Fishtail, Montana
12 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1898 and the latest in 1989. It stands in the Absarokee census division. It lies in ZIP code area 59028. It stands on Fishtail Creek. The Survey maps it on the Fishtail quadrangle. 67 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 4,466 feet above sea level.
On record in Fishtail
Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.
On the National Register 2 records
Charles and Gladys Pelton Houselisted 2017- Torgrimson Placelisted 2001
Topographic sheets covering this place
7 surveys from 12 printed sheetsMatched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.
- 1898 USGS Granite Mountain District quadrangle1:125000
- 1932 USGS Nye No 1 quadrangle1:48000
- 1954 USGS Billings quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1956 USGS Fishtail quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1957 USGS Billings quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Billings quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1989 USGS Red Lodge quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
4 since 2006Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 4 fires within 5 miles of Fishtail between 2006 and 2019, burning about 2 acres in total. None started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 August 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Stillwater County | 19-7072 |
| 21 July 2006 | Misuse of fire by a minor | under an acre | Custer Gallatin National Forest | TUTTLE ASSIST |
| 10 June 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Stillwater County | 19-5041 |
| 28 April 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | Stillwater County | HWY 78 MM 25 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
3 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of Fishtail: 3 unknowns. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unnamed Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | ||
| Unnamed Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | ||
| Unnamed Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown |
Storms near this place
14 since 1999Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Fishtail in 14 storm reports between 1999 and 2025: 10 thunderstorm wind, 3 hail, 1 heavy rain. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Fishtail | - | Mesonet station flsm8 at Fishtail. |
| July 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Fishtail | - | A wind gust of 59 mph was recorded 3 miles west of Fishtail. |
| June 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Fishtail | - | Thunderstorm winds blew down three 15-18 diameter Cottonwood trees and damaged an outbuilding. |
| May 2005 | Heavy Rain | Fishtail | - | 4.06 inches of rain in Fishtail (Fishtail RAWS 24-hour total) |
| August 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Fishtail | - | Broken tree branches |
| July 1999 | Hail | Fishtail | - | Spotter report of dime size hail. |
| August 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Fishtail | - | no account filed |
| August 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Fishtail | - | no account filed |
| May 2018 | Hail | Fishtail | - | no account filed |
| August 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Fishtail | - | no account filed |
| July 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Fishtail | - | no account filed |
| June 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Fishtail | - | no account filed |
| June 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Fishtail | - | no account filed |
| July 2002 | Hail | Fishtail | - | no account filed |
Nearest settlements
The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Absarokee | 5.7 miles | 14 | |
| Dean | 10.4 miles | 14 | |
| Beehive | 11.6 miles | 14 | |
| Nye | 16.2 miles | 17 | |
| Reed Point | 17.8 miles | 15 | |
| Springtime | 18.0 miles | 14 | |
| Craver | 18.0 miles | 14 | |
| Columbus | 18.4 miles | 14 |
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikipedia article on Fishtail | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q5455138 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 771405. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.






