In others such as Albion, boarded up schoolhouses are all that remain.
Changes in societal structure and improvements in roads - albeit gravel - and vehicles are likely contributors to the demise of these places. Maybe some of them never did amount to anything! It appears that the only reason some of them still exist is that presence of a US Post Office. Powderville is a great example of this.
It will be interesting to see if these Post Offices survive the increases in efficiency that the US Postal Service is undertaking because of decreases in mail volume. But they do provide an important public service for the farm and ranch families that live in these very rural regions of the state. It looks like the lone residence in Sumatra recently got a new coat of paint. 
One of the "larger" towns I passed by - Ingomar - is really a Montana icon. And its seems to be struggling to survive. It is famous for a quaint old bar and restaurant named the Jersey Lilly.
Years ago, when driving this road between Forsyth and Roundup, I used to stop at this establishment for a bowl of bean soup that Bill - the proprietor - used to always keep on the stove. The town has since lost some inhabitants and the Jersey Lilly is only open sporadically. But Ingomar now boasts of a B&B located in the old schoolhouse, the only place to find a room for the night in this 100-mile stretch of highway. It is named the Bunk and Biscuit.Oh yes, the reason for my excursion thru this rural part of Montana was to scout the area for some new dragonfly and damsel species for my Montana list. The cloudy, cold, and windy weather was not very good for this purpose, but I did manage to find at least one new new species of these fascinating insects - an American Rubyspot. It is not difficult to see how it got its name!
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