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Paxton

Ghost town · Dawson County, Montana

Buffalo Creek NE quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1983, 1:24,000)
Buffalo Creek NE quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1983, 1:24,000) · U.S. Geological Survey, Historical Topographic Map Collection · Public domain

Paxton is a ghost town in Dawson County, Montana. It is one of 6 former communities in Dawson County on the federal names register. That ranks the county 31st among the 55 Montana counties with a vanished settlement on record.

The U.S. Geological Survey lists Paxton as a historical populated place on the Buffalo Creek NE topographic quadrangle: 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 47.6311° N, 105.3414° W.

Key facts

USGS quadrangleBuffalo Creek NE
Elevation2,241 ft
Nearest living townRichey, MT
Distance to it12.7 miles
GNIS feature ID1715352
Coordinates47.63112, -105.34138

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.

Paxton today, aerial view
Buffalo Creek NE quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1983, 1:24,000)

Left: Buffalo Creek NE quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1983, 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

Paxton is no longer a community in its own right. The nearest living town is Richey, MT (population 215), about 12.7 miles away in a straight line, and the site sits at roughly 2,241 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 Paxton?

Paxton is in Dawson County, Montana, at 47.6311, -105.3414.

How many ghost towns are in Dawson County?

Dawson County, Montana has 6 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.