In 1907, the Montana Legislature established the Montana Board of Railroad Commissioners. The initial purpose of the Board was to set rates and establish regulations governing freight and passenger transportation within the state. In 1913, the Board of Railroad Commissioners served ex officio as the Public Service Commission, which extended its authority to the regulation of public utilities and transportation companies.
In 1919, the Montana Legislature created the Irrigation Commission, a three-member commission responsible for assisting in the management of irrigation districts, supervising the sale of water, managing water rights, and contracting water for irrigation. The Board of Railroad Commissioners served ex-officio as the Irrigation Commission until the Irrigation Commission was abolished in 1929.
In 1971, following the state government re-organization, the Montana Board of Railroad Commissioners was abolished, and its work was taken over directly by the Public Service Commission. At that point, the Public Service Commission was made up of three divisions: Transportation, Utility, and Legal. The Transportation Division eventually became the Transportation/Centralized Services Division, and then simply Centralized Services Division. In the mid-2010s, the Utility Division became the Regulatory Division.
As of 2025, responsibilities of the PSC include regulating prices, availability, and
reliability of utility services, such as investor owned electric, natural gas,
water, wastewater, and legacy telecommunication companies, in Montana. The PSC also
inspects railroads, enforcing federal regulation policies, as well as intra-state
pipelines. The PSC has five commissioners, elected to four-year staggered terms. As
of 2025, the Commission has three Divisions: Centralized Services, Legal, and
Regulatory. To see a current list of staff and Divisions, please visit the
This collection contains records from the various divisions and predecessor agencies of the Montana Public Service Commission (PSC). The Public Service Commission records were integrated under one collection number to help facilitate access and reduce redundancy in the MTHS catalog.
To learn more detail about the records in each subgroup, please click on the links below in the arrangement section to be redirected to those finding aids.
This subgroup consists of two collections that contain materials from multiple divisions, as well as predecessor agencies, of the Public Service Commission, primarily the Board of Railroad Commissioners. These collections were not originally processed by division, and they have not yet been integrated.
The first collection, Public Service Commission records (formerly RS 296, date 1907-1994) consists of correspondence from various Commissioners, correspondence from the Utility Division staff, correspondence from the Transportation Division Staff, as well as court papers, docket registers, reports, subject files, and miscellaneous records. The second collection, Public Service Commission records (formerly RS 479, 1958-1979) consists of quarterly reports, Transportation Division dockets, and minutes.
This subgroup (1913-1986) contains records from the Public Service Commission’s Utility Division and predominantly consists of annual reports made by electric utility companies, gas companies, heating utility companies, water companies, telegraph companies, telephone companies, and pipeline companies to the Montana Public Service Commission. The reports include a vast amount of data on the history, financing, corporate ownership, physical plants, and production. Some of the reports are copies of the reports made to the Federal Power Commission and do not directly reflect their Montana operations. Additionally, there are accident reports for electric, gas, and telephone utilities, appraisal reports for several electric utilities, and other reports for several water companies.
This subgroup (1907-1981) contains records from the Public Service Commission’s Transportation Division. In the mid-2010s, the Transportation/Centralized Services Division became the Centralized Services Division. Records predominantly include annual reports made by railroads and express companies to the Montana Public Service Commission and its predecessor the Montana Board of Railroad Commissioners. The reports include a vast amount of data on the history, financing, corporate ownership, track mileage, freight shipment statistics, and other nationwide information of railroads doing business in Montana. Many of the reports are copies of the reports made to the federal Interstate Commerce Commission.
Additionally, there are railroad accident reports, annual reports for motor carrier companies, including trucks, buses, taxies, etc., two special reports are an engineering report of the Butte Electric Railway Company, and a report on railroad grade crossing elimination in Billings.
This subgroup (1907-1971) contains records from the Montana Board of Railroad Commissioners, a predecessor agency to the Montana Public Service Commission. Records consist of annual reports.
This subgroup (1919-1929) contains records from the Montana Irrigation Commission. The Board of Railroad Commissioners served ex-officio as the Irrigation Commission until it was abolished in 1929. Records consist predominantly of subject files for irrigation districts around the state. The files include correspondence, petitions, legal documents, court papers, reports, and maps concerning the founding of the districts, plans for their developments, reports on their feasibility, and engineering reports. There are also project histories, arranged by district number; and project surveys arranged by county.
This collection is arranged into five subgroups, represented by the Divisions or
predecessor agencies of the Montana Public Service Commission.
To learn more detail about the records in each subgroup, please click on the links below to be redirected to those finding aids.
Collection open for research.
Researchers must use the collection in accordance with the policies of the Montana Historical Society Library & Archives. The Library & Archives does not necessarily hold copyright to all materials in the collection. In some cases permission for use may require additional authorization from the copyright owners. For more information contact an archivist.
In 2024, the various collections of the Montana Public Service Commission were integrated under one collection identifier, RS 501, in order to help facilitate access, reduce redundancy in the Montana Historical Society Library & Archives catalog, and to follow best archival practices.
Collections from the Public Service Commission that were previously treated as
separate entities are now integrated into
Each of the links above will redirect the user to a specific subgroup
(Division/Predecessor Agency) of the Public Service Commission. There may be some
overlap or inconsistencies in terms of which records are in which subgroup, as these
collections have
Please see specific subgroups' finding aids for citation information.
Acquisition information available upon request.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the Montana Historical Society Research Center catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search under these terms.