We go through Winnett on our way to Brusett from Billings. In the 2000 census their was a population of 185 people in the community. Winnett is the county seat for Petroleum County
In 2000 Petroleum County had a population of 493 people. There are 56 counties in Montana. Petroleum County is our least populous county and the 6th in the nation. One interesting fact about Winnett is that it is the only town in the county. Though there are also three unincorporated communities.
While looking to research Winnett I ran across two posts that were quite interesting and give a glimpse of the character of this community. The first post is from the daily Montana http://www.dailymontana.com/2009/08/frontier-town.html . In this post is a historic picture taken in 1916 when the population was about 2,000.
The second post came from Big Sky Fishing .com http://www.bigskyfishing.com/Montana-Info/city-galleries/winnett-mt.shtm
The author talks about this rural community and shares a glimpse at the only hotel in town. He focuses on the humor of the proprietor and tongue in cheek calls the community “a functioning ghost town”.
One of the things that always impressed me was the fact that Winnett has a public swimming pool. Miles City a much bigger community can not say the same thing. A side note there are 4 oil wells currently being drilled in the local area of Winnett. The town has a county library and a fire department.
As you head either north or east from Winnett you head towards remote areas of Montana.
