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Carbon County MTGenWeb is a free genealogical site about the history of the Montana county. It is a member of MTGenWeb, which is a member of USGenWeb®. We hope you find helpful clues for your research of Carbon County ancestors.

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County Coordinator: Rebecca Maloney maloneys7193@gmail.com

State Coordinator: Karen De Groote

Assistant State Coordinator: Suzanne Andrews

COUNTY FORMATION

By act of the Montana legislature creating Carbon County on March 4, 1895, Red Lodge was designated as the temporary county seat. This pending arrangement was prompted by the fact Red Lodge had adequate facilities for accommodating officers, was the populace center and contained a large proportion of the assayable property. However, fate and future locale of the county seat would ultimately be decided by voters in the general election of 1896.
There was competition for the county seat, as well as mud-slinging. Accusations were laid that Red Lodge’s Rocky Fork Coal Company with a monthly payroll of $25-30,000 and substantial tax revenue, totaling $6,341.00 were unduly influencing county officers. Red Lodge proponents were quick to point out no city officers were on the payroll and cited as a draw, the town improvements; sidewalks, the Spofford Hotel, two banks and merchants who carried “everything from a needle to a steam thrasher.” Red Lodge with 1,600 residents also sported four churches, a “spacious school house,” and expended considerable funds ($11,000) on improvements to the courthouse and jail. The November 1896 election proved the town prevailed over contending Joliet. It was wisely suggested, however, she ought to treat her “in a magnanimous spirit.”

County Seat: Red Lodge. Formed in March 1895 from Park & Yellowstone Counties.
Carbon County is in the central part of Montana, bordering Wyoming, and was named for the abundant coal found in the area. The first oil well in the state was in Elk Basin in 1915. The Montana coal mining industry went through some dramatic changes from 1919 to 1930. At the time of that the month-and-a-half nationwide coal miners strike began on November 1, 1919, there were about 4,000 coal miners in Montana. But during 1930, there were only 2,428 people employed in the Montana coal mining industry, according to statistics compiled from U.S. Census Records.
In Carbon County (which had coal mines in Red Lodge, Bridger and Bear Creek during 1919), the number of mine employees went from about 1,280 in 1919 to 869 in 1930. In Musselshell County (which had mines in Roundup, Klein and Carpenter Creek in 1919), there was a decrease from about 1,175 in 1919 to 725 in 1930.
The reduction in the number of coal miners in Cascade County and Lehigh were even more dramatic. In Cascade County (which had mines in Sand Coulee, Stockett, Tracy and Belt), there was a decrease from about 1,125 in 1919 to 348 in 1930. During 1919, there were about 400 or 500 people working in the mines in Lehigh (which was located in Fergus County at the time). In Lehigh, the coal mines were shut down for good during the early part of 1921 and were declared abandoned in 1924.