CARBON COUNTY
MTGenWeb

Carbon County Montana

I am Rebecca Maloney the County Coordinator.  If you have genealogy items of interest you would like to share- PLEASE Contact me !   Thank you to the previous CC's and volunteers that have helped with this MTGenWeb Project!

If you love history and genealogy, we would love for you to join the team!
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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.

Do you have ancestors from the Joliet area? Check out this circa 1915 photo of classmates in the Joliet School.
Can you identify any of your family?  Also, check out this list of Joliet Surnames!

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Carbon County School Records

1911 Bear Creek Public School Souvenir Booklet - submitted by John Uhlman

1937-1938 Boyd School Class Photo - submitted by Sandy Sage

More Class Photos

1922 Carbon County High School Commencement Program - submitted by Faith Barnwell

c1915 Joliet School Class Photo - submitted by Vicki Leimback

Carbon County Brand Book

Historical Highway Marker Database

Officers Killed in the Line of Duty

Abandoned & Little Known Airfields of Montana

USGenWeb® Kidz USGenWeb® Kidz Project - free resources for beginning genealogy research

Neighboring Counties:

Big Horn County

  Park County, Montana

  Stillwater County

Yellowstone County

Park County, Wyoming -This neighboring county lies directly South of Carbon County. Many Carbon County residents were closely allied with this Wyoming county.

Karen De Groote, State Coordinator

Suzanne Andrews, Assistant State Coordinator

Rebecca Maloney, County Coordinator

Contact Information for USGenWeb®:

National Coordinator: Linda K. Lewis 
  

Copyright  Carbon County MTGenWeb Project