The Big Belt Mountains are a section of the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico ...

in the U.S. state of

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...

. Situated mainly in the

Helena National Forest Helena National Forest is located in west-central Montana, in the United States. Covering , the forest is broken into several separate sections. The eastern regions are dominated by the Big Belt Mountains, and are the location of the Gates of th ...

, the mountains are used for logging and recreation for the surrounding residents. Nearby are the cities of

Helena Helena may refer to: People *Helena (given name), a given name (including a list of people and characters with the name) *Katri Helena (born 1945), Finnish singer *Helena, mother of Constantine I Places Greece * Helena (island) Guyana * H ...

, Townsend, and White Sulphur Springs, as well as

Canyon Ferry Lake Canyon Ferry Lake is a reservoir on the Missouri River near Helena, Montana and Townsend, Montana. It is Montana's third largest body of water, covering and of shor(1) It was formed by the building of Canyon Ferry Dam, which was completed in ...

and the Missouri River. The highest point in the Big Belt Range is Mount Edith at , while the center of the range is . The Big Belts lie primarily between the Missouri River drainage to the west and the Smith River drainage to the east. They are traversed by

U.S. Highway 12 U.S. Route 12 (US 12) is an east–west United States highway, running from Aberdeen, Washington, to Detroit, Michigan, for almost . The highway has mostly been superseded by Interstate 90 (I-90) and I-94, but unlike most U.S. routes that ...

between Townsend in the Missouri drainage, and White Sulphur Springs in the upper Smith River drainage. The gulches on the western slopes of the Big Belts were noted historically for rich gold placer strikes. The richest were the 1864 and 1865 placer gold strikes in Confederate Gulch, including Montana Bar, which was one of the most concentrated gold placer strikes ever made. The range takes its name from the fact it is situated in a long belt-like arc. It stretches , making it a mid-length subrange of the Rocky Mountains. To the east are the Little Belts and to the south, somewhat continuing this arc, is the

Bridger Range The Bridger Range, also known as the Bridger Mountains, is a subrange of the Rocky Mountains in southwestern Montana in the United States. The range runs mostly in a north–south direction between Bozeman and Maudlow. It is separated from th ...

. The

Belt Supergroup The Belt Supergroup is an assemblage of primarily fine-grained sedimentary rocks and mafic intrusive rocks of late Precambrian (Mesoproterozoic) age. It is more than thick, covers an area of some 200,000 km2 (77,220 sq. mi), and is considered to ...

series of rocks, which are primarily

Precambrian The Precambrian (or Pre-Cambrian, sometimes abbreviated pꞒ, or Cryptozoic) is the earliest part of Earth's history, set before the current Phanerozoic Eon. The Precambrian is so named because it preceded the Cambrian, the first period of th ...

mudstones, were named after this mountain range and the adjacent Little Belt Mountains. A particularly well-known example of exposed Belt Group mudstones in alternating purplish-red or pale bluish-green layers in the Big Belt Mountains is in Wolf Creek Canyon along Interstate 15 between Helena and Great Falls. While these rocks were named after these ranges of western-central Montana, and are found in them, they are more exposed and better known in northwestern Montana, northern

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Monta ...

, and southeastern

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, for ...

, namely around

Flathead Lake Flathead Lake ( fla, člq̓etkʷ, label= Salish, kut, yawuʔnik̓ ʔa·kuq̓nuk) is a large natural lake in northwest Montana. The lake is a remnant of the ancient, massive glacial dammed lake, Lake Missoula of the era of the last interglacia ...

and Glacier National Park.

References

External links

* Ranges of the Rocky Mountains Mountain ranges of Montana Landforms of Lewis and Clark County, Montana Landforms of Meagher County, Montana Landforms of Broadwater County, Montana Helena National Forest {{MeagherCountyMT-geo-stub

See also

References

External links