Malta

History

After James Hill and his partners built the St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Manitoba railway (which in 1890 became the Great Northern Railway) across Montana's "High Line" in 1887, Malta evolved from rail siding number 54. What came to be Saco, Montana, to the east and Dodson, Montana, to the west grew from other nearby sidings. A post office was established in Malta in 1890. Its name is said to have been determined by a spin of the globe by a Great Northern official whose finger came to rest on the island of Malta in the Mediterranean Sea. On July 3, 1901, Kid Curry (Harvey Logan), as part of Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch, robbed a train just west of Malta, near Wagner, Montana, making off with about $40,000. One of the best preserved dinosaurs ever discovered and one of only four that were fossilized is a 77-million-year-old Brachylophosaurus nicknamed Leonardo, unearthed north of Malta in 2000. Leonardo, together with brachylophosaurus Elvis (1994), Roberta (2003) and Peanut (2002), is on display at The Great Plains Dinosaur Museum.

Geography

Malta is on the High Plains of Montana. The Little Rocky Mountains are located south of the town while the Milk River flows north of town. The City of Malta gets water from wells. The well water is pumped to two water tanks located at the top of a residential area known as Hillcrest. The water is treated to meet safety standards, then it enters the city water distribution system. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all land. Malta experiences a semi-arid climate (Köppen BSk) with long, cold, dry winters and hot, wetter summers.

Most-observed species

• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  1,251
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,242
• Western Meadowlark

  Sturnella neglecta Audubon, 1844 · Aves
  1,191
• Common Grackle

  Quiscalus quiscula (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,043
• Red-winged Blackbird

  Agelaius phoeniceus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  1,020
• Yellow Warbler

  Setophaga petechia (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  961
• Killdeer

  Charadrius vociferus Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  956
• Ring-necked Pheasant

  Phasianus colchicus Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  927

Most recent

• M 2.7 — 2021-07-10
  24 km SSE of Malta, Montana
• M 2.5 — 2015-07-15
  48 km E of Zortman, Montana