Wyola, Montana

The Crow name for Wyola is Ammoole, meaning where they wait. The name came from the railroad: the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy line ran through here along the Little Bighorn River, and the community grew up around its station. People waited for the train, and the name stuck.

The post office opened in nineteen eleven, and Wyola became a shipping point for cattle ranches in the Little Bighorn valley. The community sits on the Crow Indian Reservation near the Wyoming border, and today about four fifths of its residents are Native American, most of them Crow. Wyola is part of the Wyola District, one of the administrative districts of the Crow Nation. What persisted is what was always here: the river, the reservation, and the place where people wait.