Forsyth, Montana

Forsyth is the county seat of Rosebud County on the Yellowstone River, and it occupies ground that carries a long history. William Clark of the Lewis and Clark Expedition passed through this stretch of the Yellowstone in eighteen oh six during the return journey east. In eighteen seventy-six, General George Armstrong Custer rode through the Yellowstone Valley on the way to the Little Bighorn.

The Northern Pacific Railroad acquired land for a townsite along the Yellowstone here in eighteen eighty-two, turning it into a division point and attracting the lawyers, doctors, merchants, and service workers that made a real town. The settlement was named for General James William Forsyth, a Union cavalry officer. When Rosebud County was created in nineteen oh one, Forsyth became its seat.

The county takes its name from the Rosebud River and Rosebud Creek, which flow into the Yellowstone nearby. The Yellowstone remains central to Forsyth today, drawing anglers after brown trout and paddlers in the late summer season.