Major Seth Mabry, a former Confederate Army officer, came to the Redwater Valley about 1883, driving a herd of longhorns from Texas. As president of the Mabry Cattle Co., he used a plain circle brand, and from that brand the operation became known as the Circle Ranch. For about 13 years, the ranch sold three to four thousand beeves each fall. Other cattlemen then ran it until about 1900, when Peter Dreyer and Hans Grue bought it and used it as a summer camp for sheep and as a stopover for themselves and other ranchers traveling to and from Glendive. Two bachelors supposedly cared for the ranch but also ran a saloon there. Because strong drink spoiled the sheepherders' work habits, Dreyer and Grue offered the place to Dreyer's brother-in-law, Peter Rorvik, in 1903. During an absence of the saloonkeepers, the Rorviks and their six children moved in. The next summer, 100,000 sheep were on the Redwater River, and the herders and ranchers needed a source of supplies, so Rorvik opened a store on the ranch. This began the town of Circle about one-half mile southwest of here. In 1907, the surrounding lands were opened to homesteading, and the area has produced grain as well as livestock ever since.