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Petroleum County is a county located in the U.S. state of Montana. As of the 2010 census, the population was 494,〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/30/30069.html )〕 making it the least populous county in Montana and the seventh-least populous in the United States. Its county seat is Winnett.〔(【引用サイトリンク】accessdate=2011-06-07 )〕 The Montana Legislature approved the formation of the county by separating it from Fergus County; Petroleum County was thus created on February 25, 1925, as the last of Montana's 56 counties. ==History== The county’s eastern boundary is formed by the Musselshell River. The Native Americans living in the area then were the Crow, Blackfoot, Nez Perce, and Sioux, all hunter gatherers. In 1868, a trading post was established at the mouth of this river and was named Musselshell.〔 The seat of the country, at the center of the county, Winnett, was named for Walter John Winnett, a Canadian rancher who was captured by Sioux and later adopted into the tribe; he was given the name Eagle Eyes because of his remarkable shooting skills. Winnett established a ranch in Montana Territory in 1879 near an active trading post and the Hangman's Tree used by vigilantes in the area. The massive ranch house, which he built in 1900, housed his own family and served as a gathering place for the community. Winnett built up a freight line business to haul supplies from Billings. In 1910, he built a store and petitioned for a post office—and with that, Winnett became an official town.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title= Winnett )〕 Fort Magginis was built in 1880 and thereafter, live stock farming proliferated. At that time, gold was also found in Fergus County, which was the original county from which Petroleum County was carved out. During the period from 1911 to 1915, stakes in the county were claimed by an influx of settlers with claims limited to of land to each settler and squatter. However, in 1930 many of these lands reverted to the Government as settlers deserted the town. Oil was discovered at the Cat Creek Oil Field on February 18, 1920, at the southeast corner of the county. Petroleum found in the Cat Creek was of high grade and extraction of crude oil started soon. In 1922, the crude oil extracted was 2.2 million barrels. The county got its present name, "Petroleum County", from its status as the site of the first major oil discovery in Montana. When the state government established Petroleum County in 1925, splitting it from Fergus County, Winnett became the county seat and the county was named after the emerging petroleum industry of Cat Creek.〔 The county was always one of the most sparsely populated areas of the US, and the population has continued to decline as rural folk move out to more populated areas to find work. According to the 1930 census, there were 2,045 people living in the county, with 408 people living in the county seat of Winnett. The county was brought under administrative format of the "county manager" in 1944. By the time of the 1980 census, there were just 685 people living in the county. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Petroleum County, Montana」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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