Citizen's Bank & Trust Company -- Locations

CITIZENS BANK & TRUST COMPANY
Location

Big Timber is the county seat of Sweet Grass County. It is located along Interstate 90 between Billings and Bozeman. Yellowstone National Park lies about fifty miles to the south. Originally named Dornix, the town began as a construction camp for the Northern Pacific Railroad. The campsite sat near the confluence of the Yellowstone and Boulder Rivers. The early day town fathers moved the town up onto the bench above the rivers and changed its name to Big Timber. Local legend has it that the name came from a reference in the Journals of Lewis and Clark to the unusually large cottonwood trees growing where the Yellowstone river meets the Boulder River. Clark passed through the area in 1806 on his return trip to St. Louis.

Sweet Grass County is about the same size as the state of Delaware. It consists of 1,846 square miles - 449 of which are public lands. The agricultural industry consists primarily of cattle and sheep ranching. Some areas of the northeast part of the county are devoted to dryland grain farming. Big game hunting, bird hunting, trout fishing, summer pack trips are popular forms of recreation and a significant part of our community caters to sportsmen and visitors. There are a number of excellent guest ranches in the area.

Sweet Grass County has a population of about 3,600. Sixteen hundred fifty live in Big Timber. The residents are an interesting mix of people who have lived their entire lives here and a diverse group who have come here from all over the country and in some cases the world. A significant number of people have upscale second homes here. Many of these people move here full time when they retire. Many painters, sculptors, writers and history buffs live here. A number of well-know stars from the entertainment industry live quietly here. For more than a hundred years Big Timber has been home to the largest Norwegian community in Montana, and their influence is visible.

The topography of Sweet Grass County provides a diverse visual feast that enriches the spirits and lives of both visitors and residents. The Absaroka Mountains rise up in the south and the Crazy Mountains dominate the skyline in the northwest. Both ranges are truly spectacular. The Yellowstone River meanders across the county west to east. The Boulder River arises in the Absarokas and flows rapidly north to the Yellowstone. Over the eons it has carved out the beautiful Boulder Valley. Big Timber Creek and Sweet Grass Creek, both as large as small rivers, arise in the Crazy Mountains and flow south to the Yellowstone. In the summer these streams create wide ribbons of green providing irrigation water and habitat for wildlife and fish.

Geologically, the mountains meet the plains here. Although there are occasional long stretches of flat lands, the plains are frequently broken by creeks and upthrusts of sandstone that forms bluffs and ridges with pine covered slopes. This jumbled land has a quiet beauty of its own.
There are several theories of how the Crazy Mountains got their name. Some people say that the Indians called them the Mad Mountains for their steep, rugged beauty and haunting winds. The second theory has to do with their geological formation. Formed by igneous intrusions that boiled up into a sandstone formation that has since eroded, they are relatively young and structurally unusual hence the name Crazy. The most popular theory tells of an early day immigrant family passing through the area. While camped on the prairie the woman went to the creek to get water. Returning, she found Indians scalping her dead husband and children. She immediately attacked the Indians and drove them away but the violent loss drove her mad. She took refuge in the mountains. Indian belief required that crazy people be left alone. But, the mountains became known as the Crazy Woman Mountains and later simply the Crazy Mountains. The movie Jeremiah Johnson portrayed a version of this incident.

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