DOCSLIB.ORG

THE GEOLOGY OP the CRAZY MOUNTAINS, MONTANA. The

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
THE GEOLOGY OP the CRAZY MOUNTAINS, MONTANA. The BULLETIN OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY ÔF AMERICA V ol. 3, pp. 445-452 A u g u s t 8, 1892 THE GEOLOGY OP THE CRAZY MOUNTAINS, MONTANA. BY J. E. WOLFF. (Read before the Society December 29, 1891.') CONTENTS. Page. Topography............................................................................................................. .. 445 General Structure......................................................................................................... 446 Eruptive Rocks of the northern Area....................................... .............................. 449 Structural Aspects................................................................................................ 449 Lithologie Characters......................................................................................... 450 Features of the Southern Area................................................................................... 450 T o po g r a ph y . The Crazy mountains are situated in central Montana, centering about latitude 46°, longitude 110° 15'. They form a high isolated range of the Rocky mountains, lying about 30 miles east of the easterly border of the main mass of the mountains, and rise abruptly from the eastern table­ lands, attaining an extreme elevation of about 11,000 feet above sea-level. The Yellowstone river flows around their southern end a few miles after its exit from the mountains at the lower canyon, and the range is there­ fore in plain view from the Northern Pacific railroad for many miles eastward from the town of Livingston. The mountains trend a little west of north and are about 40 miles long and 15 or 20 wide. A large branch of the Yellowstone, called Shields river,, which flows southward along the western base, has cut a deep, flat transverse valley at its head nearly through to the eastward drainage, and there divides the range into northern and southern halves. Of the two portions thus defined the southern reaches the greater elevation. It has numerous sharp peaks, often of a jagged aiguille type, and the arrange­ ment of the drainage is distinctly radial, since the streams flow westward, southward and eastward from the central mass of high peaks. In moving up one of these streams toward the head we find the valley at first com­ paratively broad, bounded by high bluffs of nearly horizontal sandstones, LXI— B ult,. G e o i:. Soc. Am., V o l . 3, 1891. (445) Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/gsabulletin/article-pdf/3/1/445/3414100/BUL3-0445.pdf by guest on 01 October 2021 4 4 6 J. E. WOLFF— GEOLOGY OF THE CRAZY MOUNTAINS. which become cliffs as the spurs rise toward the peaks; but on approach­ ing the central peaks the valley suddenly narrows for a mile or more and the stream falls from a higher level 400 or 500 feet by cascades and falls, and beyond this the valley again widens somewhat with a more gentle slope to the head. This “ fall-line ” is found on all the radial streams, and is plainly due to the local hardening of the Cretaceous rocks pro­ duced by the central stock of diorite, as described later. The larger valleys have been occupied by glaciers, as shown by rock scoring; and the markings are found 500 or even 1,000 feet above the present stream levels. No lateral moraines were observed, but at the heads of the streams there is considerable morainic material, and also below the exits of the streams from the range, which here contains large bowlders of the characteristic eruptive rocks occurring higher up. The glaciation seems to have been entirely local. The broad benches, stretching out for miles eastward, westward and southward, are covered with water-worn pebbles from the range and may lie high above the present stream beds, which have cut deep through them into the under­ lying sandstones. The change in elevation from these benches to the spurs from the peaks is sudden, the difference of level between the base and the summit of the range averaging perhaps 4,000 feet. That part of the mountains north of the head of Shields river is lower and the summits have the form of ridges or flat-topped dome-shaped masses. Both here and in the southern half, outlying peaked summits or buttes form a topographical feature. G en e r a l S tr u c t u r e . The general geology is comparatively simple.* The range lies in a region of nearly horizontal Cretaceous rocks, extending indefinitely east­ ward in the great plains and westward to the edge of the frontal range, where sharp uplifts expose the older rocks. These Cretaceous rocks are found throughout the range and either horizontal or, if disturbed, with generally low dips. They consist of yellow or brown sandstones and occasional conglomerates, interstratified with yellow, drab, red, or black shales and impure calcareous beds. The conglomerates in one place contain large pebbles of an older (Carboniferous ?) limestone ; the shales, plant remains and small beds of impure coal. No attempt is here made to assign them to a definite horizon of the Cretaceous, but the base at least seems to belong with the Laramie, which a few miles westward has over 8,000 feet of strata.f *J. E. Wolff: “ Notes on the Petrography of the Crazy Mountains” ; Neue* Jahrb. Min., etc, 1885, i, p. 09, and 1890, i, p. 192. t W. H. WeeD: Bull. Geol. Soc. Am., vol. 2,1890, p. 3C0. Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/gsabulletin/article-pdf/3/1/445/3414100/BUL3-0445.pdf by guest on 01 October 2021 DOMED CRETACEOUS STRATA. 