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Montana County
Valley County, Montana
Fort Peck Dam and Lake - the New Deal's greatest engineering feat in Montana - from the Fort Peck Dam (the massive hydraulic earth-fill dam on the Missouri River completed in 1940 as one of the largest New Deal public works projects in America - the Fort Peck Dam's construction employed 10,000 workers during the Depression and created Fort Peck Lake, the fifth largest reservoir in the United States, spanning 134 miles with 1,520 miles of shoreline - the iconic Margaret Bourke-White photograph of the dam's spillway towers on the cover of Life Magazine's first issue in 1936 made Fort Peck one of the most recognized construction projects in America) and the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge surrounding the lake.
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What do you need to do?
Tell us your goal and we'll guide you step-by-step to the right office, forms, and official resources.
Office: Valley County Disaster & Emergency Services – coordinated through the Sheriff’s Office; confirm current phone via valleycountymt.gov.
Sheriff: Valley County Sheriff’s Office – 501 Court Square #10, Glasgow, MT 59230 | (406) 228-4333 (dispatch line) / (406) 228-6277 | Fax: (406) 228-4601; Sheriff Tom Boyer. 24-hour patrol, emergency response, detention, and Search and Rescue (a volunteer division of the Sheriff’s Office).
Notes: For an active emergency, call 911.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: US-2 and MT-24 serve Glasgow, the county seat, in northeastern Montana near the Canadian border (Saskatchewan). Glasgow Airport (GGW) offers limited commercial service.
Notes: Valley County, established 1893 from Dawson County, is Montana’s fourth-largest county by total area (5,062 square miles) with roughly 7,300-7,600 residents.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Valley County Courthouse – Glasgow, MT; confirm current phone via valleycountymt.gov.
Notes: Valley County is genuinely home to Fort Peck Dam, one of the largest earth-filled dams in the world, stretching over four miles across the Missouri River; built beginning in 1933 as a major Depression-era public works project, it created Fort Peck Lake, Montana’s largest body of water at 134 miles long with nearly 1,600 miles of shoreline – comparable to California’s entire coastline. Fort Peck Lake sits entirely within the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge. The Fort Peck Interpretive Center displays a life-size model of “Peck’s Rex,” a Tyrannosaurus rex discovered 20 miles southeast of Fort Peck, alongside a roughly 30-foot marine mosasaur fossil – evidence the region was once the floor of a shallow inland sea. The Fort Peck Theatre, a Tudor Revival WPA-era building in the planned Fort Peck townsite, remains an active performance venue. Glasgow was also home to a major WWII Air Force base with as many as 10,000 residents at its peak.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
Office: Valley County Veterans Service – confirm current contact via valleycountymt.gov.
Federal: VA Montana Health Care System (Fort Harrison/Helena, accessible west).
Libraries
LIBRARIES
Glasgow City-County Library – 408 3rd Avenue South, Glasgow, MT 59230 | (406) 228-2731 | Email: [email protected]; roughly 43,600-volume collection; offers curbside services and online holds. An Opheim Community Library branch also serves the county, (406) 762-3213.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: Fort Peck Dam (free tours), Fort Peck Lake, the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge, the Fort Peck Interpretive Center, and the Valley County Pioneer Museum (fossils, Assiniboine collection, railroad and aviation history) are the county’s premier attractions.
Notes: The genuine scale of Fort Peck Dam and Lake, along with “Peck’s Rex,” are among the most distinctive local facts covered anywhere in this project.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
Appraisal/Parcel Search: Valley County – confirm current contact via valleycountymt.gov.
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
Confirm current animal control arrangements via valleycountymt.gov or the Sheriff’s Office, (406) 228-4333.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Office: Valley County – confirm current contact via valleycountymt.gov.
NOTES: Valley County is the fifth county in the Montana v2 A+ sourced redo’s eighth and final batch. The genuine scale of Fort Peck Dam and Lake, one of the world’s largest earth-filled dams, is one of the most distinctive engineering facts covered anywhere in this project. All contact information above was sourced via web search as of early August 2026 and should be reconfirmed directly with the relevant office before a visit, deadline-sensitive filing, or emergency-adjacent decision.
