Whitlash 37 Miles East of Sunburst

Whitlash owes its name to a typographical error. Local ranchers and homesteaders in the Sweetgrass Hills applied for a postoffice in 1892 under the name Whiplash. When the approved application was returned, it read 'Whitlash' and Whitlash it remained. The Post office moved 6 times, until Alfred and Tom Strode laid out a townside on Half Breed Creek in 1905, the same year Alfred was appointed as postmaster. Frank Henry and Malvin Matteson discovered natural gas nearby in 1914 while drilling for water. Sixteen years later, a pipeline supplied Great Falls with gas, and a second line pumped crude oil to a refinery at Cut Bank. U.S. Customs operated out of the town from 1933 until 1969, when it was moved to the actual border.

Ranches

Sutton's Ranch
Sutton's Paint Horses
PO Box 74
Whitlash, Montana 59545
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