Wheat Basin, Montana
Ghost town
Wheat Basin, Montana is located in Montana
Wheat Basin, Montana
Wheat Basin, Montana
Wheat Basin, Montana is located in the United States
Wheat Basin, Montana
Wheat Basin, Montana
Coordinates: 45°55′02″N 109°03′46″W / 45.91722°N 109.06278°W / 45.91722; -109.06278
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 code406
GNIS feature ID778337[2]

Wheat Basin is a ghost town in Stillwater County, Montana, United States. Wheat Basin is sourced from the USGS (United States Geographical Survey). The town has a total area of 6.5 acres.

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. A post office was open in 1918 with Frances Riopel serving as postmaster; it remained in operation until 1936.[4] 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.[5]

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 hanged.[6]

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]

The town was purchased in 2006 by Ken Mesch. Only two shops are owned by the previous owners of the blacksmith shop.[7]

References

  1. ↑ "U.S. Census website". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved May 14, 2011.
  2. ↑ "Wheat Basin". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
  3. 1 2 Staff, LINDA HALSTEAD-ACHARYA Of The Gazette. "Remnants of the once-thriving Wheat Basin scattered all over Stillwater County". The Billings Gazette.
  4. ↑ S, Gary (April 25, 2010), Wheat Basin, Montana, retrieved September 10, 2020
  5. ↑ Staff, LINDA HALSTEAD-ACHARYA Of The Gazette. "Typical prairie town dwindled to nothing". The Billings Gazette.
  6. ↑ "New book tells story of 1937 double homicide, and the boy who survived". Spokesman.com.
  7. ↑ Staff, LINDA HALSTEAD-ACHARYA Of The Gazette. "Remnants of the once-thriving Wheat Basin scattered all over Stillwater County". The Billings Gazette. Retrieved September 10, 2020.
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