Flaxville

History

"Flaxville was originally founded as Boyer, about 2.5 miles southwest of where the town is now." It was named after "the Henry Boyer family at whose home the early railroad construction workers were fed." The current town was founded in 1913 following the arrival of a Great Northern Railway branch line that eventually ran from Bainville to Opheim. "The first post office was established in 1914 with Martha Bledsoe as postmaster." The name refers to the abundance of flax grown in the area. There are grain elevators beside the railroad tracks running through town. Printmaker Don Bunse (1934 - 1994), who taught at University of Montana and developed collagraphy with a group of artists, was born in Flaxville. "He was a delegate for the University of Montana in the first academic art exchange between the United States and the People's Republic of China."

Geography

Flaxville is located just south of the Canada–US border, at the junction of Highway 251 and Montana Highway 5. Whitetail Reservoir, a state fishing access site, is located "7 miles north of Flaxville on Highway 511." The town's R-Y Trail Bar is named after a historic route. Merv Blevins, who farms in Bengough, Saskatchewan and Flaxville, Montana, describes the K-Y Trail as follows: “The road that runs from Regina down to Miles City follows Highway 34 [which becomes Highway 511 in Montana] ... (it was used) when they were doing cattle drives and things back in the day, but it’s also used by our Native Americans to come up to the turtle effigy that’s located just south east of Big Beaver, that’s a holy sight for them and they come there and they have a sweat lodge there every once in awhile and they use the port of Big Beaver.”

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  183
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  152
• Common Grackle

  Quiscalus quiscula (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  138
• House Sparrow

  Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  134
• Western Meadowlark

  Sturnella neglecta Audubon, 1844 · Aves
  120
• Ring-necked Pheasant

  Phasianus colchicus Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  92
• American Goldfinch

  Spinus tristis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  86
• Red-winged Blackbird

  Agelaius phoeniceus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  85

Most recent

• M 2.8 — 2019-11-12
  32 km NNW of Flaxville, Montana
• M 3.8 — 2014-02-25
  23 km N of Brockton, Montana