Hardin, Montana

Hardin in the 1920's

Hardin is located where it is simply because it happens to be between Sheridan, Wyoming and Billings, Montana. The location was chosen by the Lincoln Land Company of Nebraska in 1906 when they bought a large chunk of the surrounding area, and they sold the first surveyed lot in town in 1907. They named the town after Samuel H. Hardin, a Wyoming cattleman and good friend of CH Morrill, president of the Lincoln Land Company.

The local area had already been a major cattle producing region since the 1880's. Sheep ranchers moved in a few years after the cattle ranchers and the area is now also a major sheep and wool producer. Many of the ranchers in the area first came here during the days of the big cattle drives out of Texas, and their descendants are still here.

Hardin is right against the northern boundary of the Crow Indian Reservation, just west of the confluence of the Bighorn and Little Bighorn Rivers.