Some towns are born of ambition, others out of necessity. Hungry Horse, Montana is a little of both. With a population of just 828 as of the 2020 census, this tiny town rests near Glacier National Park. It sprang to life in the mid-20th century when the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation dropped more than a hundred prefabricated buildings into the wilderness to house workers building the Hungry Horse Dam.
Back then, the new community had a fittingly practical name: “Damtown.” But that didn’t last. In 1948, Flathead County commissioners renamed it Hungry Horse, inspired by a local legend. Two horses, Tex and Jerry, escaped their logging duties one winter and nearly starved in the deep snow along the South Fork of the Flathead River. They were found, barely alive. The tale stuck.
I took this photo in the morning, when the light was stretched across the land. There’s not a lot here, but it is quiet. It’s a place built to survive the snow, the wild, and time itself.
And really, you’ve got to admire a town that went from
“Damtown” to legend in a single name change.
