Circle
Circle is a county seat situated halfway between Glendive and the Fort Peck Reservoir. It was named for the circle brand of one Montana’s first cattle outfits, which was owned by Cross and Twiggly. Old-time cow punchers used this cow town as headquarters and could usually find a job in the spring with one of the cattle pools that grazed their stock on the lush ranges nearby. South of Circle are the Big Sheep Mountains, once home of the Audubon Mountain Sheep, a species made extinct in the homestead days by hungry settlers. (from Cheney’s
Names on the Face of Montana, Mountain Press Publishing Company) On the plains of eastern Montana, which are blanketed with farmland and steeped in tradition, the Circle of today is still very farm and ranch oriented.
The McCone County Museum in Circle consists of 7,000 items of historical interest of the area. Its wildlife collection consists of over 200 birds and animals mounted and displayed in their natural settings. There are eight cement dinosaurs. An old school house, church and homestead house has been moved to the museum area. The old Northern Pacific Depot and an old caboose are also on the grounds.
Circle is located along the Big Sky Back Country Byway, which links the two major rivers in the state, the Yellowstone and the Missouri. This route follows a section of the historic Regina-Yellowstone (R-Y) Trail, which tourists from Canada used to reach Yellowstone National Park. The north-south orientation of the trail will give you a glimpse of dry land farming, rolling prairie grassland, scenic scoria buttes, and badlands terrain. The Byway has information kiosks located in Terry, Circle, and Wolf Point to inform you of local opportunities and history of the area.
Elevation: 2,450 feet
