MARTINSDALE, Montana Community Information

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  Scenic View

  Photo courtesy: MTOT

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  The Bair Museum

  Photo courtesy: Donnie Sexton

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  The Great Outdoors

  Photo courtesy: David Voldseth

Martinsdale was first known as Gauglersville to honor Franklin J. Gaugler, who built a general store and hotel at the site in 1876. The name changed to Martisndale, after Martin Maginnis, Montana Territory's delegate to Congress assisted the town in getting a post office 1878. When the Montana Railway Company laid track through the Musselshell Valley in 1899, Martinsdale moved 2 miles south to be closer to the rail line. Martinsdale's 2 most famous early-day residents are Charles M. Bair, one of Montana's most successful sheepmen, and Grace Stone Coates, a nationally recoginized fiction writer.(Copyright 2009, Montana Historical Society: Montana Place Names from Alzada to Zortman, Montana Historical Society Research Center Staff)

The Bair Family Museum is a monument to beauty, hard work and luck. Charles M. Bair came to Montana in 1883 as a conductor on the Northern Pacific Railroad and went into the ranching business in 1891. He made his fortune in the Alaska gold rush and went on to invest in mining, oil and real estate. Bair was one of the most successful sheep owners in the world, at one time running over 300,000 head. Among his friends were Will Rogers, Chief Plenty Coups and many U.S. Presidents. A trip to the Bair Home would allow the visitor to step into the home of one of Montana's most prosperous families.

Between Martinsdale and White Sulphur Springs are four reservoirs: Martinsdale, Bair, Sutherland and Newlan which offer fishing, boating, waterskiing, and camping.