Montana Mountain

Last updated
Montana Mountain
Big Thing mine near Carcross, Yukon (10568439064).jpg
View from "Big Thing Mine"
Highest point
Elevation 2,205 m (7,234 ft) [1]
Prominence 923 m (3,028 ft) [1]
Listing List of mountains of Canada
Coordinates 60°03′28.8″N134°41′27.6″W / 60.058000°N 134.691000°W / 60.058000; -134.691000
Geography
Location map Yukon 2.png
Red triangle with thick white border.svg
Montana Mountain
Yukon, Canada
Parent range Boundary Ranges
Topo map NTS 105D2 Carcross
Geology
Age of rock Late Cretaceous
Mountain type Stratovolcano

Montana Mountain is a deeply eroded Late Cretaceous stratovolcano located south of Carcross, Yukon, Canada. As well as its main peak, the mountain includes many sub-peaks and contains felsic pyroclastics and flows; [2] typically altered and orange-weathering. Montana Mountain was formed when the ancient Kula Plate was subducting under southwestern Yukon during the Late Cretaceous period.

Contents

A flurry of quartz mining activity took place on Montana Mountain starting in 1899, peaking in 1905-1906 when American mining promoter John Conrad consolidated claims on Montana Mountain and built three tramways to carry the ore back down, including a 4-mile-long one from Windy Arm on Tagish Lake to the Mountain Hero mine. [3] [4]

Montana Mountain is also an important landmark for the Carcross/Tagish First Nations living in the area. According to legend, Montana Mountain is one of the peaks Game Mother used to hang a swing for her animal creations. On this swing each kind of animal danced and sang a different song. Following this "celebration" Game Mother gave each animal their characteristic attributes of today. [5] In addition to its spiritual importance, the mountain was also an important source of food, medicines, and refuge.

During the early quartz mining period, an extensive network of trails were constructed on the mountain to connect the many silver claims with Carcross and/or Windy Arm. In 2005 the Carcross/Tagish First Nation took back the mountain in its land claim settlement and set out to restore some of the old trails and make them accessible for public use and enjoyment. [5]

Through a programme called "SingleTrack to Success" an extensive network of mountain bike trails have been developed on the lower slopes of Montana Mountain. Additionally, these trails have been mapped and the maps are publicly available.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tlingit</span> Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America

The Tlingit or Lingít are Alaska Native Indigenous Peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America and are one of two-hundred twenty-nine (229) federally recognized Tribes of Alaska. Their language is the Tlingit language, in which the name means 'People of the Tides'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bennett Lake</span> Lake in Yukon Territory, Canada

Bennett Lake is a lake in the Province of British Columbia and Yukon Territory in northwestern Canada, at an elevation of 642 m (2,106 ft). It is just north of the border with the United States state of Alaska, near the Alaskan port of Skagway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carcross</span> Place in Yukon, Canada

Carcross, originally known as Caribou Crossing, is an unincorporated community in Yukon, Canada, on Bennett Lake and Nares Lake. It is home to the Carcross/Tagish First Nation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Klondike Highway</span> Highway in Skagway, Alaska, United States and Yukon Territory, Canada

The Klondike Highway is a highway that runs from the Alaska Panhandle through the province of British Columbia and the territory of Yukon in Canada, linking the coastal town of Skagway, Alaska, to Dawson City, Yukon. Its route somewhat parallels the route used by prospectors in the 1898 Klondike Gold Rush.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tagish</span> Athabaskan ethnolinguistic group native to the Yukon Territory of Canada

The Tagish or Tagish Khwáan are a First Nations people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group that lived around Tagish Lake and Marsh Lake, in Yukon of Canada. The Tagish intermarried heavily with Tlingit from the coast and the Tagish language became extinct in 2008. Today Tagish people live mainly in Carcross or Whitehorse and are members of the Carcross/Tagish First Nation or the Kwanlin Dün First Nation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tagish Lake</span> Lake in British Columbia and Yukon in Canada

Tagish Lake is a lake in Yukon and northern British Columbia, Canada. The lake is more than 100 km (62 mi) long and about 2 km (1 mi) wide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Keish</span> Indigenous Canadian miner (c. 1855 – 1916)

Keish, also known as James Mason and by the nickname Skookum Jim Mason, was a member of the Tagish First Nation in what became the Yukon Territory of Canada. He was born near Bennett Lake, on what is now the Yukon–British Columbia border. He lived in Caribou Crossing, now Carcross, Yukon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kate Carmack</span> Tagish First Nation gold prospector

Shaaw Tláa, also known as Kate Carmack, was a Tagish First Nation woman who was one of the party that first found gold in the Klondike River in 1896, and is sometimes credited with being the person who made the actual discovery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dawson Charlie</span> Canadian First Nation gold prospector (c. 1865–1908)

Dawson Charlie or K̲áa Goox̱ [qʰáː kuːχ] was a Canadian Tagish/Tlingit First Nation person and one of the co-discoverers of gold at Discovery Claim that led to the Klondike Gold Rush located in the Yukon territory of Northwest Canada. He was the nephew of Keish, also known as Skookum Jim Mason, and accompanied him on his search for his aunt, Kate Carmack. He staked one of the first three claims in the Klondike, along with his uncle and George Carmack. Storyteller Angela Sidney was a niece.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geography of Yukon</span>

