Welcome to Daniels County!!
Daniels County was established in 1920 by the Montana Legislature. It was created from the western portion of Sheridan County and the northeastern portion of Valley County. The name Daniels came from local rancher, Mansfield Daniels. In 1913 the southside of the County Courthouse was a two-story hotel under the ownership of Minnie “One-Eyed Molly” Wakefield. The hotel portion of the building provided live entertainment featuring women as the main attraction with a little gambling in the mix. The county purchased the hotel and lot to the north to create the still standing and fully functional courthouse.
According to the 2020 census the population was 1,661 compared to that of 5,553 in 1930.
Daniels County is 1,426 square miles with only 0.03% being water. Dryland farming anyone? Daniels County has a total 910,117.40 acres. There are 33,290.60 acres of Tribal Land. An absurd 213,026.40 acres are State Land making it the highest percentage (23.8%) in the state of Montana. Does that seem fair? No, we don’t think so either.
