Miles City

History After the Battle of the Little Bighorn, the army founded the Tongue River Cantonment on 27 August 1876. Merchants set up a settlement two miles east of it, then moved with it when the post shifted; the first post office and town plat named it Miles City, after General Nelson Miles. The post later became Fort Keogh. Miles City grew quickly until the First World War era, but the railroad crossroads at Billings eventually overtook it. The town's first mayor, Eugene "Skew" Johnson, served a single term. Custer County High School, founded in the late 1880s as Miles City High School, graduated its first class in 1893. Miles Community College was founded here in 1939, and in 2025 the local station KYUS-TV joined the Montana PBS network.

What to See The Range Riders Museum has 13 buildings and about 30,000 square feet of exhibits, including the Fort Keogh officers' quarters, a homestead house, a one-room school, a Charles M. Russell gallery and a large historic gun collection. It is open 15 April to 15 October, closed Tuesdays (check the museum's site for opening times). The Miles City Bucking Horse Sale takes place on the third full weekend in May at the Eastern Montana Fairgrounds; in 2026 it ran from 14 to 17 May, with the main sale on the Saturday, and drew one of the largest crowds in its history. Rodeo contractors buy bucking stock at the sale. The Eastern Montana Fair, in the second half of August, adds a rodeo, demolition derby, fireworks and concerts and draws about 17,000 people.

Outdoors The Yellowstone and Tongue rivers give fishing, floating and riverside walking close to town. Autumn hunting on the surrounding plains needs a Montana licence and landowner permission on private ground. For a longer trip, Makoshika State Park near Glendive, about 80 miles away, is Montana's largest state park, with more than 11,000 acres of Hell Creek badlands and dinosaur fossils.

Getting There Miles City is on Interstate 94 and US-12. Billings Logan International Airport (BIL), about 150 miles by road, is the closest with regular jet service. Miles City Municipal Airport is less than 2 miles from town and handles general aviation. There is no passenger rail. Glendive, the gateway to Makoshika, lies further east on Interstate 94. Distances are long on the eastern plains, so fill the tank before leaving town.

When to Go May is the big month: book rooms well ahead for the Bucking Horse Sale weekend, as the town fills up. June to September is also good, and the Eastern Montana Fair in late August is the second-busiest time. The Range Riders Museum closes from mid-October to mid-April. Summers are hot and winters are cold and windy on the plains.