Geography
Spanning a distance of 40 miles (64 km), the Crazy Mountains are located between the Musselshell and Yellowstone rivers. The highest peak is Crazy Peak at 11,214 feet (3,418 m). Rising over 7,000 feet (2,130 m) above the Great plains to the east, the Crazies dominate their surroundings and are plainly visible just north of Interstate 90.
The Crazy Mountains form an isolated island range east of the Continental Divide. Other isolated ranges in Montana include the Castle Mountains, Little Belt Mountains, Big Snowy Mountains, Little Snowy Mountains, Bears Paw Mountains, Judith Mountains, North and South Moccasin Mountains, Highwood Mountains, Little Rocky Mountains, Sweet Grass Hills, Bull Mountains and, in the southeastern corner of the state near Ekalaka, the Long Pines.
Geology
The Big Timber Stock, a large igneous intrusion, forms the bedrock in the Crazy Mountains. [1] The stock is of Tertiary age, and consists of diorite and gabbro with zones of Quartz Monzodiorite, and which has been intruded by many dikes and sills.
Geological features of the Crazy Mountains include:
Montana is a state in the Mountain West subregion 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 Columbia, and Saskatchewan to the north. It is the fourth-largest state by area, the eighth-least populous state, and the third-least densely populated state. Its capital is Helena, while the most populous city is Billings. The western half of the state contains numerous mountain ranges, while the eastern half is characterized by western prairie terrain and badlands, with smaller mountain ranges found throughout the state.
Harlowton is a city in and the county seat of Wheatland County, Montana, United States. The population was 955 at the 2020 census.
The Absaroka Range is a sub-range of the Rocky Mountains in the United States. The range stretches about 150 mi (240 km) across the Montana–Wyoming border, and 75 mi (120 km) at its widest, forming the eastern boundary of Yellowstone National Park along Paradise Valley, and the western side of the Bighorn Basin. The range borders the Beartooth Mountains to the north and the Wind River Range to the south. The northern edge of the range rests along I-90 and Livingston, Montana. The highest peak in the range is Francs Peak, located in Wyoming at 13,153 ft (4,009 m). There are 46 other peaks over 12,000 ft (3,700 m).
The Bighorn Mountains are a mountain range in northern Wyoming and southern Montana in the United States, forming a northwest-trending spur from the Rocky Mountains extending approximately 200 mi (320 km) northward on the Great Plains. They are separated from the Absaroka Range, which lie on the main branch of the Rockies to the west, by the Bighorn Basin. Much of the land is contained within the Bighorn National Forest.
The Medicine Bow Mountains are a mountain range in the Rocky Mountains that extend 100 miles (160 km) from northern Colorado into southern Wyoming. The northern extent of this range is the sub-range the Snowy Range. From the northern end of Colorado's Never Summer Mountains, the Medicine Bow mountains extend north from Cameron Pass along the border between Larimer and Jackson counties in Colorado and northward into south central Wyoming. In Wyoming, the range sits west of Laramie, in Albany and Carbon counties to the route of the Union Pacific Railroad and U.S. Interstate 80. The mountains often serve as a symbol for the city of Laramie. The range is home to Snowy Range Ski Area.
The Beartooth Mountains are located in south central Montana and northwest Wyoming, U.S. and are part of the 944,000 acres (382,000 ha) Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, within Custer, Gallatin and Shoshone National Forests. The Beartooths are the location of Granite Peak, which at 12,807 feet (3,904 m) is the highest point in the state of Montana. The mountains are just northeast of Yellowstone National Park and are part of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. The mountains are traversed by road via the Beartooth Highway with the highest elevation at Beartooth Pass 10,947 ft (3,337 m)). The name of the mountain range has been attributed by the U.S. Forest Service to a rugged peak found in the range, Beartooth Peak, that has the appearance of a bear's tooth. Originally, the Beartooth Mountains were named after Beartooth Butte, a large block of paleozoic sediments on the Beartooth Plateau, and Beartooth Butte was named for a tooth-like structure that projects from the front of the butte.