4 4 7 In the southern half the strata have a general inward dip at the outer edge of the range, both in the spurs and adjacent benches; so that gentle easterly dips are found on the western side, northerly dips on the south, and westerly dips on the east. In the interior this basin structure is in­ terrupted by dome-shaped ;uplifts, of which the most marked is that con­ nected with the central dioritic stock, from which the stratified rocks dip away with gently decreasing dips. This dome structure is sometimes repeated on a smaller scale in the outlying buttes. An example exists on the northeastern border between Little Elk and Big Elk creeks; * the shales and sandstones dip about 30° in three directions from the center of the dome, which has been eroded 300 feet lower than the sides, thus forming a Roughly circular basin a mile or two wide surrounded by lines of cliffs. One small intrusive sheet can be seen in the upper strata, which rapidly thins out. Still farther outward from the center of the dome the strata have steep dips and contain numerous intrusive sheets or bedded dikes. The eroded center seems to be due to the lack of protecting erup­ tive sheets at.that point, making it easy for the erosive agents to cut deep into the soft shales and sandstones. In the northern half of the mountains the dome structure is developed with less regularity and a tendency to longitudinal uplifts with steeper dips and sharp crumples, producing long-crested ridges. An interesting case is found on the, northern side of the deep transverse valley at the head of Shields river, consisting in the southern end of a long anticlinal dome, the strata dipping southward, eastward and westward within the space of a mile. Th.ey are here interleaved with numerous sheets of in­ trusive rocks, which curve around the sides of the dome with them and even preserve this parallelism in sharp minor crinkles a few hundred feet wide, by which the lines of outcrop make elbows. The present crest of the dome is formed by a master sheet or laccolite sixty feet thick, which dips off from three sides; but erosion has cut . through it on the axis of the dome to the underlying soft shales, exposing to view a trans­ verse dike of the same rock, apparently a feeder of the laccolite. The close conformity in greater and lesser crumplings between the intrusive and sedimentary rocks makes it necessary to suppose that the elevation took place after the intrusion of the former, for it does not seem possible that an intrusive rock could force its way into all the details of a sharply crumpled surface. This being the case, the eruptive rocks were exam­ ined with considerable interest at one. of the 'sharp twists for signs of crushing, and with the expectation of some trace of the dynamic meta­ morphism so common in folded intrusive sheets of the Archean and * The topographic map. is not reproduced here. Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/gsabulletin/article-pdf/3/1/445/3414100/BUL3-0445.pdf by guest on 01 October 2021 4 4 8 J. E. WOLFF— GEOLOGY OF THE CRAZY MOUNTAINS. Paleozoic ; but neither in the field nor in the laboratory was any structure detected different from that of the ,rock under normal conditions. The monoclinal buttes developed along either side of the range are very striking, especially on the western side. They owe their present elevation to the sheets of intrusive rock, which dip inward with the strata toward the range at varying dip angles in thé different localities. The most im­ portant of these is the group of three high outlying buttes north of the head of Shields river (“ Three Peaks ” on the map), which are arranged en echelon on a north-south line, the crest lines of the two northerly ones lying progressively east of the third or southerly one. The strata dip about 30° eastward, and the three buttes have high cliffs facing westward and gentle dip slopes eastward. The crests are formed by heavy sheets or laccolites of intrusive rock from 250 to 100 feet thick, with minor sheets at intervals below, interstratified with the shales and sandstones. These master sheets bulge in the crest of the ridge, maintaining their thickness for about a mile in the case of the northern and southern buttes, and then rapidly thin out to a comparatively narrow bedded dike.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Hunting Districts 315 and 580)
    CRAZY MOUNTAINS EMU (Hunting Districts 315 and 580) Description: This 1,708-square-mile EMU includes the Crazy Mountain Range and adjacent foothill and prairie habitats in south central Montana. The area is a mixture of private (78%) and public (22%) lands, including portions of both the Gallatin and Lewis and Clark national forests (16%), state school trust lands (DNRC – 5%), and USDI Bureau of Land Management (BLM – 0.2%). Land ownership patterns within the boundary of the national forests are characterized by checkerboard ownership. The EMU contains two roadless areas encompassing 149,467 acres of public and private lands that offer wilderness-type recreation. However, much of this roadless area is not elk habitat. This EMU contains over 590,000 acres of occupied elk habitat (54% of EMU). National forest lands provide a large portion of spring, summer and fall elk habitat, but private lands in mountain foothill and sagebrush-grassland habitats provide over 80% of elk winter range during normal winters and virtually all of the available winter range during severe winters. Public Access: Access by road to elk habitat is limited in most of HD 580 where the checkerboard pattern of land ownership complicates management of access. With few exceptions, public access to elk habitat on the north and east slopes of the Crazies is controlled entirely by private landowners. There are only 3 points in HD 580 where the public may legally access national forest lands – the Big Timber Canyon road in the southeast corner, the Cottonwood Creek/Forest Lake road on the north end and Sixteenmile Creek in the northwest corner of the hunting district.
