Lombard

Lombard was never easy to reach, except by rail. Walled by cliffs on one side and the Missouri River on the other, Lombard sat at a cross roads between two railroads at the junction of Sixteen Mile Creek and the Missouri River.

The Northern Pacific Railroad ran through Lombard in 1883, but the building of the Montana Railroad put Lombard on the map in 1895. The town was named after the Montana Railroad's chief engineer, A.G. Lombard. The town had a general store, a post office, a school and a famous hotel owned by Billy Kee, a Chinese immigrant and the town's mayor.

In 1930 the first road reached Lombard. Although accessible by road, the town still lived and died by the tracks. The companies abandoned their rail agencies and the interchange yard in Lombard in the 1950s. The Milwaukee abandoned its line in 1979. Lombard slowly slipped from the map. Getting there today is still a bumpy rough ride with a four-wheel drive rig.