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Harlem

Travel Montana

A view from 1939:

HARLEM, (2,371 alt., 708 pop.), lies in a coulee (valley) shaded and sheltered by cottonwoods. Modern brick buildings intrude among the wooden structures of pioneer times. It is said that its first post office was a shoe box on the counter of a general store. When the volume of mail became too great for the shoe box, an empty beer case fitted with pigeonholes took its place.

Harlem is the trading center for the Fort Belknap Reservation, and its streets are often enlivened by the presence of Indians in bright and complicated mixtures of white and native dress. Under an unbuttoned vest, a buck may wear a rose-decorated corset with dangling straps and buckles. Some squaws drape their shoulders with yards of brilliant calico. These, however, are the costumes of individualists. A buck usually wears a broad-brimmed hat over his braids, a faded shirt, corduroy trousers, and boots, shoes, or moccasins. Bright hair ribbons are worn by both buck and squaw.

Formerly a sheepherders' convention was held here annually. At the last one (1922) the herders organized a union.

Source: Montana: A State Guide Book; Compiled and Written by the Federal Writers' Project of the Work Projects Administration for the State of Montana; September, 1939.