    [Show full text]
  • Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks Pobox527
    FWP.MT.GOV THE OUTSIDE IS IN US ALL Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks 4600 Giant Springs Road Great Falls, MT 59405 July 10,2020 Dear Interested Party: The enclosed draft Environmental Assessment (EA) has been prepared regarding a proposal to reintroduce marten to the Little Belt Mountains in central Montana. Marten were historically present in the Little Belts but were likely extirpated by the early 20th century. Habitat models and biologists predict that there is extensive high-quality marten habitat in the Little Belts and marten currently occur in adjacent mountain ranges. FWP proposes to initially capture up to 60 marten in southwest MT over the next two winters. The intent of the reintroduction is to establish a selÊsustaining and genetically diverse population of marten in the Little Belt Mountain complex. Additional copies of the draft EA are available at Montana Fish, V/ildlife & Parks in Great Falls at (406) 454-5840. The draft EA is also available on the F'WP website at http://fi¡¡p.mt.gov/news/publicNotices/. A2l-day public review and comment period will be available July 10 - July 31,2020. Written comment should be delivered to the following address: Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks POBox527 White Sulphur Springs, MT 59645 Or email comments to: [email protected] Thank you for your interest and involvement, Sincerely, ¿ Gary Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks Region 4 V/ildlife Supervisor Great Falls, MT [email protected] (406) 4s4-s840 FWP M-I,GOV THË OUTSIDE IS IN US ALL, ReÍntroduction of Marten to the Little Belt Mountains July, 2020 Table of Contents Chapter 1: Project Proposal.
    [Show full text]
  • Groundwater Resources of the Livingston and Lower Shields River Valley Areas, Park County, Montana
    GROUNDWATER RESOURCES OF THE LIVINGSTON AND LOWER SHIELDS RIVER VALLEY AREAS, PARK COUNTY, MONTANA Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology Open-File Report 680 John Olson, Shawn Kuzara, and Elizabeth Meredith 2016 CONTENTS Abstract ........................................................................................................................................................ 1 Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 3 Purpose .................................................................................................................................................. 3 Location .................................................................................................................................................. 3 Methods ...................................................................................................................................................... 3 Watershed issues.......................................................................................................................................... 6 Land and Water Use ............................................................................................................................... 6 Population Growth and Rural Residential Development ........................................................................6 Energy Development ...................................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Petroleum Potential of Wilderness Lands in Montana by William J
    Petroleum Potential of Wilderness Lands in Montana By William J. Perry, Jr., Dudley D. Rice, and Edwin K. Maughan PETROLEUM POTENTIAL OF WILDERNESS LANDS IN THE WESTERN UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY CIRCULAR 902-G This chapter on the petroleum geology and resource potential of Wilderness Lands in Montana is also provided as an accompanying pamphlet for Miscellaneous Inves­ tigations Series Map 1-1541 CONTENTS Page Abstract---------------------------------------------------------------------- G1 Introduction------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 Geologic framework ------------------------------------------------------------ 1 Williston Basin province------------------------------------------------------ 1 Northern Montana Foreland (Sweetgrass Arch) province---------------------------- 2 Montana Thrust Belt province------------------------------------------------- 3 Central Montana Uplift province----------------------------------------------- 7 Montana portion-Wyoming Structural province---------------------------------- 8 Stratigraphicsummary --------------------------------------------------------- 8 Precambrian--------------------------------------------------------------- 10 Cambrian------------------------------------------------------------------ 10 Ordovician----------------------------------------------------------------- 10 Silurian ------------------------------------------------------------------- 11 Devonian------------------------------------------------------------------ 11 Mississippian---------------------------------------------------------------
    [Show full text]
