Ekalaka was named for an Indian girl, the niece of Sitting Bull. Her Indian name, Ijkalaka, means “swift one” in the Sioux language. Ekalaka was often called “Puptown” because of the great number of prairie dogs around. The town began as a saloon for cowboys. Claude Carter was a buffalo hunter and bartender. He was on his way to another building site when his broncos balked at pulling the load of logs through a mudhole. “Hell,” he said, “any place in Montana is a good place to build a saloon,” so he unloaded the logs and erected the Old Stand Saloon. For more than fifty years, he bartended profitably to Carter County cowpunchers. David Harrison Russell was the first homesteader in the area, and in 1875 he married Ijkalaka. In 1881 he brought her to the little community that had grown up around the Old Stand. She lived there until her death in 1901. (from Cheney’s Names on the Face of Montana, Mountain Press Publishing Company)

Ekalaka is a small western town nestled in the Russell Creek Valley of picturesque Carter County. Ekalaka is the county seat of Carter County, and the town has a population of about 400. Though small, the community meets the needs of the traveler with two motels, a campground with hook-ups, several restaurants, a grocery store, service station, and a collection of main street businesses and two city parks.

Noted for its wide-open spaces, beautiful blue skies, and tranquil scenery of open prairies spreading upward to stately forests, Ekalaka's setting is a living painting. There's lots of room, lots of time, lots of space, and leisurely meals among friendly people. Entertainment comes in measures of peace and quiet.

Ekalaka is the home to one of the most significant local museums in Montana. Carter County Museum, founded in 1936, holds the distinct honor of being the first county museum founded in the State of Montana. Located within the town of Ekalaka, this little known museum houses some of the finest paleontological discoveries in the United States as well as numerous artifacts depicting the lives of Native Americans and the early settlers of Carter County.

Nearby Medicine Rocks State Park was once a place of “big medicine,” where Indian hunting parties conjured up magical spirits. Wind and water have sculptured soft sandstone into beautiful and unusual forms.

Chalk Buttes, Long Pines, and Ekalaka Hills near Ekalaka are Custer National Forest lands that provide excellent hunting for mule deer, whitetail deer, and wild turkeys. Long Pines is noted for the Capitol Rock National Natural Landmark. This area is known for having a very high density of nesting raptors.