Ekalaka, Montana

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ekalaka is a town in Carter County, Montana, USA. The population was 410 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Carter County^GR6.

1 Geography
2 History
3 Demographics
4 External links

[edit] Geography

Ekalaka is located at 45°53′21″N, 104°32′59″W (45.889231, -104.549716)^GR1.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 2.7 km² (1.0 mi²).

[edit] History

The story of the early days of Ekalaka takes us back to the golden age of the west, to the brave, free life of the wilderness and plains - the most romantic chapter in American history. In the olden days, before there was any state or even territory of Montana, an Indian girl was born on the Powder River. Her parents were Sioux. She was of a restless disposition, something unusual among Indians, and on this account was called Ijkalaka, which in the Sioux tongue means restless - always on the move. When this restless, roving child of the plains was about sixteen years old she met David Harrison Russell, an intrepid scout, hunter and all-around frontiersman, who had been something of a rover himself.

In August, 1881, six years after their marriage, they settled in a beautiful valley at the edge of the forest, on the bank of a stream fed by numerous springs, where there was plenty of grass and where there were buffalo in droves and many other kinds of wild game in abundance. Their location was many miles from any other white settlement, in the domain of the old war chief, Rain-in-the-Face, and was reputed to be infested by hostile Indians who at this particular time were in a dangerous and ugly mood. But the white man with an Indian wife was considered comparatively safe.

In 1883, Claude Carter was hauling logs and whiskey to the gold camps in western Montana when he got stuck in the mud at the stream near Russell’s settlement. After his wagon got mired, he decided "Hell any place in Montana, is a good place for a saloon." So he put up a building, which was a mud floored, sod roofed, log saloon.

Several years later, after the village grew significantly, a representative of the government wanted a name for the new post office, he asked Russell to give him some Indian names. The old scout rattled off a string as long as his arm, but none of them struck the man's fancy. He then asked, "What is your wife's name?" Russell answered "Ijkalaka," the "i" having the sound of the long "e". The official said "that's the name we want" but he simplified the spelling, making it Ekalaka.

[edit] Demographics

As of the census^GR2 of 2000, there were 410 people, 195 households, and 109 families residing in the town. The population density was 150.8/km² (391.5/mi²). There were 287 housing units at an average density of 105.5/km² (274.1/mi²). The racial makeup of the town was 99.02% White, 0.49% Native American, and 0.49% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.49% of the population.

There were 195 households out of which 21.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 44.6% were married couples living together, 8.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 43.6% were non-families. 42.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 25.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.02 and the average family size was 2.73.

In the town the population was spread out with 21.7% under the age of 18, 2.4% from 18 to 24, 21.7% from 25 to 44, 24.1% from 45 to 64, and 30.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 49 years. For every 100 females there were 85.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 80.3 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $19,432, and the median income for a family was $27,750. Males had a median income of $22,656 versus $18,125 for females. The per capita income for the town was $13,667. About 7.1% of families and 12.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 8.5% of those under age 18 and 15.0% of those age 65 or over.