Fort Maginnis, the last army post created in Montana, was built about 8 miles north of here in 1880. Before then, this country was great buffalo range, but cattlemen were bringing in stock from the western valleys and Texas longhorns were being trailed in from the southeast. There was not room for both cattle and buffalo, so the buffalo had to go. Soldiers were stationed there to protect cattle from being mistaken for buffalo by hungry Indians, to encourage settlement of the Judith Basin west of here, and to patrol the Carroll Road so supplies could keep moving between Carroll, near the mouth of the Musselshell River, and Helena. By 1890 the post was no longer needed because the threatening Indians had been relegated to reservations, and the fort was abandoned with civilian blessings. The area also had rustlers, described as pale-faced parties skilled with the running iron and prone to errors in brands and ownership, and cattlemen sometimes pursued them with a posse and made clear they were unwelcome, a visitation that usually cured a rustler or two permanently.