After this area was removed from the Crow Reservation in 1892, homesteaders settled along the fertile Clarks Fork River to raise wheat. The discovery of rich coal deposits along Bear Creek, seven miles to the west, drew capitalist interest in commercial mining. In 1905, Frank Hall and investors from Billings and Pennsylvania formed the Yellowstone Park Railroad to connect the coal mines with the Northern Pacific Railway branch at Bridger. That same year, the Belfry Townsite Company began selling lots at the confluence of Bear Creek and the Clark's Fork. The new town, named for Dr. Oran Belfry, a major railroad investor, became the railroad's headquarters. With its depot on the west end, the business district included hotels, lumberyards, grocery stores, and a billiards parlor. In 1909, the railroad was reorganized as the Montana, Wyoming & Southern Railroad. Its fortunes remained shaky, and after statewide demand for coal plummeted, it went bankrupt in 1954 and removed its tracks. Today Belfry survives as a local trade center and home of the famed Belfry Bats.