March 17th, 1919 with land taken from the southern end of Custer County, Powder River County was the last of seven counties created that year. Four more new coun- ties would follow in 1920. The county takes its name from the Powder River that flows north out of central Wyoming to its confluence with the Yel- lowstone. It does a good job of cutting the coun- ty in half. The river, by the way, got its name from the gunpowder gray sand on its banks. Early settlers said the river was "a mile wide and an inch deep." A Montana Historical Marker along U.S. Highway 212 notes that Pierre de la Ver- endrye was the first European to come through the area, back in 1743. Another Frenchman followed shortly after Lewis and Clark traveled the Yellowstone, but it wasn't until the 1880s that ranching and settlement came to the region. Of course, the land wasn't empty. Various groups of Sioux and Cheyenne hunted the land for generations. White exploration and sub- sequent settlement led to several skirmishes between the two different peoples. March 17th, 1865 saw U.S. soldiers, under the direction of Colonel Joseph Jones Reynolds, attack a native village which Reynolds mistakenly believed to be Sioux. Rather it was a Northern Cheyenne village and the army destroyed it. They also took over 700 of the natives' horses. This battle, now called the Battle of Powder River, helped to strength- en alliances between the Northern Cheyenne and the Sioux, which in turn led to Custer's defeat at Little Bighorn. For his part, Reynolds was court martialed and stripped of his rank because he did not secure the site of the encampment and the Cheyenne were able to recapture most of their horses. The battle- field is near the present unincorporated town of Moorhead in southern Powder River County. In the 1870s, the 9th U.S. Infantry built a telegraph repair station along the Powder Riv- article and photos by BRYAN SPELLMAN BROADUS

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