Cut Bank, located halfway between Browning and Shelby, was named after the deep gorge nearby made by the Cut Bank Creek. The Blackfeet Indians called it "the river that cuts into the white clay banks." The population, which numbered 845 people in 1939, ballooned into the thousands as natural gas and oil fields were discovered and sustained for many years. Gas piped from this region is used in Helena, Great Falls, Butte and Anaconda.