Wheat Basin, Montana

Wheat Basin is a ghost town in Stillwater County, Montana. Wheat Basin is sourced from the USGS (United States Geographical Survey).

Wheat Basin, Montana
Ghost town
Wheat Basin, Montana
Wheat Basin, Montana
Coordinates: 45°55′02″N 109°03′46″W
CountryUnited States
StateMontana
CountyStillwater
Elevation
3,947 ft (1,203 m)
Population
 (2010)[1]
 • Total0
Time zoneUTC-7 (Mountain (MST))
 • Summer (DST)UTC-6 (MDT)
ZIP code
59057
Area code(s)406
GNIS feature ID778337[2]

History

In 1915, four years before John Stolte platted Wheat Basin, the town of Nora grew up from a railroad construction camp midway between the towns of Rapelje and Molt near the mouth of Big Lake.[3]

By the summer of 1917, the railroad had been completed, the Riopel family had opened a mercantile store there and the postal service in Washington, D.C. changed Nora's name to Wheat Basin in 1918. The town supported a developed main street with a grain elevator, a bank, stores, a dance hall, and lumber yards. The town was primarily an agricultural community with a stop and depot. The Wheat basin post office was closed in 1936. The railroad later pulled out and the town descended into steep decline.[4]

In 1937, the town was gripped by a bloody double homicide committed by Frank Robideau. The murder victims were Michael and Frieda Kuntz, who ran the "Occidental Grain Elevator." Robideau was quickly tried and hung.[5]

Today, Wheat Basin is a ghost town, with little remaining that is easily visible except a number of concrete building foundations and depressions where buildings once stood. The streets and main road are also still present. The last surviving structure was the Grain Elevator, which burned down in 1997. A sign placard indicates the site of the former town.[3]

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References
  1. "U.S. Census website". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved 2011-05-14.
  2. "Wheat Basin". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey.
  3. Staff, LINDA HALSTEAD-ACHARYA Of The Gazette. "Remnants of the once-thriving Wheat Basin scattered all over Stillwater County". The Billings Gazette.
  4. Staff, LINDA HALSTEAD-ACHARYA Of The Gazette. "Typical prairie town dwindled to nothing". The Billings Gazette.
  5. "New book tells story of 1937 double homicide, and the boy who survived". Spokesman.com.
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