Miles City

If you’ve ever wanted to buy a bucking horse, you can actually do so in Miles City. Each year during the third full weekend in May, the city puts on the Bucking Horse Sale, with a rodeo, bull riding, wild horse races, and much more. If this isn’t your thing, come back during the fourth weekend in June for the Balloon Roundup and enjoy the sight of hundreds of balloons above the prairie. You’ll find plenty to do in this spirited town along the Yellowstone River. The folks here seem to have a knack for inventing fun activities. The town considers itself Montana’s Cowboy Capital and prides itself on having plenty of town characters. This town of about 8,500 people maintains its dime store lunch counter and doesn’t believe in parking meters. Miles City has been around since 1877. It was actually named after Colonel Nelson A. Miles, the cavalry colonel to whom Chief Joseph surrendered the Nez Perce tribe at the Bear’s Paw Battlefield. Miles set up a cantonment near the Tongue River after the battle with the Nez Perce and the Cedar Creek battle he fought with Sitting Bull just 509 miles to the north. These temporary quarters served soldiers awaiting the completion of Fort Keogh; the encampment later became Miles City. For a while it was called Milestown, and sometimes, the Town of Miles. This eTrail provides detailed information on family-friendly things to do. The destinations include: Range Riders Museum, Custer County Art Center, Ursuline Convent of the Sacred Heart, Fort Keogh Livestock and Range Laboratory, Riverside Park and Oasis Swimming Lake, Wibaux Park, and Lower Yellowstone River, and Pirogue Island State Park.