Welcome to Zurich, Montana

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  Railroad

  Photo courtesy: MTOT

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  Barn

  Photo courtesy: MTOT

Like many small stations on the railroad, Zurich receives its name from an older, far more impressive city. Legend has it that to name many of their stations, railroad executives would open an atlas at random and point to a city. Although it may seem incongruous that a town on the plains be named after a noted European mountain city, from Zurich westward bound visitors could catch their first glimpse of the Bear Paw Mountains. In the foothills of this island mountain range, Chief Joseph and his band of Nez Pierce surrendered after an epic retreat across three states, thus ending the last of the nation's great Indian wars. Zurich is located midway between Chinook and Harlem on US Hwy 2.