Geological Survey Bulletin 611 Guidebook of the Western United States: Part A

SHEET No. 13. (click on image for an enlargement in a new window)

From Waco (see sheet 13, p. 82) to Bull Mountain the same kind of topography prevails, except that the bluffs on the north side of the river are more pronounced and rise abruptly from the water level. Near Bull Mountain the hills on the south are farther from the track, lower, and less rugged than they are farther east. Such changes in the appearance of surface features are due to the presence of softer rocks. Here the formations are rising westward, and at Bull Mountain the Bearpaw shale, underlying the Lance formation, is again brought to the surface, but because of its softness it soon weathers down to a dark mud that so conceals the rock from which it was derived that the rock can not be seen from the train.

West of Bull Mountain the Northern Pacific Railway crosses the northern point of one of the great mountain-making folds of the Rocky Mountains. The rocky layers or formations have been forced up into a great arch which has a breadth, where crossed by the railway, of 75 miles and a length of about 180 miles. In the region of its greatest development in Wyoming it forms the Bighorn Mountains, and it is generally spoken of as the Bighorn uplift or anticline, but the northern projection into Montana has a local development in Pryor Mountain and for that reason is known as the Pryor Mountain anticline.

As the railway crosses the fold at its north end, where the formations swing around in broad curves, it cuts the outcrops at oblique angles or follows them for a considerable distance. It is because of this fact that the hills on the left are smooth and low, indicative of shale, and the bluffs on the opposite side of the river are rugged, being composed of sandstone.

One of the most striking mementos of the early exploration of the Yellowstone Valley is Pompeys Pillar (Pl. XIII, p. 77), a lone butte, 200 feet high, between mileposts 196 and 197. In descending the Yellowstone Capt. Clark noted this butte and from its isolated position and vertical walls called it Pompeys Pillar. He states concerning it, "I marked my name and the day of the month and year." Halfway up on the side near the river is to be seen Clark's rude inscription, now protected by an iron grating. The sandstone forming Pompeys Pillar is near the base of the Lance formation, and the westward rise of the rocks soon brings up the dark marine Bearpaw shale, but near the railway this shale is covered by soil and can not be seen from the train.

From Pompeys Pillar to Huntley the railway line is in the middle of a broad, flat bottom, which is irrigated by water taken from the river a short distance above the mouth of Pryor Creek, under the Huntley project of the United States Reclamation Service.¹ The underlying rocks are not visible from the train except at a great distance on the right. As shown on sheet 13 (p. 82), the first formation to be passed over beyond Pompeys Pillar is dark shale (Bearpaw) of marine origin. Next is a formation (Judith River) which in many places carries coal beds and was laid down on the land or in shallow lakes. It is soft and mostly light colored, but at a distance it can not be distinguished from the overlying Bearpaw shale.

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¹The Huntley project covers an area of 33,000 acres in the broad valley of Yellowstone River. In 1907 this region was a part of the Crow Indian Reservation and was uninhabited. To-day it contains 400 farm families and six towns. The transformation wrought by Government irrigation is apparent in the present compact, intensively cultivated farms, in substantial farm buildings, and in growing towns.

A few farms under this project are open to homestead entry under the terms of the reclamation act, and full particulars may be obtained at Huntley from the project manager. The cost of the water right is $45 and $60 an acre, payable in 20 annual installments without interest, and an additional charge of $4 an acre, which is turned over to the Indians, is made for the land.

The climate is healthful and the soil fertile, producing abundant crops when watered. Cereals and alfalfa are the principal crops, but the growing of sugar beets is becoming profitable. There is a sugar factory at Billings, and more land has been put into beets each year.

Probably no section in the West has experienced the freedom from speculators enjoyed by the area under the Huntley project. As a result, this is to-day one of the most prosperous and up-to-date communities in the Northwest. Its progressive spirit is shown by its centralized graded schools, its churches, the steady substantial growth of its towns, and its clubs and cooperative organizations.

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At Huntley the Northern Pacific is joined by the Kansas City line of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, and the two systems use the same tracks from Huntley to Billings. Pryor Creek, which is crossed by the train soon after leaving Huntley, was named by Capt. Clark for one of his party. West of the creek the railway is at the foot of a precipitous bluff of greenish sandstone, in places thick bedded, which is the upper part of the Claggett formation. This underlies the Judith River formation and from the fossils that it contains is known to have been laid down in the sea. Thus, under the influence of the great Pryor Mountain anticline, lower and lower rocks are in turn brought to the surface. Beyond the bluff the sandstone rises until near milepost 220 it can be seen on the left (south) just capping the highest hills. The rock underlying the sandstone is not exposed here, but it is known to consist of soft shale, the lower part of the same formation. Where it is crossed by the line of the railway, the valley is broad and the slopes on either side are smooth and gentle.

West of the open part of the valley just described the hills close in on the river, especially from the south, until it seems as if the stream would be blocked, but on close approach it is apparent that the water has cut a narrow passage through what appears to be a barrier across its path. The railway is crowded close to the bank of the river, and west of milepost 223 hillside cuts show that the constriction of the valley is due to a thick bed of coarse sandstone (Eagle) which crosses the river nearly at right angles and dips 15° or 20° to the east. Immediately west of this outcrop the railway crosses Yellowstone River to the broad flat upon which the town of Billings is situated. As the train enters the yards just west of the river the Eagle sandstone can be seen on both sides of the valley. On the south side it forms a prominent cliff and on the north it swings to the west and borders the valley with a precipitous wall.

Billings, a division terminal, is the most important city in the eastern half of the State. It was named in honor of Frederick Billings, one of the early presidents of the Northern Pacific Railway Co. For a long time it was the greatest wool-shipping point in the United States, if not in the world, but in recent years much of the wool from the north has been diverted by the St. Paul road and the dry-land farmers have taken up so much of the open range that the raising of sheep has been greatly reduced and is likely to become one of the vanishing industries of this region.

