Editing Ballantine, Montana (section)

==History==
Ballantine was founded on land that had been part of the [[Crow Indian Reservation]]. In 1896, the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad established Ballantine as a station, named for homesteader E. P. Ballantine. By 1907 the town had a post office and the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad had taken over rail operations.<ref>[http://mtplacenames.org/ Montana Place Names Companion Website] Aarstad, Rich, Ellie Arguimbau, Ellen Baumler, Charlene Porsild, and Brian Shovers. ''Montana Place Names from Alzada to Zortman.'' Montana Historical Society Press</ref>

It was in 1907 that Ballantine became part of a federally funded irrigation district, the [[Huntley Project]]. Irrigation slowly changed the sagebrush landscape into farms growing sugar beets, alfalfa, and other crops. The population grew slowly and included many European immigrants. Both Catholic and Lutheran religious services were held here, and a Congregational Church was built. The [[Anita Dam]] and Reservoir project, about six miles southeast of Ballantine, was completed in 1937 by [[Civilian Conservation Corps]] workers.<ref>[http://www.usbr.gov/dataweb/html/huntley.html U.S. Bureau of Reclamation: Huntley Project website] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060927171127/http://www.usbr.gov/dataweb/html/huntley.html |date=September 27, 2006 }}; [http://www.usbr.gov/dataweb/html/huntley1.html Timothy A. Dick, "The Huntley Project (second draft)"]</ref>