Thomas D. Campbell, who was born in 1882 in North Dakota, presented a plan to President Wilson to raise wheat on a large scale using mechanized farming. J. P. Morgan and several large banks financed the plan and a contract with the government for the use of the Indian Reservation lands was signed. By 1918 Campbell had 7000 acres under production, but due to the drought of 1919 most of the crop was destroyed. Campbell then moved equipment from the Fort Peck Reservation and concentrated on Crow Indian Reservation land.
In 1922 Campbell purchased the Montana Farming Corporation and it became known as Campbell Farming Corporation, the world’s largest privately owned wheat farm. At one time over 100 men were employed and 95,000 acres were under cultivation.
The corporation discontinued its farming operation in 1987. In 1996 the cookhouse, bunkhouse, shower house and commissary from Camp 4 were donated to the Big Horn County Historical Society and moved to the museum site the following year. Restoration was completed in 1998 with funding from Campbell Farming Corporation and the Campbell Family Foundation.
Camp 4 symbolized the triumph of mechanized farming in Big Horn County. As you tour these buildings you will see images of the wooden grain wagons and granaries, rows of identical combines harvesting wheat and the workers gathered for dinner in the cookhouse.