[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 30 (Thursday, March 17, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: March 17, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                75TH ANNIVERSARY OF POWDER RIVER COUNTY

  Mr. BURNS. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to Powder River 
County, MT, which on this day, March 17, 1994, is celebrating its 75th 
year as a county in the State of Montana.
  Powder River County is a land of astonishing terrain, and a people 
just as arduous. The Powder River is known for its mud, and gumbo, and 
the county for its lofty red-shale hills and beautiful valleys. 
Appropriately enough, Powder River County is also known for the rugged 
individualists that have been a part of it from the start. This 
robustness is in part, what enticed people to the Powder River country 
to begin with. They wanted to do their own thinking, have their own 
property, and mange things their own way. They found this in the Powder 
River, and it has accordingly, through its never-ending challenges, 
cultured the land and the people who chose the hard life of the Powder 
River.
  The Powder River country's past is painted with prehistoric 
dinosaurs, American Indians, and a legend that boasts a Canadian-born 
Frenchman to be the first white man ever to see Montana since it is 
likely he saw only the corner of our State where Powder River is 
located. After 1900, came the homestead boom, and the sodbusters who 
forever transformed Montana, and set in motion the greatest land boom 
in our State's history. They came by rail to Montana in hopes of 
finding good land, a new start, and their own part of the ``last great 
agricultural frontier.'' This homestead rush coincided with the United 
States entering into World War I, and a ``Food will win the war!'' 
appeal by President Woodrow Wilson was responded to by patriotic grain 
farmers adding a final boost to the great Montana boom, especially in 
southeastern Montana.
  Inevitably, after the great land rush, the huge counties in eastern 
Montana changed. Originally, southeastern Montana was all one big 
county, Custer County, with Miles City as the county seat. This did not 
suit the people of the Powder River who had to travel vast distances to 
transact their legal business. So, the people of Powder River saw to it 
that they got a county of their own--Powder River County.
  This came about principally through the efforts of Frank Kelsey, who 
in 1919 was elected as a representative to the Montana legislature, and 
introduced the bill creating Powder River County. With the influx of 
settlers into Montana, county-splitting was the trend, and on March 17, 
1919, Powder River officially became a county. The first meeting of the 
county commissioners determined where the county seat should be, and 
with three men present to decide the issue, Broadus received two votes, 
and the town of Olive, only one.
  As with the rest of Montana, Powder River County has had its ups and 
downs and prevailed. Montanans are as resilient as the land they live 
in, and this is evident when you look at Powder River County.
  Mr. President, I appreciate the opportunity to commemorate Powder 
River County on its 75th birthday as a county in Montana. I wish them 
the best in the years ahead, and I yield the floor.

                          ____________________