These 3 Montana Museums Are So Fascinating It's Hard To Believe Admission Is Free
By Carolyn Harmon|Published January 20, 2023
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Carolyn Harmon
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Under Brown Mountain Lights the Beast of Blandenboro wanders this magical land where lighthouses shine on kingdoms only accessible by ferries. A Lost Colony of legends and pirates revealed in historical sites and majestic mountains with views that make us weep. The home of handmade sculptures and scrumptious cuisine. North Carolina leaves this long-time writer and artist breathless with endless surprises, including the unlikely warmth a winter walk on the beach can bring.
Montana spans 147,040 square feet between the prairie land, the 77 named mountain ranges that are part of the Rocky Mountains, and its 3,000 named lakes and reservoirs. Inside this wide-open space live more than 200 Montana museums with free admission, whose owners and volunteers are dedicated to the preservation of history and to sharing it with locals and visitors of the Big Sky Country. Here are three of the best Montana museums with free admission:
1. Yellowstone County Museum, Billings
Yellowstone County Museum, 1950 Terminal Cir, Billings, MT 59105, USA
The Yellowstone County Museum was founded in 1953 and was opened to the public in 1956. The McCormick Cabin, the museum's authentic entrance, was built by Paul McCormick in 1893 for social gatherings and moved to its current location in 1954.
All aboard! This shiny "Old 1031," as it's lovingly known, was built in 1903 by the American Locomotive Co. It operated a long 700,000 miles in switching service on Yellowstone Division and Lake Superior.
It was moved on Nov. 16, 1956, and presented to the Yellowstone Museum and Pioneers of Eastern Montana by the Northern Pacific Railway, and dedicated in 1957.
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Here, you will also find impressive collections and depictions of the American Indian tribes from the area.
The Huntley Project Museum is a success story of the Huntley Irrigation Project, unfolding its rich history of hard work and perseverance. It began operation on June 26, 1907, as a Bureau of Reclamation Project.
The museum sits on 10 acres with hundreds of turn-of-the-century farm equipment and thousands of artifacts.
The handy boardwalk allows a peak into the past of how pioneers lived, with a First National Bank, a typical church, and a total of 18 homestead buildings.
In addition to the doctor's office, it features displays of the Lawler Drug store, the Economy Grocery, the L. Price Company Hardware Store, and a creamery.
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As home of "Steer Montana," recorded as the World’s Largest Steer, the museum receives many visitors just to see this display. He stays in the Fallon County Jail, which was built in 1916, and originally housed the sheriff's quarters and jail.
The steer was born on March 23, 1923, in a community near Baker and died 15 years and four months later.
With a height of 5 feet 9 inches tall, a weight of 3,980 pounds, a girth of 9 feet 2 inches, and a length of 10 feet 4 inches, it is hard to imagine the effort that went into his owner, Jack Guth, taking him on tour around the country.
