Malta, MT

Malta is the Phillips County seat at the junction of U.S. Routes 2 and 191 on Montana's High Plains. The town grew from St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Manitoba Railway siding No. 54 in the 1880s, and the railroad and highway intersection still show its role as an agricultural service center for the Milk River country. The Little Rocky Mountains rise south of town, while the Milk River runs north, giving Malta a readable plains-and-river frame.

Malta's most distinctive local institutions are its dinosaur and regional-history museums. The Great Plains Dinosaur Museum and Field Station and the Phillips County Museum sit beside one another near U.S. 2, with fossils, pioneer history, Indigenous history, and local stories on the same short block. The Great Plains museum also runs digs and lab programs, and the Montana Dinosaur Festival brings paleontology into the June calendar. Malta Public Schools serves local students, while U.S. 2 and 191 keep the county seat connected across northeastern Montana.