Event Details

Roundup

Montana County Seat Challenge

Roundup, Montana; Musselshell County

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Event Elevation: 3,229 feet

Roundup is a city in and the county seat of Musselshell County, Montana, United States. The population was 1,742 as of the 2020 census. The city was incorporated in 1909. It has a Commissioner-Executive form of government. Roundup served as a place for cattlemen to "round up" their cattle along the Musselshell River. It was the trailhead in the Great Montana Centennial Cattle Drive, and now drives happen annually. The post office opened in 1883. In 1907, the Milwaukee Road reached Roundup. From Hell to Breakfast in Old Montana, by Leland Blanchard, tells the story of pioneers who lived and worked in Roundup in the early 1900s.

Musselshell County is a county in south-central Montana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 4,730. Its county seat is Roundup. Musselshell County was created in 1911 by Montana Governor Edwin L. Norris. The area was taken from Fergus, Yellowstone, and Meagher counties. It was named for the Musselshell River which runs southwest–northeast through the county. That river had been thus named in 1805 by the Lewis and Clark Expedition, due to the abundance of freshwater mussels found along its banks. In 1915, a western portion of the county was partitioned off to form Golden Valley County, giving Musselshell County its present boundaries. The county's northwestern area is rolling grasslands, which slope southeastward to the Musselshell River and the forested Bull Mountains in the southeast. The county has abundant natural resources of coal deposits, subterranean oil, and timbered slopes.