The earliest authentic record of exploration in the vicinity of Billings is that of Capt. Clark, who on his return from the Pacific coast passed the site of the city July 24, 1806. Soon afterward fur traders and trappers explored most of the streams of this country in search of beavers, and in so doing they frequently passed up and down the valley of the Yellowstone, but they left no record except possibly their names attached to some of the old trading posts or to the streams. The first permanent settlement in this vicinity appears to have been made about 1876, when a place called Coulson was established as a stage station and steamboat landing. Coulson continued to be of importance until the railway was built in 1881-82. In 1883 a street railway, the first in Montana, was built connecting this town with Billings, then recently established. The new town soon outgrew its rival, and to-day Coulson has disappeared.

Originally the valley outside of the lower land was clothed only with sagebrush, and for a number of years after the completion of the railway but little farming was done. As the annual rainfall is only about 14 inches and the summer season short it was thought that even the hardier grains could not be successfully raised here. About 1892 agricultural development started in earnest, ditches were dug, and water was taken to the land, and to-day there is no more fertile and productive valley in the State than that of the Yellowstone about Billings. Sugar beets are the principal crop, but alfalfa and grains are also grown in abundance. Farming is now the main occupation of the people about Billings. A large sugar factory has been erected at Billings which manufactures sugar from beets grown in many of the irrigated valleys in this part of the State.

Near milepost 3, west of Billings, the traveler may, if the day is clear, catch his first glimpse of the Rocky Mountains, directly ahead, nearly 100 miles away. In midsummer the outline of the mountains may be faint and scarcely discernible, but early in the summer or in the autumn the snow on their summits should cause them to stand out clear and distinct. If the traveler is fortunate enough to obtain such a view, he will understand why, in the early descriptions, they were always referred to as the "Shining Mountains." The mountains that can be seen from this point are the ranges that lie just south of Livingston and bound Yellowstone Park on the east.

At this point also the setting of the valley can be well seen. Billings has for a background a high bluff capped by massive sandstone or "rim rock" (Eagle). This can be followed to the east by the eye until it dips below water level and then reappears on the south side of the river in equal boldness and ruggedness, but instead of following parallel with the valley it strikes due south across country to Pryor Creek, the next stream in that direction. Its outcrop is everywhere marked by an escarpment, and at the last point at which it can be seen it makes an abrupt break in the sky line. On the right (north) the cliff trends nearly due west, as shown on the map (sheet 13), but the railway runs toward the southwest and consequently departs more and more from the cliff. The rim rock is visible as far as milepost 8, but beyond that point it is obscured by the edge of the terrace on the right.

The traveler may notice that the river bluffs on the left (south) look very different from the rim rock. There are no ledges on these bluffs and they are composed of dark shale (Colorado shale), which underlies the rim rock. This shale is the lowest and oldest formation that has yet been seen on this trip west of Minnesota.

Near milepost 12 a branch of the Great Northern Railway which uses the tracks of the Northern Pacific from Billings to this place turns northward, going to Great Falls and Shelby, where it unites with the Great Northern main line.

From Laurel a branch of the Northern Pacific Railway leads to the south across the Yellowstone and up the valley of Clark Fork to the towns of Bridger and Red Lodge. Red Lodge is the largest town in a coal field that supplies most of the fuel used by this railway in its mountain divisions from Butte and Helena on the west to Mandan on the east.¹

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¹The Red Lodge coal field, at the foot of the Beartooth Mountains in Carbon County, supplies fuel for the railway, for the big smelter at Anaconda, and for a large domestic trade.

In quality the Red Lodge coal is distinctly below most of the eastern coals but compares favorably with many of the Rocky Mountain coals. It shows a tendency to slack on exposure to the weather and consequently is classed by the United States Geological Survey as subbituminous, but this tendency is so slight that the coal evidently belongs at the top of its class, which is near the dividing line between the bituminous and subbituminous coals. Its heating value ranges from 10,570 to 11,440 British thermal units.

The field comprises only about 40 square miles, but the number and thickness of the coal beds compensate in some degree for the small area. According to a section measured in the bluffs on the east side of Rock Creek in and below the town of Red Lodge and in the mine workings there is 90 feet of coal in beds 3 feet or more in thickness. The beds vary greatly in size, being thicker near Red Lodge than in any other part of the field so far explored, but the quality is somewhat better about Bear Creek, in the eastern part.

These coal beds (in the Fort Union formation) are made up of the same sort of vegetation as the great lignite beds of North Dakota, but being nearer to the mountains the coal is of much better quality, for the reason given on page 71. The coal beds dip from 10° to 20° toward-the southwest, or into the mountain, which is separated from the coal field by an immense fault.

Although mining at Red Lodge was begun before 1882, it was conducted on a small scale until 1889, when railway connection was established and some large mines opened. Since then the field has been developed steadily until now it is first in point of production in the State. The coal production of Carbon County, which includes the Red Lodge field, in 1913 amounted to 1,304,524 short tons.

It is estimated that the amount of coal in the Red Lodge field before mining began was 1,691,800,000 short tons. If from this is deducted 12,544,796 short tons, the total amount mined to the end of 1913 (the latest statistics yet compiled), and about 4,000,000 tons that was rendered unavailable through mining operations, there would still remain about 1,675,000,000 short tons. Not all of this can be regarded as minable, for in mining some coal is almost always left in the ground or rendered unavailable on account of breaking down of the roof. According to present practice only from 60 to 80 per cent of the coal in the ground is mined, but as methods improve more and more of the coal will become available.

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