Hay Creek

Only Section 22, Township 25, Range 58 can boast of the early homesteaders and old-timers of Upper Hay Creek in Richland County. Fairview , at that time, had its main street north of the Fairview Mill. Half of the business houses were on the east side of the street in North Dakota, and the other half of the city’s business establishments were on the west side of the street in Montana. The street was called State Street, it meant just that! The old stage coach driver could drive on either side of the street, or smack down the middle of the street, depending of course, on whether he had imbibed at the “ Bucket of Blood” or whether he left town in the same spirit he arrived. Later, the “Galloping Goose” chugged its way through Fairview, but these homesteaders had arrived via the Bert Chase ferry. It was the time the big steamers whistled and splashed their way up the Yellowstone to Fort Benton, and were promptly let through by opening the drawbridge which was operated by levers in a little house on top of the bridge that spanned the river.