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Cat Creek (also Frantz or Frantzville) is an unincorporated community in eastern Petroleum County, Montana, United States. It lies along local roads east of the town of Winnett, the county seat of Petroleum County. Its elevation is 2,907 feet (886 m).Due to its isolation, Broadband high speed satellite Internet access delivered by WildBlue Internet only recently arrived in Cat Creek. For years, the rural town was forced to use dial-up service.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, Cat Creek has a total area of 1,674 square miles. 1,653.9 square miles of it is land and 20.11 square miles (1.2%) of it is water.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 493 people and 292 households in the city. The average household size was 2.34 persons. The racial makeup of the city was 99.18% White, 0% Black or African American, 0% Asian, 0% Pacific Islander, 1.21% Hispanic or Latino, and 2% from other races.

Industry

An estimated 23 million barrels of oil have been produced in Cat Creek's 54-year oil production history from 150 oil wells.

History

In late 1919, the Frantz Corporation began oil exploration on a creek near Winnett, Montana, flowing into the Musselshell River. The first major commercial oil field discovery in Montana was at the West Dome of the Cat Creek field, Eastern Fergus County, at a depth of 1,015 ft. The oil was considered "the highest grade of oil known to any oil fields." The discovery well was showing oil in November 1919 and put into full use by the Frantz Corporation in February 19, 1920. Curley Meek, one of the first drillers in the Cat Creek area, recalled: "there was no place to store the oil, so it was dammed up in a coulee and given away to ranchers and farmers as sheep and cow dip until they began using it in their cars.""With no storage facilities available, oil flowed into a coulee where people from all over the countryside came to look at it ... The oil was of such high gravity it could be used directly in tractors and even Model Ts, and it was free to all comers. Tanks were immediately constructed, and during the summer, Frantz Corporation laid a two-inch pipeline to Winnett."

By May 1920, production from one well drilled only to 660 ft was up to 200 barrels a day. In April 1921, 30 producing wells were at work.As many as 300 men lived in the area in tar paper shacks with only a post office, church, school and cemetery. A post office was active in Cat Creek from 1922 to 1996. The area is very isolated and supplies were hauled to site from Winnett, 20 miles to the west of the area. Winnett also became the supply depot and Midewest Refining Company pumped oil through a four-inch pipe to the railhead there and shipped by rail to Wyoming refineries.

With the continued development of the Cat Creek oil fields and the resultant increase in the area's population, the Montana legislature voted to form a new county, sectioned off from eastern Fergus County. Petroleum County officially became Montana's 56th and final county in February 1925.

References

Notes

1. ^ "Cat Creek, Montana". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
2. Rand McNally. The Road Atlas '08. Chicago: Rand McNally, 2008, p. 61.
3. "Wild Blue Internet Cat Creek, MT".
4. "Cat Creek, MT".
5. "Cat Creek, MT".
6. ^ Cheney 1983, p. 243.
7. "Cat Creek." Montana's Official State Travel Site. Retrieved: April 1, 2012.
8. "Early development of the Cat Creek Oil Fields." Montana History, August 2008. Retrieved: April 1, 2012.
9. Stout 1921, p. 877.
10. Stout 1921, p. 716.
11. Stout 1921, p. 387.
12. The Great Falls Tribune (Montana), February 23, 1964.
13. Pages of Time: A History of Petroleum County, Montana 1990, p. 140.
14. "Anaconda Copper Gets Oil in Cat Creek Field." The Deseret News, September 30, 1920.
15. Stout 1921, pp. 716–717.
16. "Montana Oil." Montana Pioneer and Classic Auto Club. Retrieved: March 23, 2012.
17. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Cat Creek Post Office
18. Cheney 1983, p. 38.
19. "Cat Creek." Ultimate Montana.com. Retrieved: April 1, 2012.
20. Patera, Alan H. "Cat Creek, Montana." Western Places: A Chronicle of Western Settlement, Winter 1993, p. 41.
21. Cheney 1983, p. 207.

Bibliography

• Cheney, Roberta Carkeek. Names on the Face of Montana: The Story of Montana's Place Name. Missoula, Montana: Montana Press, 1990, First edition 1983. ISBN 978-0878421503.
• Pages of Time: A History of Petroleum County, Montana. Lewistown, Montana: Petroleum County Public Library, 1990. ISBN 978-1560440659.
• Stout, Tom, ed. Montana: Its Story and Biography, A History of Aboriginal and Territorial Montana and Three Decades of Statehood, Volume 1 Chicago: American Historical Association, 1921.

v t e Municipalities and communities of Petroleum County, Montana, United States
County seat: Winnett
Town	Winnett
Unincorporated communities	Cat Creek Flatwillow Teigen
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