Glasgow, Montana

The Old West thrives in the wild river country of the Missouri Breaks.

This town in the wild lonesome of northeast Montana, 60 miles from the Canadian border, earned the attention of the world when the Great Northern Railway came through in 1887, and again in 1940 when construction was completed on Fort Peck Dam.

Otherwise, Glasgow has lived well under the radar.

That changed last year when researchers at Oxford University designated the town the middle-of-nowhere because the nearest metropolitan area of 75,000 or more is four and a half hours away in any direction.

The study earned wide publicity, and a shrug from the community’s 3,330 souls. A.J. Etherington, editor of the Glasgow Courier, told NBC News, “We knew we were in the middle of nowhere before anybody told us we were in the middle of nowhere.”

But remote doesn’t mean nothing to do. Glasgow’s Valley County Pioneer Museum showcases Indian artifacts and an impressive collection of mounted animals. See an Assiniboine teepee, one of the last three elk hide teepees in existence, and the ornate Buffalo Bill Cody Bar.