Event Details

Ekalaka

Montana County Seat Challenge

Ekalaka, Montana; Carter County

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Event Elevation: 3,425 feet

Ekalaka was named after a Sioux girl, Ijkalaka, who was the wife of David Harrison Russell, a scout. Ijkalaka (Restless or Moving About) was an Oglala Lakota and the daughter of Wombalee We-chosh (Eagle Man). She was born in 1858 on the Powder River, while she was living with a cousin, Hi Kelly, at a ranch on Chugwater Creek, near Laramie, Wyoming. She was 16 when she met Russell, who was a scout and frontiersman. The town was created by Russell on the edge of his ranch. A man named Carter bogged down in mud the spring of 1885 opened a saloon and is credited with saying "Anyplace in Montana is a good place to open a saloon". The site became a trade center for cattle ranchers and sheepherders. He put up houses to house freight workers and hunters who ran the local freight line (team and horses), and others added to it.

Carter County is a county located in the U.S. state of Montana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,415, making it the seventh-least populous county in Montana. The county seat is Ekalaka. Carter County was named for Thomas Henry Carter, the state's first congressman (representative in Congress from the Montana Territory, followed by first representative from the state of Montana to the US House of Representatives). Prior to settlement the land of Carter County was occupied by the Sioux tribe.