Rosebud

The car in the board's last line was built in Detroit from the fall of 1908 to 1912 and named for its makers' initials: Barney Everitt, a body builder, William Metzger of Cadillac, and Walter Flanders, who had run Henry Ford's production. Studebaker sold it through its own dealers, which is how a Rosebud agency could carry it. The old timers' joke was national, and detractors also read the letters as Every Mechanical Fault. Studebaker took the company over and put its own name on the car from late 1912.

What the plaque says

Rosebud From July 28, 1806, when William Clark passed Rosebud Creek on his way down the Yellowstone, this river valley has served as one of the major avenues for development and trade in eastern Montana. Innumerable trappers and traders followed Clark's route, including the American Fur Co. which constructed Fort Van Buren at the juncture of the Rosebud and Yellowstone in 1835. The fort proved unprofitable and was abandoned in 1843. Buffalo hunters took over 40,000 robes from this area alone during the 1860's and 1870's, shipping them out by river boat. The slaughter disrupted eastern Montana's Indian culture and precipitated several years of bloody confrontation culminating in the Battle of the Rosebud on June 17, 1876, and the Battle of the Little Big Horn eight days later. In late 1882, the Northern Pacific R.R. established a siding in the Rosebud vicinity as it pushed westward. Soon a town sprang up as a livestock shipping center with Butte Creek and the Rosebud forming a natural corral. Rail and auto transportation quickly replaced wagon and river traffic. As Rosebud grew it even acquired its own car dealership (the Otis Davis Agency) featuring the E.M.F. line. Many an old timer assumed the initials meant "Every Morning Fix'em."

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Fort Keogh — 21 mi
  Nelson Miles's post at the mouth of the Tongue, built after the Little Bighorn, a remount depot by 1909 and a range lab since 1924.
• Miles City Bucking Horse Sale — 23 mi
  A sale of bucking stock that began with thirty-five unwanted horses in 1950 and became eastern Montana's biggest weekend.

More markers nearby

• Cattle Brands — steps away
• The Hell Creek Formation — steps away
• Join the Voyage of Discovery — steps away
• The Miles City Air Force Station — 1.4 mi