Norris is a small unincorporated community

Unincorporated area

In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...

 in northeastern Madison County

Madison County, Montana

-National protected areas:*Beaverhead National Forest *Deerlodge National Forest *Gallatin National Forest -Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 6,851 people, 2,956 households, and 1,921 families residing in the county. The population density was 2 people per square mile...

, Montana

Montana

Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, at the intersection of U.S. Route 287

U.S. Route 287

U.S. Route 287 is a north–south United States highway. It is long. It serves as the major truck route between the Texas cities of Fort Worth and Amarillo...

 and Montana Highway 84

Montana Highway 84

Highway 84 in the U.S. State of Montana is a route running easterly from the small community of Norris to an intersection with U.S. Route 191 north of Bozeman Hot Springs, a distance of approximately...

. The location is a hilly, relatively arid area used for farming and ranching; the Tobacco Root Mountains

Tobacco Root Mountains

The Tobacco Root Mountains lie in the northern Rocky Mountains, between the Jefferson and Madison Rivers in southwest Montana. The highest peak is Hollowtop at...

 form a visual backdrop to the west.

Several mining districts were located in the area in the 1860s, though their success was generally brief. A now-abandoned branchline of the former Northern Pacific Railway

Northern Pacific Railway

The Northern Pacific Railway was a railway that operated in the west along the Canadian border of the United States. Construction began in 1870 and the main line opened all the way from the Great Lakes to the Pacific when former president Ulysses S. Grant drove in the final "golden spike" in...

 once terminated at Norris.

Norris Hot Springs is just east of the town, and an agricultural experiment station operated by Montana State University - Bozeman

Montana State University - Bozeman

Montana State University – Bozeman is a public university located in Bozeman, Montana. It is the state's land-grant university and primary campus in the Montana State University System, which is part of the Montana University System...

is at Red Bluff, about three miles east on Highway 84.