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Mossmain

Ghost town · Yellowstone County, Montana

Mossmain quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1956, 1:24,000)
Mossmain quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1956, 1:24,000) · U.S. Geological Survey, Historical Topographic Map Collection · Public domain

Mossmain is a ghost town in Yellowstone County, Montana. It is one of 5 former communities in Yellowstone County on the federal names register. That ranks the county 38th among the 55 Montana counties with a vanished settlement on record.

The U.S. Geological Survey lists Mossmain as a historical populated place: the name is no longer in official use for a community, whether the settlement was abandoned, absorbed into a neighbouring town or renamed. The recorded location is 45.6847° N, 108.7110° W.

Key facts

Elevation3,269 ft
Nearest living townLaurel, MT
Distance to it3.3 miles
Coordinates45.68470, -108.71100

Open the location on a map

Then and now

Drag the slider: the old USGS map on the left, the same ground from the air today on the right. Both cover the same 1.9-mile square centred on the recorded location.

Mossmain today, aerial view
Mossmain quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1956, 1:24,000)

Left: Mossmain quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1956, 1:24,000), U.S. Geological Survey, Historical Topographic Map Collection. Right: The same ground today: NAIP aerial imagery, USDA Farm Service Agency, National Agriculture Imagery Program (via USGS). Both public domain.

What's there now

Mossmain is no longer a community in its own right. The nearest living town is Laurel, MT (population 7,198), about 3.3 miles away in a straight line, and the site sits at roughly 3,269 feet above sea level. The aerial view above shows what covers the ground today. Much of the land around former townsites is private; check access before you visit.

Nearby places

Questions

Where is Mossmain?

Mossmain is in Yellowstone County, Montana, at 45.6847, -108.7110.

How many ghost towns are in Yellowstone County?

Yellowstone County, Montana has 5 ghost towns on record at Wayfarrow.

Sources and licences

Facts marked "approximately" carry an uncertain date in the source. Text on this page is generated from the sources above; no encyclopedia prose is copied. Last updated 2026-11-06.