Big Horn County Museum

10/02/2026

https://dailywise.com/state/montana/this-sprawling-montana-museum-complex-feels-like-wandering-through-a-forgotten-pioneer-town/?utm_source=montana&utm_medium=YM&utm_campaign=fb&utm_content=523439050863571&utm_term=activity-feature-v2-1&fbclid=IwY2xjawUs-GdleHRuA2FlbQIxMABwZG9mAWJyaWQRMUluSHpSek9jMmxROUZwUXBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEe6NV0Oc_CM5f6J1KwSzUZ3bDcZkl6_tYqJsUdZKtNgexxqJkcLwqit5on1Uo_aem_8U7WnVQK2_HX-img4-rC4A

This Sprawling Montana Museum Complex Feels Like Wandering Through a Forgotten Pioneer Town February 7, 2026 Google Maps Ever wonder what it was like to walk through a frontier town, step into a one-room schoolhouse, or see the massive machinery that tamed the rugged Montana landscape? There’s a p...

10/02/2026

The old Goering Slaughterhouse made it’s way to the museum site on November 14, 2000. Bill and Dorothy Stenerson donated the building and it’s contents, which includes the original meat hooks, winch, rope and other small items.

According to Bill, the building was once located near the Big Horn River, near where the present-day city sewer treatment facility is. Goering’s later moved the building to Bill’s which is located just ½ mile west of the museum.

John Goering was born April 21, 1884, in New York City. He went to Germany where he received his education. He then entered a trade school and later a butcher shop in Germany.

John returned to the U.S. in 1912 and for a short time operated a butcher shop in New York City.

In 1915 John arrived in Butte, Montana and ran another butcher shop. A year later he moved to Big Timber where he met Grace Dillon.

Grace Dillon was born Nov. 21, 1883, to Mr. and Mrs. Squire Dillon in Lyon, Montana. The family moved to lower Deer Creek near Greycliff, Montana. In 1913 they moved to Big Timber where Grace graduated from high school in 1916.

John and Grace were married April 16, 1917, in Big Timber. In 1920 they moved to a small farm located on the east end of Hardin, next to the Camp Custer Motel. They opened the Goering Meat Market located at 214 N. Center

10/02/2026

Annoucement: We will re-open the buildings next Monday October 5, 2026!
We have decided to keep the 25 historical buildings at the museum open as long as the weather is nice. Come check out our wonderful displays in the buildings, and the beautiful grounds, while the good weather lasts!

10/01/2026

Today the museum closes our 25 outside historical buildings for the winter. Our winter hours are 9 am - 5 pm, Monday through Friday. Our main building remains open, which features our Gallery and Gift Shop. The outside buildings will reopen on May 1st.

09/25/2026

https://www.talkingtrail.com/big-horn-county-mt/1249-ranching%2Fwill-james-cabins

By 1866, the period of great cattle drives had begun. Word spread that Montana offered vast grazing lands that were free for public use, though, while the price was right, it also presented some problems for ranchers. Prairie fires, wolves, blizzards, and the like were devastating. The open ranchlan...

09/24/2026

By Lorna Thackeray of the Gazette Staff:

Artist, writer and cowboy Will James lived out his Montana dreams on his 12,000-acre Rocking R Ranch east of Pryor.

He built a stone house in the foothills of the Pryor Mountains sometime in the 1920s and behind it constructed a log studio, where he could write about and illustrate his experiences as a cowpuncher in his footloose younger days.

Sometimes, to help keep the ranch afloat, James took in "dudes" who wanted a taste of life in the West. He put them up in small log cabins on the propery.

In the 65 years since James' death, the buildings have stood unnoticed in remote ranch country 45 miles southeast of Billings in Big Horn County. When the current ranch operation needed to build a new bunkhouse, ranch manager Brad Mitchell stopped by the Big Horn County Historical Museum in Hardin.

Earl Holding, owner of Sunlight Ranches, wanted to donate the James buildings, Mitchell told museum Director Diana Scheidt. Would the Big Horn County Historical Society be willing to accept?
Scheidt almost didn't let him finish.

