The Beginnings of Baker:

Not much more than the wind moved over the prairie grasses of this land located just west of the Wibaux-Ekalaka Road in the years immediately preceding 1908. Although partially held by the Northern Pacific Land Grant or by "squatters", it had not yet been accepted by the Federal Land Survey until the Milwaukee Railroad survey of 1905-06 opened the area for a prospective town site. With the laying of the steel rails in December 1907, the community was ready to begin. Location was determined by the excellent dam-site for the railway water supply. Growth was steady and the pioneer problems of educating children, farming through drought and flood, establishing churches and business firms, were met and dealt with.

Baker's first squatters: John and Maggie Findlater

The original town site survey was called Lorraine, but the name was changed in the spring of 1908 when the first train came through. At that time it was renamed Baker. It honored the chief engineer of construction.

Main Street, 1909

When the steel reached the site about the last week of 1907, the first depot was nothing more than a boxcar. One of the first shacks put up was used as a bar, lunch counter, and butcher shop. The first real building was the Pierce general store, which included the post office, a hall, and living quarters upstairs. A rooming house was started early in 1908, followed by the Corner Bar, a business still in existence today.

The first passenger train, three coaches trailing a freight train, arrived March 6, 1908, and a city of tents soon sprang up. With the rush of homesteaders in 1910, immigrant cars were on every freight.

On January 7, 1911, a petition was filed with the county commission of Custer County, asking for the incorporation of the Town of Baker. On March 14, 1911, the commissioners ordered an election to be held April 22, 1911, for the purpose of deciding the incorporation issue. The vote was 51 for and 1 against.

Baker, Montana, 1914

Fallon County:

All of Southeastern Montana was Custer County in those early days. In 1913, effort was being made to have the large counties broken into smaller units. The fight was hot and heavy with rallies in every precinct featuring free dances where liquor flowed freely. Each proposed county attempted to get the largest possible area. Wibaux to the north was the roughest competitor in that respect, but Ekalaka was Baker's rival for the county seat of this southeast section. Ekalaka won, but the following year, on re-election, Baker became the seat of Fallon County. In 1917, Ekalaka pulled away and formed its own county of Carter.

Early Public School, Baker Montana

The area which became Fallon County was rich in western historical lore. Across the northern edge, the Keogh trail ran, on which early stage coaches and freight wagons traveled from Fort Abraham Lincoln (Mandan, North Dakota) to Fort Keogh at Miles City. The famous Maltese Cross ranch of Teddy Roosevelt was on the Little Missouri, near the eastern line. Southeast of Baker was an area white with the bones of the big buffalo slaughter, and to the south lay the Medicine Rocks, an area holding special meaning to Native Americans.

Gas and Oil Discoveries:

The first gas discovery north of Baker was the result of a determined effort on the part of E. A. "Dad" Monroe to find water on his land. No water was found but gas was encountered at approximately 700 feet. This well came in on August 29, 1915, with a roar that could be heard in Baker although the well was nearly a mile north of town. This was the start of the Baker Field.

Several attempts were made before oil was found. The first deep test oil well was drilled on Little Beaver Creek at the Hunter corrals in 1920. This well was a few miles southeast of Medicine Rocks. A total depth of 3,438 feet was reached before drilling was abandoned.

Medicine Rocks Oil Drilling - 1920

The first oil to be produced in the Baker Field and in the Williston Basin was brought to the surface in a drill stem test by Fidelity Gas Co., a subsidiary of Montana-Dakota Utilities. More testing and drilling was carried on until this well, N. P. No. 1, was finally completed as an oil well at a depth of 8,186 feet, reportedly flowing 125 barrels of oil per day.

Modern Oil Rig

Baker Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture

The Baker Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture was organized in 1910. It promoted and uniformed the first city band. The Chamber was in charge of the bond buying campaign in World War I and it's members promoted and saw through the establishment of the Fallon County Fair. It has worked continually for roads and has promoted special marketing ideas, sales days, etc. ever since.

Edited from Golden Jubilee, 1908-1958
Montana History Collection, Fallon County Library