Daniels

Formed February 11, 1920 (51^st county)

Daniels County (1,657), Scobey (999)

A white wooden courthouse was constructed in 1913 on Main Street between 2^nd and 3^rd avenues.  Montana State Highway 13 is Main Street in this part of the town.  The architect of this Territorial style courthouse is unknown.  The courthouse building was originally a hotel.  The county was formed on February 11, 1920 as the 51^st county with Scobey as the only county seat.  The county is named for rancher Mansfield A. Daniels.  Scobey’s namesake is Native American Agent, C. R. A. Scobey. 

Daniels County government consists of a sheriff, an administrator, an attorney, a collector, a coroner, an assessor and a clerk (executive).  It has 3 Commissioners (legislative.)  One District Court Judge serves Daniels, Roosevelt, and Sheridan counties and a court clerk serves Daniels County (judicial.)  The county is on the northeast border with Canada.  Billings, Montana is southwest and Great Falls, Montana is west of the county.  The county center is 17.3 miles West of Scobey nearer Four Buttes.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Canada and Sheridan, Roosevelt, and Valley counties. 

The area of the county is 1426 square miles.  It is 48 out of 56 in the state.  It ranks 49 out of 56 in population in the state.  It has a density of 1.2 persons per square mile making it 44 out of 56 in the state.  Daniels County has 64.0% of its population in its incorporated areas.  There are no Interstates or United States Highways in the county.  Daniels County is an overall rectangle with “arms” extending from the northwest and southeast corners.  Scobey is slightly east of center in the county.  Scobey is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 60.3% of the county population.  The county seat is pronounced SKOE-BEE.