Event Details

Jordan

Montana County Seat Challenge

Jordan, Montana; Garfield County

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Event Elevation: 2,602 feet

Jordan is a town in and the county seat of Garfield County, Montana, United States. The population was 356 at the 2020 census. It is Garfield County's only incorporated community. Jordan was settled in 1896. The founder, Arthur Jordan, had hunted the area and decided to settle with his family in 1896 along the banks of the Big Dry Creek. A post office was opened in Jordan on July 11, 1899. Afterward, a town began building around the post office. There were saloons, rooming houses, livery stables, blacksmiths, and stores. In the later part of the 1910s, the homestead boom hit Garfield County, which was then actually part of Dawson County to the east. By 1919, the citizens reached a consensus to form a county of their own, therefore establishing Garfield County. Jordan was finally chosen as the county seat, by popular vote. The Great Northern Railroad had proposed a route starting from Lewiston [sic], MT eastbound through Winnett, MT and Jordan, MT, and connecting to their line at Richey, MT. Grading had been completed between Lewiston [sic], MT and Winnett, MT but no track was laid. Jordan was incorporated as a town in 1951. On March 25, 1996, an 81-day-long standoff between an anti-government gang known as the Montana Freemen and federal officers began near Jordan.

Garfield County is a county located in the U.S. state of Montana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,173. Its county seat is Jordan. Garfield County is noteworthy as the site of the discovery and excavation of four of the world's dozen or so major specimens (as of 1994) of Tyrannosaurus rex. A cast of the skull of one of these dinosaurs is on display at the Garfield County Museum.