Ringling | |
---|---|
Coordinates: 46°16′18″N110°48′26″W / 46.27167°N 110.80722°W | |
Country | United States |
State | Montana |
County | Meagher |
ZIP code | 59642 [1] |
Area code | 406 |
GNIS feature ID | 775779 [2] |
Ringling is an unincorporated community in southern Meagher County, Montana, United States, [2] along the route of U.S. Route 89. The town was a station stop on the transcontinental main line of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad ("the Milwaukee Road"); it was also the southern terminus of the White Sulphur Springs and Yellowstone Park Railway, which ran from Ringling to White Sulphur Springs. Ringling served as a community center for ranchers and homesteaders in the vicinity, but the town's population declined throughout most of the twentieth century as the region's agricultural activity dwindled. Both railroad lines were abandoned by 1980, and only a handful of people remain in the town today.
Ringling was originally called Leader, but was renamed for John Ringling of the Ringling Brothers Circus family when the White Sulphur Springs and Yellowstone Park Railway was built. [3] John Ringling was a financier of the railroad, as well as its president. He also owned a summer home and spa in White Sulphur Springs, and considerable ranch land in the area.
The lower Shields Valley (which contains Ringling and environs) has one of the warmest average January temperatures in the state of Montana, due to chinook winds. This same consistent warming was responsible for the ice-free corridor which possibly enabled the ancestors of most Native Americans to enter the mainland of North America during the Pleistocene.
Ringling is widely known as the setting for portions of Ivan Doig's 1979 book, This House of Sky. The town was also the subject of the Jimmy Buffett song "Ringling, Ringling" featured on his 1974 album Living & Dying in 3/4 Time .
Glendive is a city in and the county seat of Dawson County, Montana, United States, and home to Dawson Community College. Glendive was established by the Northern Pacific Railway when they built the transcontinental railroad across the northern tier of the western United States from Minnesota to the Pacific Coast. The town was the headquarters for the Yellowstone Division that encompassed 875 route miles (1,408 km); 546 (879) in main line and 328 (528) in branches with the main routes from Mandan, North Dakota, to Billings, Montana, and from Billings to Livingston. The town of Glendive is an agricultural and ranching hub of eastern Montana sited between the Yellowstone River and the Badlands. Makoshika State Park is located just east of Glendive.
West Yellowstone is a town in Gallatin County, Montana, United States, adjacent to Yellowstone National Park. The population was 1,272 at the 2020 census. West Yellowstone is served by Yellowstone Airport. It is part of the Bozeman, MT Micropolitan Statistical Area.
Livingston, occasionally referred to as L-Town by locals, is a city and county seat of Park County, Montana, United States. It is in southwestern Montana, on the Yellowstone River, north of Yellowstone National Park. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 8,040.
Billings is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Montana, with a population of 117,116 as of the 2020 census. Located in the south-central portion of the state, it is the seat of Yellowstone County and the principal city of the Billings Metropolitan Area, which had a population of 184,167 in the 2020 census. With one of the largest trade areas in the United States, Billings is the trade and distribution center for much of Montana east of the Continental Divide. Billings is also the largest retail destination for much of the same area. The Billings Chamber of Commerce claims the area of commerce covers more than 125,000 square miles (320,000 km2). In 2009, it was estimated to serve over 500,000 people.
Laurel is a city in Yellowstone County, Montana, United States. It is the third largest community in the Billings Metropolitan Statistical Area, and is located in the Yellowstone Valley, as an east–west terminal division point of the BNSF Railway. The population was 7,222 at the 2020 census.
Sulphur is a city in and county seat of Murray County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 5,065 at the 2020 census, a 2.8 percent gain over the figure of 4,929 in 2010. The area around Sulphur has been noted for its mineral springs, since well before the city was founded late in the 19th century. The city received its name from the presence of sulfur in the water.
The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (ACMStP&P), better known as the Milwaukee Road, was a Class I railroad that operated in the Midwest and Northwest of the United States from 1847 until 1986.
