Event Details

Malta

Montana County Seat Challenge

Malta, Montana; Phillips County

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Event Elevation: 2,257 feet

Malta is a city in, and the county seat of, Phillips County, Montana, United States, located at the intersection of U.S. Routes 2 and 191. The population was 1,860 at the 2020 census. After James Hill and his partners built the St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Manitoba railway (which in 1890 became the Great Northern Railway) across Montana's "High Line" in 1887, Malta evolved from rail siding number 54. What came to be Saco, Montana, to the east and Dodson, Montana, to the west grew from other nearby sidings. A post office was established in Malta in 1890. Its name is said to have been determined by a spin of the globe by a Great Northern official whose finger came to rest on the island of Malta in the Mediterranean Sea. On July 3, 1901, Kid Curry (Harvey Logan), as part of Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch, robbed a train just west of Malta, near Wagner, Montana, making off with about $40,000. One of the best preserved dinosaurs ever discovered and one of only four that were fossilized is a 77-million-year-old Brachylophosaurus nicknamed Leonardo, unearthed north of Malta in 2000. Leonardo, together with brachylophosaurs Elvis (1994), Roberta (2003) and Peanut (2002), is on display at The Great Plains Dinosaur Museum.

Phillips County is a county in the U.S. state of Montana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 4,217. Its county seat is Malta. Before February 5, 1915, Phillips County was part of Blaine County, and before 1912 both were part of Chouteau County. It was named for rancher and state senator Benjamin D. Phillips. Its northern boundary is the Canada–United States border with Saskatchewan. The Missouri River defines its southern boundary.