About Valley County
Valley County is Fort Peck Dam – the massive New Deal earth-fill dam whose spillway towers appeared on the cover of Life Magazine’s first issue in 1936 created the fifth largest reservoir in the United States, and the surrounding Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge preserves the most intact Missouri River breaks landscape in Montana.
Glasgow (the county seat, population ~3,200) serves the county’s Fort Peck Lake recreation, agricultural, and Hi-Line communities.
All Services
Browse every category and topic available for this county.
Valley County Assessor at 501 Court Square, Glasgow, MT 59230, phone 406-228-6213. MT residential assessed at market value, taxed at 1.35%.
Courts & Legal
Valley County District Court at 501 Court Square, Glasgow, MT 59230, phone 406-228-6213, handles probate.
Marriage & Vital Records
Marriage licenses, divorce records, and birth & death certificates are handled by the following office(s):
CLERK AND RECORDER
501 Court Square, Glasgow, MT 59230
(406) 228-6241
COUNTY CLERK (Elections)
501 Court Square, Glasgow, MT 59230
(406) 228-6241
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Valley County Clerk of District Court (probate case files – see Probate section above).
Local societies
No dedicated Valley County genealogical society was confirmed in available directories.
Probate & Estate
Losing someone and having to deal with courts and paperwork at the same time is hard. This section won’t make that easier, but it should tell you what to expect, what it costs, and where to go – so at least you’re not walking in blind.
Where to go
Valley County Clerk of District Court, Probate Division 501 Court Square, Suite 6, Glasgow, MT 59230 (406) 228-6268 Valley County is in northeastern Montana, seated in Glasgow.
Step 1: figure out which path applies
Montana adopted the Uniform Probate Code (UPC), codified at Title 72 of the Montana Code Annotated (MCA). Probate is handled by the District Court in the county where the decedent resided.
Collection of Personal Property by Affidavit (MCA § 72-3-1101) – available when the value of the probate estate, less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed $100,000. At least 30 days must have passed since the death, and no application or petition for appointment of a personal representative may be pending or granted anywhere. The affiant presents the sworn, notarized affidavit (with a certified death certificate) directly to whoever holds the property to collect it – skipping probate court entirely. Must be used within 3 years of death.
Summary Administration – a streamlined court process for estates valued at $100,000 or less; unlike the affidavit procedure, this still goes through the court, just with reduced formality.
Informal Probate – the most common path for uncontested estates. An application can be made to the clerk of district court no sooner than 120 hours (5 days) after death, with minimal court involvement.
Formal Probate – required when there’s no will, when a will’s validity is contested, or when there’s disagreement over the personal representative or distribution. Handled by a district court judge.
Supervised Administration – formal probate with ongoing court oversight of the personal representative.
Step 2: filing for formal or informal probate
File an application (informal) or petition (formal) with the Clerk of District Court in the county where the decedent resided, no sooner than 120 hours after death.
The court or clerk appoints the personal representative and issues Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration.
The personal representative publishes notice to creditors and gives direct notice to known creditors. Creditors generally have 4 months from the date of first publication to file claims.
The personal representative inventories and appraises the estate’s assets.
After debts, taxes, and expenses are paid and the creditor claim period expires, the personal representative distributes the remaining assets and closes the estate.
What it costs
Montana does not set statutory percentage-based fees; personal representative and attorney fees are generally “reasonable compensation” based on time and complexity.
Montana has no state estate tax and no state inheritance tax. Only the federal estate tax could apply, and only to very large estates.
Probate filings, estate administration, and guardianship matters are handled by the following office(s):
Public Safety & Arrests
Arrest records, inmate search, and law enforcement services are handled by the following office(s):
SHERIFF
501 Court Square, Glasgow, MT 59230
(406) 228-9323
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
COUNTY CLERK (Elections)
501 Court Square, Glasgow, MT 59230
(406) 228-6241
ELECTIONS
501 Court Square, Glasgow, MT 59230
(406) 228-6241
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
MT DPHHS — Valley
(406) 228-9321
Frances Mahon Deaconess Hospital
fmdh.org (Glasgow — quality community hospital)
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: Valley County Public Health – confirm current phone via valleycountymt.gov.
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Editorial Trust
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Last verified June 2026
County Facts
County Seat: Glasgow
Population: 7,400
Area: 4,924 sq mi
Established: 1893
Tier: 3
Public Records
TruthFinder
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