Early plains hunters, taking advantage of the large bison population, frequented this area.

[7] Some of the tribes that traveled through the area were the Crow, Blackfeet, Flathead, Gros Ventre, Northern Cheyenne, Nez Perce, Shoshones, Sioux, and Assiniboine.

[7] On May 7, 1868, a treaty with the Crow Nation and the United States Government opened the Musselshell River Valley to settlement.

[9] The first large cattle operation in the area was the Chicago Montana Livestock Company in 1882, with S.S. Hobson as part owner and manager.

[10] The town was rebuilt, though most of the construction took place on Central Avenue to correspond with the Milwaukee Railroad plot.

[14] The Jawbone Creek Country Club is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for being the only golf course with a cemetery in it.

[16] The Montana Railroad terminal was located one mile northwest of Merino, so it was decided to relocate the town site.

[11] The first building to be erected in the new town site was a barber shop, owned by Thomas Hanzlik.

[9] At the time of the Salazar robbery, George Parrott was known to be camping on the Musselshell River with Andrew Garcia, where he was holding a bunch of stolen horses on his way to Canada.

[11] The Milwaukee Railroad was abandoned following a bankruptcy settlement and the last train that went through Harlowton was in March 1980.

[21] The town of Harlowton is located in the Fort Union Geological formation and is famous for its Paleocene fossils.

[22][23] In 1902 Albert Silberling, a local homesteader and self-taught paleontologist, discovered the Douglass Quarry southwest of Harlowton.

[24][25] Albert Silberling and Earl Douglass, a Princeton University paleontologist, discovered fossil remains of primitive mammals including the Ptilodus, Phenacodus, and Plesiadapis in the quarries southwest of Harlowton.

[22] Albert Silberling's discoveries from fossils excavated in the Harlowton area have subsidized the information about life in the Paleozoic era.

[22][26] The Rugocaudia cooneyi and Tatankacephalus cooneyorum are two new dinosaur species that were found southwest of Harlowton.

[29] The Tatankacephalus is a new ankylosaur dinosaur species found in 1997 by Bill and Kris Parsons, research associates of the Buffalo Museum of Science.

[30] The Avaceratops lammersi dinosaur was found on the Lammers family Careless Creek Ranch northeast of Harlowton and is the first of its kind.

[33] Dr. Peter Dodson, Professor of Paleontology and Veterinary Anatomy at the University of Pennsylvania, participated in further excavation and transported the specimen to the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia.

[35] According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 0.58 square miles (1.50 km2), all land.

[44] Major employers are Wheatland Memorial Healthcare, Harlowton High School, Hillcrest Elementary School, Musselshell Ranger District, Midtown Market 2 Grocery Store, Rays Sport and Western Wear, Cream of the West, Rocky Mountain Cookware, TicketPrinting.com, and the Judith Gap Wind Farm.

[44] Harlowton and Wheatland County boast an industrial business segment, with some truly unique products from stone to steel griddles, honey for your local pancakes to event tickets.

Rocky Mountain Cookware manufactures die stamped steel griddles and broilers, it was established in 1992.

[49] Cream of the West[50] whole grain hot cereal was established in 1914 and its production facility was moved[51] to Harlowton in 2002.

It occupies two historic buildings and is filled with rotating displays of the Upper Musselshell's history and paleontology.

[62] Within 100 miles are the Nez Perce National Historic Trail, Charles M. Bair Museum, and Showdown Ski Area.

The Lewis and Clark National Forest offers plenty of acreage for recreational activities; camping, sightseeing, hunting, OHV riding, snowmobiling, etc.

[63] Fishing access sites are located along the Musselshell River or at nearby Deadman's Basin or Martinsdale Reservoir.

Of special interest are the pioneer bronze sculpture (entitled And They Called the Land Montana) and the Veteran's Honor Wall located in front of the Wheatland County Court House.

The Wheatland Memorial Healthcare Center has a Clinic, Emergency Room, Laboratory, X-ray, and Physical Therapy Department.

[78] The financial institutions are the Citizens Bank and Trust Company and the Tricounty Federal Credit Union.