Lewis and Clark National Forest is located in west central Montana, United States. Spanning 2,912 square miles (7,500 km2), the forest is managed as two separate zones. The eastern sections, under the Jefferson Division, is a mixture of grass and shrublands dotted with "island" pockets of forested areas. Here, cattle leases to local ranchers as well as timber harvesting are the norm. The western Rocky Mountain Division, which straddles the Continental divide, is managed chiefly for environmental preservation, as much of the land has been designated as wilderness. Forest headquarters are located in Great Falls, Montana. Local ranger district offices have been established in Choteau, Harlowton, Neihart, Stanford, and White Sulphur Springs.
Montana is one of the eight Mountain States, located in the north of the region known as the Western United States. It borders North Dakota and South Dakota to the east. Wyoming is to the south, Idaho is to the west and southwest, and the Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan are to the north, making it the only state to border three Canadian provinces.
The following is an alphabetical list of articles related to the U.S. state of Montana.
The Black Hills is an isolated mountain range rising from the Great Plains of North America in western South Dakota and extending into Wyoming, United States. Black Elk Peak, which rises to 7,244 feet (2,208 m), is the range's highest summit. The Black Hills encompass the Black Hills National Forest. The name of the hills in Lakota is Pahá Sápa. The Black Hills are considered a holy site. The hills are so called because of their dark appearance from a distance, as they are covered in evergreen trees.
Sourdough is an unincorporated community in Sweet Grass County, Montana, United States. Sourdough is northeast of Big Timber.
The Big Snowy Mountains are a small mountain range south of Lewistown in Fergus County, Montana. Considerably east of and isolated from the main crest of the Northern Rockies, they are one of the few points of significant elevation in the immediate area and are considered one of Montana's island ranges. The range's highest elevation is 8,681 feet (2,646 m). The smaller Little Snowy Mountains are a contiguous range immediately to the east.
The Little Snowy Mountains are a small mountain range in central Montana about 25 miles (40 km) southeast of Lewistown. The range lies mostly in Fergus County, but the southern part of the range extends into Golden Valley and Musselshell counties.
The Pryor Mountains are a mountain range in Carbon and Big Horn counties of Montana, and Big Horn County, Wyoming. They are located on the Crow Indian Reservation and the Custer National Forest, and portions of them are on private land. They lie south of Billings, Montana, and north of Lovell, Wyoming.
The Regional designations of Montana vary widely within the U.S state of Montana. The state is a large geographical area that is split by the Continental Divide, resulting in watersheds draining into the Pacific Ocean, Gulf of Mexico and Hudson's Bay. The state is approximately 545 miles (877 km) east to west along the Canada–United States border and 320 miles (510 km) north to south. The fourth largest state in land area, it has been divided up in official and unofficial ways into a variety of regions. Additionally, Montana is part of a number of larger federal government administrative regions.
Froze-to-Death Mountain is a prominent summit among the Beartooth Mountains. It stands in Stillwater County, Montana, United States.
The Idaho Batholith ecoregion is a Level III ecoregion designated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the U.S. states of Idaho and Montana. It is contained within the following biomes designated by the World Wild Fund for Nature (WWF): temperate coniferous forests; temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands; and deserts and xeric shrublands.
Petroleum County is a county in the U.S. state of Montana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 496, making it the least populous county in Montana and the eighth-least populous in the United States. Its county seat is Winnett. The county's area was partitioned from Fergus County in 1925 to become the last of Montana's 56 counties to be organized.
West Peak, el. 8,186 feet (2,495 m), is a mountain peak in an island range, the Big Snowy Mountains in Fergus County, Montana. It is the westernmost peak in the range. The peak is located in the Lewis and Clark National Forest and accessible via the Crystal Lake National Recreational Trail. Tributaries of the Judith and Musselshell Rivers flow from its slopes. The Devil's Chute Ice Cave, a popular attraction, is located on the northeast face of the peak.
Crazy Peak (left background) rises above a relatively barren region
Peaks in the Crazy Mountains as viewed from Wilsall, Montana
The northern reaches of the Crazy Mountains as seen from the foothills of the Castle Mountains
Air photo facing north, August 2017