  • Big Timber Creek Meadow Ranch
    Big Timber Creek Meadow Ranch Big Timber, Montana Offered Exclusively By: LOCATION: The Big Timber Creek Meadow Ranch is located in the Big Timber Creek Valley approximately 3 miles north of Big Timber, Montana in Sweet Grass County. From Big Timber, via Interstate 90, Billings (Montana’s largest city) is 80 miles east, and Bozeman, home of Montana State University, is 60 miles west. Livingston, the northern gateway to Yellowstone National Park, is 35 miles west of Big Timber. Bozeman and Billings both have commercial airports that are served by major and commuter airlines; Big Timber has a 24-hour community airport that is capable of landing most private jets. ACCESS: Paved US Highway 191 extends northward out of Big Timber and courses along the east side of the ranch providing uncomplicated and convenient year-round access. Swamp Creek Road, a graveled county-maintained road, passes along the southern and western boundary of the property which enables one to access the ranch from either Highway 191 or Swamp Creek Road. Big Timber is just a few minutes from the property and Livingston, Bozeman, and Billings are within a 30- to 80-minute drive from the property enabling one to visit the likes of Yellowstone National Park, Bridger Bowl, Big Sky, and Red Lodge Mountain ski resorts, Chico Hot Springs, Museum of the Rockies, Alberta Bair Theatre, and the Billings Metra Arena as an easy half-day or day trip. New Frontier Ranches, Inc. 2 Big Timber Creek Meadow Ranch COMMUNITY: Big Timber is a relatively small, friendly, agriculturally based community with approximately 1,700 residents.
    [Show full text]
  • Crazy Mountains Complaint
    Case 1:19-cv-00066-SPW-TJC Document 1 Filed 06/10/19 Page 1 of 114 Matthew K. Bishop Western Environmental Law Center 103 Reeder’s Alley Helena, Montana 59601 406-324-8011 [email protected] Michael A. Kauffman DRAKE LAW FIRM, P.C. 111 North Last Chance Gulch Suite 3J, Arcade Building Helena, MT 59601 406-495-8080 [email protected] Counsel for Plaintiffs IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF MONTANA BILLINGS DIVISION FRIENDS OF THE CRAZY MOUNTAINS, a public land No. organization; MONTANA CHAPTER BACKCOUNTRY HUNTERS AND COMPLAINT FOR ANGLERS, a non-profit DECLARATORY AND organization; ENHANCING INJUNCTIVE RELIEF MONTANA’S WILDLIFE AND HABITAT, a public outreach organization; SKYLINE SPORTSMEN’S ASSOCIATION, a non-profit organization, Plaintiffs, vs. 1 Case 1:19-cv-00066-SPW-TJC Document 1 Filed 06/10/19 Page 2 of 114 MARY ERICKSON, in her official capacity as Forest Supervisor for the Custer Gallatin National Forest; LEANNE MARTEN, in her official capacity as Regional Forester, Region One, for the U.S. Forest Service; VICKI CHRISTIANSEN, in her official capacity as chief of the U.S. Forest Service; THE UNITED STATES FOREST SERVICE, a federal agency; THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, a federal department, Federal-Defendants. INTRODUCTION 1. Friends of the Crazy Mountains, the Montana Chapter of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, Enhancing Montana’s Wildlife and Habitat, and the Skyline Sportsmen’s Association (collectively “Plaintiffs”), bring this civil action for declaratory and injunctive relief against Federal-Defendants (“the U.S. Forest Service” or “the Service”) pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”), 5 U.S.C.
    [Show full text]
  • Crazy Mountains, Montana from 1900 to 2000
    FROM THE OLD TO NEW WEST: CHANGES IN LANDOWNERSHIP AND LAND USE IN THE CRAZY MOUNTAINS, MONTANA FROM 1900 TO 2000. by Kimiko Jean-Lena Nygaard A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Earth Sciences MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY Bozeman, Montana January 2009 ©COPYRIGHT by Kimiko Jean-Lena Nygaard 2009 All Rights Reserved ii APPROVAL of a thesis submitted by Kimiko Jean-Lena Nygaard This thesis has been read by each member of the thesis committee and has been found to be satisfactory regarding content, English usage, format, citation, bibliographic style, and consistency, and is ready for submission to the Division of Graduate Education. Dr. William Wyckoff Approved for the Department of Earth Sciences Dr. Stephan Custer Approved for the Division of Graduate Education Dr. Carl A. Fox iii STATEMENT OF PERMISSION TO USE In presenting this thesis in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a master‟s degree at Montana State University, I agree that the Library shall make it available to borrowers under rules of the Library. If I have indicated my intention to copyright this thesis by including a copyright notice page, copying is allowable only for scholarly purposes, consistent with “fair use” as prescribed in the U.S. Copyright Law. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this thesis in whole or in parts may be granted only by the copyright holder. Kimiko Jean-Lena Nygaard January 2008 iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my mentor and advisor, Dr. William Wyckoff for his unwavering support and enthusiasm.
