Malta, Montana
city in and county seat of Phillips County, Montana, United States
Malta ( MAWL-tə) is a city in and the county seat of Phillips County, Montana, United States, located at the intersection of U.S. Routes 2 and 191. The population was 1,860 at the 2020 census.
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.
The public source identifies “Malta, Montana” as city in and county seat of Phillips County, Montana, United States. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Malta, Montana and city.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Malta, Montana”, the useful work is to connect “city in and county seat of Phillips County, Montana, United States” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q963370. Authority coordinates are 48.354, -107.871. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2020, 1890, 1887 and 1901.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Malta, Montana”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Malta, Montana primary sources, Malta, Montana archive and Malta research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Malta, Montana”?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Malta, Montana” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.