Distinctly Montana Magazine

www.DistinctlyMontana.com 87 been better than most Native groups in keeping their language alive. The same census estimates indicate almost 27% of Big Horn County's population spoke Crow at home. (As a comparison, Glacier and Roosevelt Counties, the only other Montana counties with over 60% Native populations, show 4.5% and 4.1% speaking languages other than English at home.) Founded in 1907 and incorporated in 1911, Hardin not only serves as county seat, but is the largest and only incorpo- rated city in the county. The 2020 Cen- sus counted 3,818 city residents. Hardin is home to the largest high school in the county, as well as the Big Horn County Historical Museum, the Big Horn County Fairgrounds, and for over thirty years, the Hol- ly Sugar Refinery. The refinery was the county's largest industri- al employer from 1937 until it closed in the early 1970s, and the ruins of the plant are still visible from Interstate 90 east of town. Carrol Van West's blog, Montana's Historic Landscapes, notes many of the remarkable architectural designs found in Hardin (January 25th, 2015). (As a personal sidenote, Van West notes the "almost Saarinen-esque design" of the Hardin Congregational Church. In the late 1950s, my father served as interim pastor of this church, and every Sunday we would drive the almost 50 miles from Bill- ings to Hardin and back. In those pre-Interstate days, we drove U.S. High- way 87 through the rolling hills of north- ern Big Horn County. I was prone to car sickness, and I 'll never forget arriving in Hardin and throwing up all over the entrance steps to the church. I was seven years old, okay?) Lodge Grass, thirty-four miles south of Hardin by Interstate 90, is the only incorporated town in the county. With a 2020 population of 441, the communi- ty is roughly half the size it was back in 1930 (839 residents). Native Americans make up over 85% of the town's popu- lation. The town's high school serves the southern extent of Big Horn County, with a student body of 129, 127 of whom are Native. Just as "Crow" is a European mis- understanding of the tribe's actual name (Apsáalooke—'Chil- dren of the Large-Beaked Bird'), Lodge Grass is a European misunderstanding of the Native name best translated as Greasy Grass—the name the Crow gave the Little Big Horn. Many no- table Native Americans come from Lodge Grass. It was also the childhood home of writer and cartoonist Stan Lynde, creator of the Rick O'Shay and Latigo comic strips. Numerous other communities dot the Big Horn County land- scape. Busby (2020 population 719) is on the Northern Chey- enne Reservation in the eastern part of the county. Crow Agency

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