Opheim, ten miles from the Saskatchewan border, was named for Alfred S. Opheim, the second postmaster. Opheim is a U.S. Port of Entry from Canada and is in the midst of a rich wheat-growing region. The town had no railroad until 1926, when the Great Northern extended its Bainville-Scobey branch, one of the last examples of rail construction in Montana. During homesteading days Opheim was a beehive of industry: stores, banks, lumberyards, hotels, and bars did a profitable business. Wild grasses grew stirrup-high; sod-busters plowed it under and for a few years reaped huge profits from grain crops. They built large houses and barns and modern schoolhouses. But the drought years broke many of the farmers, and the land was left to lie fallow. Instead of the rich, native grasses returning to the range, thick, ugly mats of prolific Russian thistles grew; when mature, the plants break off and roll about the prairie like tumbleweeds, lodging in masses against fences and buildings. (from Cheney's
Names on the Face of Montana, Mountain Press Publishing Company)
On the 51 mile stretch of road between Glasgow and Opheim along MT Highway 24 lie some of the wildest prairie lands in the northern part of Missouri River Country. Opheim is part of a rich wheat growing region. During the homestead era, between 1900 and 1918, this community and the smaller ones to the east were much larger.
The Opheim Open Rodeo has been an annual event for over 45 years and is held on the last Sunday of June. The Rodeo events are bareback riding, saddle bronc riding, bull riding, calf roping, steer wrestling, barrel racing, team roping and junior breakaway roping.
