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D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA N A M A G A Z I N E • S U M M E R 2 0 2 4
in the road, but at one time all had a school, a post office, and
even a baseball team.
Cabin Creek today is home to the Williston Basin Interstate
Pipeline gas compressor station. It lost its post office in 1931. Ol-
lie, near the North Dakota line, is another railroad town—this time
the Northern Pacific. Its post office was open from 1911 to 1955.
Webster, in the southeast corner of the County, got its post of-
fice in 1911. Upstairs there was a dance hall. The "town" also had
a Catholic Church. Successive years of drought killed the town.
Today, Westmore is a ghost town northwest of Plevna along the
old Milwaukee tracks. Its post office was open from 1910 to 1942.
Willard, south of Baker on Highway 7, lost its post office in
1995, but it still has its own Zip Code. A 1950s Montana Atlas
map shows several other communities that no longer exist, in-
cluding Calumet, Dodge, Kingmont, Knobs, and Tonquin. None
of these "towns" appear on my DeLorme Montana Gazateer and
Atlas, with the exception of a railroad siding named Kingmont
on the Burlington Northern (BNSF) southeast of Baker.
Just as the Milwaukee Railroad was responsible for the set-
tling of Fallon County, so too was it responsible for the existence
of Baker Lake. Needing a water supply for its steam locomotives,
J U N E 1 s t - AU G U ST 1 1 t h , 2 0 2 4
Ame Myles, Music Sounds Better With You, 2022, Mixed Media
THE HERITAGE CENTER
at MAHPIYA LUTA
(formerly Red Cloud Indian School)
For more information visit REDCLOUDART.SHOW
100 Mission Dr • Pine Ridge, SD 57770 • 605.867.8257
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