Gallatin County, Montana, Sheriff's Office records, 1900-2024

On 2 February 1865, the territorial legislature of Montana created Gallatin County with Gallatin City as the designated county seat. The first county commissioner organized the county government and established the judicial offices on 11 March 1865. In the same year J. S. Mendenhall was elected the first sheriff and John Bozeman was elected probate judge. Over the next four decades the county rapidly grew. In 1869, construction started on the first county jail, but by 1881 it was already inadequate for the growing community. By 1910, the population of Gallatin County more than doubled. The sheriff's office was responsible for keeping law and order in the growing area as well as other various duties such as cattle inspections and registering firearms. In the first half of the 1900s, Gallatin County elected eleven sheriffs: Thomas J. Fowler (1901-1905); Ed Reynolds (1906-1909); A. H. Sales (1909-1913); W. S. Evans (1913-1915); Del E. Gray (1915-1919); Charles C. Esgar (1919-1923); James Smith (1923-1927); F. G. Slaughter (1927-1929); O. L. DeVore (1929-1933); Lovitt I. Westlake (1933-1947); and Charles E. Rice (1947-1955).