    [Show full text]
  • Camp and Picnic Guide
    Custer Gallatin NF | R1-21-15 | May 2021 COVID -19 INFORMATION • Avoid visiting the Forest if you are sick and/or experiencing COVID-19 symptoms. • Before and during your visit, follow the CDC guidance on personal hygiene, social distancing and tips for preventing the illness, available at: www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/about/prevention.html. • Be aware that State and local directives may also apply. Those are available at https://covid19.mt.gov for Montana, and https://covid.sd.gov/ for South Dakota. WEST SIDE OF FOREST EAST SIDE OF FOREST Welcome to the Custer Gallatin National Forest To ensure that everyone has a safe and enjoyable visit, please remember: Dispose of garbage appropriately. Camping is limited to 16 days Keep our waters clean by disposing in any one campground or location of dishwater far away from any 14-day limit in the South Dakota units of ( water source. the Sioux District) Recycle your recyclables. Keep a clean camp. Store all food and wildlife attractants properly. The CAR CAMPING OUTSIDE OF DEVELOPED Food Storage Order is in effect CAMPGROUNDS -“dispersed” car camping in locations with no facilities is allowed ONLY except Forest-wide March 1-Dec 1 ( as specified in the Custer Gallatin National in the Ashland and Sioux Ranger Districts). Forest Motor Vehicle Use Maps. Where car Your safety and the safety of others camping is limited to designated campsites depends upon you. only, all legal car campsites are marked. Camping with stock is not allowed in most developed campgrounds. Call the local ranger districts for more information, or check our web site for stock facilities.
    [Show full text]
  • Petrology of the Crazy Mountains Dike Swarm and Geochronology of Associated Sills, South-Central Montana
    Petrology of the Crazy Mountains Dike Swarm and Geochronology of Associated Sills, South-Central Montana Professional Paper 1715 U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey Cover. Prominent ridge northwest of Cottonwood Lake, in the Crazy Mountains, south-central Montana, composed of the diorite and gabbro phase of the Big Timber stock and intruded by dikes of the Crazy Mountains dike swarm. Petrology of the Crazy Mountains Dike Swarm and Geochronology of Associated Sills, South-Central Montana By Edward A. du Bray, Stephen S. Harlan, and Anna B. Wilson Professional Paper 1715 U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey U.S. Department of the Interior Gale A. Norton, Secretary U.S. Geological Survey P. Patrick Leahy, Acting Director U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia: 2006 For sale by U.S. Geological Survey Information Services Box 25286, Denver Federal Center Denver, CO 80225 For more information about the USGS and its products: Telephone: 1–888–ASK–USGS World Wide Web: http://www.usgs.gov Any use of trade, product, or firm names in this publication is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. Although this report is in the public domain, permission must be secured from the individual copyright owners to reproduce any copyrighted materials contained within this report. Suggested citation: du Bray, E.A., Harlan, S.S., and Wilson, A.B., 2006, Petrology of the Crazy Mountains dike swarm and geochronology of associated sills, south-central Montana: U.S. Geological Survey
    [Show full text]
  • Absaroka Volcanic Supergroup in the Yellowstone National Park Region
    ·- STRATIGRAPHIC FRAMEWORK OF THE ABSAROKA VOLCANIC SUPERGROUP IN THE YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK REGION Stratigraphic Framework of the Absaroka Volcanic Supergroup in the Yellowsto-ne National Park Region By HARRY W. SMEDES and HAROLD J. PROSTKA GEOLOGY OF YELLOWSTONE NA1~IONAL PARK GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER 729-C A brief description of the stratigraphy of the Eocene Absaroka volcanic field) Wyoming and lVf. ontana. The Absaroka Volcanic Supergroup) three groups) five formations) and five members are defined UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON: 1972 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR ROGERS C. B. MORTON, Secretary GEOLOGICAL SURVEY V. E. McKelvey, Director Library of Congress catalog-card No. 72-600072 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Washington, D.C. 20402 - Price 50 cents Stock Number 2401-2151 Yellowstone National Park, the oldest of the areas set aside as part of the national park sys· tern, lies amidst the Rocky Mountains in north­ western Wyoming and adjacent parts of Montana and Idaho. Embracing large, diverse, and complex geologic features, the park is in an area that is critical to the interpretation of many significant regional geologic problems. In order to provide basic data bearing on these problems, the U.S. Geological Survey in 1965 initiated a broad pro­ gram of comprehensive geologic and geophysical investigations within the park. This program was carried out with the cooperation of the National Park Service, and was also aided by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, which supported the gathering of geologic information needed in testing and in interpreting results from various remote sensing devices.
