Hardin, Montana - Discovering Montana

The small city of Hardin in Montana can be found in the south-central regions of the state to the west of the Big Horn and Little Big Horn Rivers’ confluence.

The city today has a population of less than 4,000 and is just north of the Crow Indian Reservation, which offers two mountain ranges by way of the Pryor and the Bighorn Mountains.

Hardin is probably most well-known for its proximity to the historic Little Bighorn Battlefield Monument, and the main community is located along I-90 about 60 miles from the state border with Wyoming.

The city name came from Samuel H. Hardin, a cattle trader from Wyoming who helped establish a town while raising his cattle on land leased from the Crow Reservation in the late 1800s. The city was officially founded as Hardin in1906.

Hardin is the county seat of Big Horn County, the sixth-largest in the state, and the city is largely the hub of regional trade and government for the county.

In the late 1800s, the area around Hardin was settled by cattle ranchers, and was officially Hardin has long been the center of some rich agriculture and ranching, and the city is one of the top ten suppliers of beef in the U.S.

This is especially the case in the North and the South along the BigHorn River, which supplies the water to the city via the valley.

The agriculture in the area also received a boost to its irrigation with the construction of the Yellowtail Dam in the 1960s, which lies just over 40 miles from Hardin in a south-westerly direction and was established in no small part to aid the self-sufficiency of the Crow Indians.

Other local industries in Hardin are related to surface coal mining, fishing, and tourism for recreation and historical purposes.

The area is rich in historical aspects, many of which are related to the Crow culture and festivals, and the annual Crow Fair is one of the biggest such events in the state.

Hardin is rich in history and attracts many visitors for events, festivals, and exhibitions like those occurring at the Crow Fair, the Little Big Horn Battlefield, and the Big Horn County Museum, as well as the recreation offered by the regions of the BigHorn River and the Yellowtail Dam.