A narrow gauge railroad nicknamed the “turkey track” connected Great Falls, Montana, and Lethbridge, Alberta, and when the main line of the Great Northern crossed it in 1891, Shelby Junction came into existence. The surrounding hills and plains were cow country, and the Junction became an oasis where parched cowpunchers drank forty-rod and grew plumb irresponsible and ebullient. In 1910 dry-landers began homesteading, building fences and plowing under the native grass, and the days of open range ended. Shelby left behind its swaggering frontier ways and became conscious of concrete sidewalks and a sewer system. Dry land farming did not prove very profitable, but in 1921 geologists discovered that this country had an ace in the hole: oil was struck between here and the Canadian line, and the town boomed again.