It was on October 15, 1877, that John McCormick, then County Clerk of Custer County, issued his warrant for collection of taxes to the then County Treasurer and delivered to the Treasurer the assessment roll for that year. Montana was divided into counties at the First Territorial Legislature, held in December 1864 and in January and February 1865. There were nine counties created, among them Big Horn county, which name was later changed to Custer, A county seat was designated in each county at that time, with the exception of Big Horn, and it was assigned to Gallatin County for administrative purposes. It was not until 1877 that a set of officers was appointed for Custer County. Thus, the first assessment list for this county was for that year. On this assessment roll appeared 113 names. Joseph W. Alien was assessed with "house and chattels" of the value of $350, which was the only mention of any specific property. All other property assessed was listed as "personal." The total valuation of all property assessed was $157,387, and the total taxes levied amounted to $3,458.97, of which $1,685.17 became delinquent. The mill levy totaled 7.2 mills and was made up as follows:

There was a poor tax of $2 levied against every male citizen and a road tax of $3. There was but one woman's name on the roll--that of Nettie Parker.