The Northern Pacific Railway was an important transcontinental railroad that operated across the northern tier of the western United States, from Minnesota to the Pacific Northwest. It was approved and chartered in 1864 by the 38th Congress of the United States in the national / federal capital of Washington, D.C., during the last years of the American Civil War (1861-1865), and given nearly 40 million acres of adjacent land grants, which it used to raise additional money in Europe, for construction funding.
U.S. Route 89 is a north–south United States Numbered Highway with two sections, and one former section. The southern section runs for 848 miles (1,365 km) from Flagstaff, Arizona, to the southern entrance of Yellowstone National Park. The northern section runs for 404 miles (650 km) from the northern entrance of Yellowstone National Park in Montana, ending at the Canadian border. Unnumbered roads through Yellowstone connect the two sections. Before 1992, US 89 was a Canada–Mexico, border-to-border highway that ended at Nogales, Arizona, on its southern end.
The North Coast Hiawatha was a long-distance passenger train operated by Amtrak between Chicago, Illinois, and Seattle, Washington.
John Nicholas Ringling was an American entrepreneur who is the best known of the seven Ringling brothers, five of whom merged the Barnum & Bailey Circus with their own Ringling Bros. World's Greatest Shows to create a virtual monopoly of traveling circuses and helped shape the modern circus. In addition to owning and managing many of the largest circuses in the United States, he was also a rancher, a real estate developer and art collector. He was inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame in 1987.
Emigrant is an unincorporated community in Park County, Montana, United States. As of the 2010 census, the ZIP Code Tabulation Area (59027) for Emigrant had a population of 372. Emigrant is located in southern Montana, on the Yellowstone River, approximately 30 miles (48 km) north of Yellowstone National Park, and 20 miles (32 km) south of Livingston.
Gallatin Gateway is a census-designated place (CDP) in Gallatin County, Montana, United States. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 856. Elevation is 4,953 ft.
The White Sulphur Springs and Yellowstone Park Railway, now defunct, was an American railroad built and operated between the towns of Ringling and White Sulphur Springs, Montana, a distance of 22.8 miles. The railroad, constructed in 1910, provided White Sulphur Springs with a link to the national railway network via a connection with the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad at Ringling. The southern four miles of the railroad's route, between Ringling and Dorsey, were leased from the Milwaukee Road.
Martinsdale is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in southeastern Meagher County, Montana, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 43. The town was a station stop on the now-abandoned transcontinental main line of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad, and is a community center for nearby ranches and farms. Martinsdale was the home of the poet Grace Stone Coates, author of Black Cherries,Mead & Mangel-Wurzel, and Portulacas in the Wheat. It was also the home of Charles M. Bair, one of the largest and most successful sheep ranchers in the United States, and the former Bair family home is now a museum.
There is evidence of prehistoric human habitation in the region known today as the U.S. state of Wyoming stretching back roughly 13,000 years. Stone projectile points associated with the Clovis, Folsom and Plano cultures have been discovered throughout Wyoming. Evidence from what is now Yellowstone National Park indicates the presence of vast continental trading networks since around 1,000 years ago.
Cooke City is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Park County, Montana, United States. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 77. Prior to 2010, it was part of the Cooke City-Silver Gate CDP.
Transportation in Montana comprises many different forms of travel. Montana shares a long border with Canada, hence international crossings are prevalent in the northern section of the state; there are 13 road crossings and one rail crossing.
U.S. Route 20 is a transcontinental east–west U.S. Highway that travels between Newport, Oregon, and Boston, Massachusetts. It passes through southern Montana for approximately 10 miles (16 km), connecting Targhee Pass at the Idaho state line to the town of West Yellowstone and the West Entrance of Yellowstone National Park near the Wyoming border.
Glendive Depot is an office building and former train station in Glendive, Montana. The Northern Pacific Railway established the town in 1881 and opened the first depot in 1882. The present depot building was built in 1922 and is part of the Merrill Avenue Historic District.