Yukon is in the northwestern corner of Canada and is bordered by Alaska and the Northwest Territories. The sparsely populated territory abounds with natural scenery, snowmelt lakes and perennial white-capped mountains, including many of Canada's highest mountains. The territory's climate is Arctic in territory north of Old Crow, subarctic in the region, between Whitehorse and Old Crow, and humid continental climate south of Whitehorse and in areas close to the British Columbia border. Most of the territory is boreal forest with tundra being the main vegetation zone only in the extreme north and at high elevations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tatshenshini-Alsek Provincial Park</span> Provincial park in the Stikine Region of British Columbia, Canada

Tatshenshini-Alsek Park or Tatshenshini-Alsek Provincial Wilderness Park is a provincial park in British Columbia, Canada 9,580 km2 (3,700 sq mi). It was established in 1993 after an intensive campaign by Canadian and American conservation organizations to halt mining exploration and development in the area, and protect the area for its strong natural heritage and biodiversity values.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kwanlin Dün First Nation</span> Indigenous people of Yukon Territory, Canada

The Kwanlin Dün First Nation (KDFN) or Kwänlin Dän kwächʼǟn is located in and around Whitehorse in Yukon, Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carcross/Tagish First Nation</span> Indigenous people of Yukon Territory, Canada

The Carcross/Tagish First Nation is a First Nation native to the Canadian territory of Yukon. Its original population centres were Carcross and Tagish, and Squanga, although many of its citizens also live in Whitehorse. The languages originally spoken by Carcross/Tagish people were Tagish and Tlingit.

Tagish was a language spoken by the Tagish or Carcross-Tagish, a First Nations people that historically lived in the Northwest Territories and Yukon in Canada. The name Tagish derives from /ta:gizi dene/, or "Tagish people", which is how they refer to themselves, where /ta:gizi/ is a place name meaning "it is breaking up.

Southern Lakes was an electoral district in rural Yukon which returned a member to the Legislative Assembly of the Yukon in Canada. It was one of the eight rural ridings in the Yukon at the time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pelly-Nisutlin</span> Provincial electoral district in Yukon, Canada

Pelly-Nisutlin is an electoral district which returns a member to the Legislative Assembly of the Yukon Territory in Canada. It was created in 2002 out of the districts of Faro and Ross River-Southern Lakes. The riding includes the communities of Teslin, Faro, Ross River, Little Salmon, and Johnsons Crossing. It encompasses the traditional territory of the Teslin Tlingit Council and the Ross River Dena Council of the Kaska Dena. Pelly-Nisutlin is bordered by the rural ridings of Mayo-Tatchun, Lake Laberge, Mount Lorne-Southern Lakes, and Watson Lake.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Yukon</span>

The history of Yukon covers the period from the arrival of Paleo-Indians through the Beringia land bridge approximately 20,000 years ago. In the 18th century, Russian explorers began to trade with the First Nations people along the Alaskan coast, and later established trade networks extending into Yukon. By the 19th century, traders from the Hudson's Bay Company were also active in the region. The region was administered as a part of the North-Western Territory until 1870, when the United Kingdom transferred the territory to Canada and it became the North-West Territories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indigenous peoples in Yukon</span> Indigenous peoples of Yukon, Canada

The Indigenous peoples of Yukon are ethnic groups who, prior to European contact, occupied the former countries now collectively known as Yukon. While most First Nations in the Canadian territory are a part of the wider Dene Nation, there are Tlingit and Métis nations that blend into the wider spectrum of indigeneity across Canada. Traditionally hunter-gatherers, indigenous peoples and their associated nations retain close connections to the land, the rivers and the seasons of their respective countries or homelands. Their histories are recorded and passed down the generations through oral traditions. European contact and invasion brought many changes to the native cultures of Yukon including land loss and non-traditional governance and education. However, indigenous people in Yukon continue to foster their connections with the land in seasonal wage labour such as fishing and trapping. Today, indigenous groups aim to maintain and develop indigenous languages, traditional or culturally-appropriate forms of education, cultures, spiritualities and indigenous rights.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yukon Ice Patches</span>

The Yukon Ice Patches are a series of dozens of ice patches in the southern Yukon discovered in 1997, which have preserved hundreds of archaeological artifacts, with some more than 9,000 years old. The first ice patch was discovered on the mountain Thandlät, west of the Kusawa Lake campground which is 60 km (37 mi) west of Whitehorse, Yukon. The Yukon Ice Patch Project began shortly afterwards with a partnership between archaeologists in partnership with six Yukon First Nations, on whose traditional territory the ice patches were found. They include the Carcross/Tagish First Nation, the Kwanlin Dün First Nation, the Ta’an Kwäch’än Council, the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations, the Kluane First Nation, and the Teslin Tlingit Council.

References

  1. 1 2 "Montana Mountain". Bivouac.com. Retrieved 2007-07-03.
  2. Jurassic to Cretaceous volcanics [ permanent dead link ] Retrieved on 2007-07-04
  3. The Yukon Territory: Its History and Resources (Minister of the Interior, Ottawa, 1907)
  4. Fractured Veins & Broken Dreams, by Murray Lundberg
  5. 1 2 Carcross Tagish First Nation Parks and Recreation Branch Pamphlet