"Will James is to Big Horn County what Charlie Russell is to Great Falls, " she exclaimed Wednesday, hardly able to contain her excitement as three historic buildings, released from their mooring at the the ranch and loaded onto trucks, turned onto BIA Road 91 and headed across the Crow Reservation toward Hardin.

I almost cried when they drove it over the cattle guard," she said. "It was his home, where he worked."

09/15/2026

The winner of the 2026 $1000.00 raffle is Francie Greenough from Fromberg, MT! Congratulations Francie!

09/05/2026

We will have the drawing for the $1000.00 raffle ticket winner on September 14, 2026, Monday at noon. You still have time to purchase tickets for it. Good Luck!
Unfortunately we will not be having our Country Fun Day this year. We hope to have other fun activities in the future.

09/05/2026

The Laforge Cabin By Larry W. Gibson

The LaForge cabin, now part of Hardin, MT’s Big Horn County Historical Museum complex, was built at Lodge Grass, MT by Thomas H. LaForge and his eldest son. The cabin is constructed of logs cut in the nearby Wolf Mountains and the modest 18’ X 24’ cabin, a single room, contains only those necessities needed to make it a home. The cabin was donated to the museum by the LaForge family in 1981, and was moved intact, thirty-five miles from Lodge Grass to the museum site. Three generations of the LaForge family had occupied the cabin.

Tomas H. LaForge, a descendent of French Huguenots from South Carolina, was born in Portsmouth, Ohio in 1850. His parents pioneered to Montana in 1865 where LaForge quickly developed a keen interest in the Crow Indian people and their way of life. At age 19 he chose to live among the Crow and a few years later, was adopted into the Crow Tribe. The Crow Agency was then located in western Montana and LaForge found various forms of employment at the agency.

His proficiency in Indian languages, along with his frontiersman’s skills, later found him employed as a government scout and interpreter. LaForge served as a scout and interpreter for such notable military commanders as Custer, Terry, Gibbon and others. He narrowly missed being in service as a scout for the 1876 campaign and with the 7th Cavalry at the Little Bighorn. A short time before the battle, LaForge was thrown from his horse and suffered a broken collarbone. As a result, Lt. Bradley refused to allow LaForge to accompany the 7th and he spent that time in the field hospital at the mouth of the Bighorn River.

LaForge later served at Fort Custer, and following some years in the pacific northwest, he returned to the present-day Crow Agency area, living at Wyola and Lodge Grass, Montana until his death.

The life and times of Thomas LaForge are chronicled in the book Memoris of a White Crow Indian by Dr. Thomas Marquis.

08/30/2026

Fort Custer on the Big Horn - Second Edition
by Richard (editor) Upton (Author) Format: Hardcover
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FORT CUSTER ON THE BIG HORN, 1877 - 1898. Its life and times as recorded in old newspaper accounts, dusty letters, forgotten records, dozens of old forgotten photos by D F Barry, O S Goff, F J Haynes and L A Huffman. EARLY Recollections by Capt. Gilbreath, Company H, 11th Infantry. MIDDLE Pvt. James O. Purvis' Column in "Fort Custer News" relating daily life using his wit and wisdom. CUSTER FIGHT recalled by participant Capt. Godfrey Anniversary of the Battle. Indian troubles after 1876 Bannock Fight 1878; Swordbearer Incident of the Crows 1887; Lame Deer Episode of the Cheyenne 1890. FRONTIER Generals Sherman, Miles, Buell and Dudley; Lt.Gustavus Doane, Tom Leforge, Yellowstone Kelly, Liver-eating Johnson, and CUSTER BATTLE Benteen, Godfrey and Reno. FAMOUS Gall, Sitting Bull, Plenty Coups, Cheestapah (Swordbearer); Sioux, Crow, Arapaho, Bannock, Piegan and Cheyenne tribes. FINAL BUFFALO SOLDIERS of Tenth Cav, 1ST and 2ND Cav and various Infantry Units. These units and their officers are detailed in the appendices.