    [Show full text]
  • Forest Regions of Montana
    FOREST REGIONS OF MONTANA STEPHEN F. ARNO This file was created by scanning the printed publication. Errors identified by the software have been corrected; however, some errors may remain. USDA Forest Service Research Paper INT-218 INTERMOUNTAIN FOREST AND RANGE EXPERIMENT STATION Forest Service U.S. Department of Agriculture Ogden, Utah 84401 USDA Forest Service Research Paper INT-218 April 1979 FOREST REGIONS OF MONTANA STEPHEN F. ARNO INTERMOUNTAIN FOREST AND RANGE EXPERIMENT STATION Forest Service U. S. Department of Agriculture Ogden, Utah 84401 THE AUTHOR STEPHEN F. ARNO is a Plant Ecologist on the Forest Ecosystems research work unit at Missoula. He earned a B. S. in forestry at Washington State University and a master's degree and a Ph. D. in forestry and plant science at the University of Mon- tana before joining the Forest Service in 1970. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Robert Pfister (USDA Forest Service Project Leader) gave encouragement and advice throughout this study. The following for- esters from USDA Forest Service, Northern Region, shared their information on the distributions of indicator plants: Robert Bigler, Herbert Holdorf (Soil Scientist), John Joy, Bernard Kovalchik, Tom Lawrence, Gary Learn, B. John Losensky, and James Schaeffer. Similar information was provided by Joseph Antos, James Habeck, and Pete Zager from the Botany Department of the University of Montana and by Tad Weaver, John Rumley, and Frank Forcella from Montana State University. In addition, I would like to thank the many people who provided review comments during the develop- ment of this manuscript. Page INTRODUCTION .......................... DELINEATING MONTANA FOREST REGIONS .......... FOREST REGION DESCRIPTIONS ................ Northwestern Montana Forest Region ...........
    [Show full text]
  • Park County Wildlife
    PARK COUNTY, MONTANA Living with People and Wildlife Park County Wildlife Elliston Unionville White Sulphur Springs Montana City Clancy Winston Martinsdale Hedgesville Harlowton Corbin Lennep Twodot Jefferson City Franklin WILDLIFE OVERVIEW TownsendTHE SHIELDS VALLEY Shawmut Basin Barber Ringling CushmanLavina Boulder CRAZY MOUNTAINS Ryegate Belmont Park County is located in southwest Montana where “the mountains meet the prairie.” Radersburg The unique combination of large fertile valleys, major continental mountain ranges, a Toston er 2 4 iv significant island mountain range (Crazy Mountains), and the beginning of the eastern R s d l e Broadview prairie grassland provides a variety of wildlife habitats. i 1 h Melville S 5 Cottonwood Reservoir 2 Wilsall Pk X Remarkably, Park County supports a complete component of all the large species of wildlife 6 Eustis BRIDGER RANGE 10,581’ 3 X Crazy Pk Comanche The Shields Valley is the largest Wilsall that were present when Lewis and Clark first stepped foot in Montana in 1805. All 12 species Trident 11,209’ Rapelje Elliston Unionville White Sulphur Springs Janney valley in Park County and of ungulates and majorMontana predatorsCity still occur. Not all species are easy to see, however in the Clancy Winston 2 Martinsdale Hedgesville Whitehall expands north alongLogan US Hwy 89 Clyde Park Harlowton Cardwell right place and time of the year Twodot Three Forks Corbin Lennep and includes the ShieldsManhattan River, 5 Molt Jefferson City Franklin Big Timber white-tailed deer, mule deer, Townsend Shawmut Basin Barber SappingtonCrazy Mountains, Bangtail Ringling CushmanLavina r elk, antelope,Boulder bighorn sheep and v e CRAZY MOUNTAINS Ryegate Mountains, and the vast rollingBelgrade 2 i Belmont 4 e R Greycliff Radersburg t on bison are often viewed from theToston low s er Waterloo hills north towards Ringling.
    [Show full text]