Belfry

Shortly after this area was removed from the Crow Reservation in 1892, homesteaders settled along the fertile Clark’s Fork River to raise wheat. The discovery of rich coal deposits along Bear Creek, seven miles to the west, generated interest among capitalists to commercially mine the resource. In 1905, Frank Hall and a group of Billings and Pennsylvania investors formed the Yellowstone Park Railroad to provide a connection between the coal mines and the Northern Pacific Railway’s branch at Bridger. That same year the Belfry Townsite Company began selling lots at the confluence of Bear Creek and the Clark’s Fork. The new town was named for Dr. Oran Belfry, a major investor in the railroad and was the headquarters of the railroad. Anchored at the west end by the depot, the community’s business district included hotels, lumberyards, grocery stores, and a billiards parlor. In 1909, the railroad reorganized and was renamed the Montana, Wyoming & Southern Railroad. Its fortunes always shaky, the railroad went bankrupt in 1954 and pulled up its tracks after the statewide demand for coal plummeted. Today, Belfry survives as a local trade center and is home to the famed Belfry Bats.