The Garnet Range, highest point Old Baldy Mountain, elevation , is a
mountain range
A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have aris ...
northeast of
Drummond, Montana in
Powell County, Montana.
A popular historic site, Garnet Ghost Town, is in the Garnet Range. Situated on
Bureau of Land Management
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands, U.S. federal lands. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the BLM oversees more than of land, or one ...
(BLM) land, the ghost town is the remnant of a mining settlement that was inhabited from the late 1800s to the 1930s.
The town's population reached several thousand during its peak.
[ A visitor center and self-guided tours are available.][
Although heavily forested, no portion of the Garnet Range is part of the National Forest system. The BLM owns much of the range, including the 11,580-acre Wales Creek Wilderness Study Area. The Wales Creek WSA is the last major drainage area without a road in the western Garnets, and features dense forests of ]lodgepole pine
''Pinus contorta'', with the common names lodgepole pine and shore pine, and also known as twisted pine, and contorta pine, is a common tree in western North America. It is common near the ocean shore and in dry montane forests to the subalpin ...
, spruce, Douglas fir
The Douglas fir (''Pseudotsuga menziesii'') is an evergreen conifer species in the pine family, Pinaceae. It is the tallest tree in the Pinaceae family. It is native to western North America and is also known as Douglas-fir, Douglas spruce, Or ...
, larch, aspen, and subalpine fir.moose
The moose (: 'moose'; used in North America) or elk (: 'elk' or 'elks'; used in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is the world's tallest, largest and heaviest extant species of deer and the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is also the tal ...
herd, goshawk nesting sites, a native cutthroat trout
The cutthroat trout (''Oncorhynchus clarkii'' clade) is a clade of four fish species of the Family (biology), family Salmonidae native to cold-water Tributary, tributaries of the Pacific Ocean, Rocky Mountains, and Great Basin in North America. ...
fishery, and four hot springs used in the past by miners and now by skiers and hunters.[
Another BLM Wilderness Study Area is in the eastern Garnets: the 11,380-acre Hoodoo Mountain WSA. This WSA is separated from unprotected BLM land in the Gallagher Creek drainage by a dirt road. ]Petrified wood
Petrified wood (from Ancient Greek meaning 'rock' or 'stone'; literally 'wood turned into stone'), is the name given to a special type of ''fossilized wood'', the fossilized remains of terrestrial plant, terrestrial vegetation. ''Petrifaction ...
is found along streams in the Gallagher Creek area.[
On the southern slope of the Garnets near the town of Drummond, the BLM's Rattler Gulch Area of Critical Environmental Concern protects 20 acres of exposed Madison Group limestone cliffs. Parking is provided, as Rattler Gulch is a popular rock-climbing area.
Grizzly bears have recently been confirmed inhabiting the Garnets.]
See also
* List of mountain ranges in Montana
Notes
External links
Garnet Range Back Country Byway (MT), BLM – Missoula Field Office
{{Montana
Mountain ranges of Montana
Landforms of Powell County, Montana