Richland County is Montana’s twenty-first most populous county, with an estimated 9,295 residents as of July 1st, 2006. Sidney, the county seat, is the state’s seventeenth largest city, with a population estimated at 4,804 in 2006.1 Other cities and towns in Richland County include Crane, Fairview, Lambert, and Savage.
Oil production and agriculture are widely recognized as two of the staples of Richland County’s economy. Much of Richland County is located in the Williston Oil Basin, and oil pumping and exploration takes place throughout the area. The confluence of the Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers lies close to Richland County, creating a 75-mile-long irrigated valley in which grains, sugar beets, corn, beans, and hay are produced.2 The town of Fairview is known as the “Sugar Beet Capital,” of both Montana and North Dakota (since the state line divides the town between the two states).3
1 U.S. Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program 2 ”Sidney,” www.visitmt.com/categories/city.asp?siteid=1&city=sidney 3 ”Fairview,” www.visitmt.com/categories/city.asp?siteid=1&city=fairview
