Roosevelt County - 3-5 Exploring Ancient Life and Its Connection to the Energy Industry
Background Info/ Historical Story:
Lewis and Clark Travel Across Roosevelt-
“The hills are much more rough and high and almost overhang the banks of the river. There are greater
appearances of coal than we have hitherto seen, the strata being in some places six feet thick; and the strata of burnt earth, which are always on the same level with those of the coal.”- Monday, April 29, 1805
Lewis and Clark Travel Across Roosevelt-
“Through all this valley, traces of the ancient bed of the river are everywhere visible, and the hills have become lower, the strata of coal, burnt earth and pumice-stone have in great measure ceased. At a distance of 14 miles we reached the mouth of the river on the north, which from the unusual number of porcupines near it, we call it the Porcupine River. (Now the Poplar river.)”- Friday, May 3, 1805
“The abundance of coal, accessible to most homesteaders within a radius of a few miles from their home, must have been one of the deciding factors when the settlers first arrived to build homes as early as 1902. Certainly the availability of coal for fuel was instrumental in the development of all of eastern Montana and Roosevelt County was no exception. The winters of eastern Montana are long and often very cold, having once at least attained the extreme cold of a minus 60 degree (below zero) in 1936. The use of wood for fuel or heating was almost entirely restricted to the area located along the Missouri River. Even then, the abundance of wood for fuel was beginning to be depleted as early as 1905 near the end of the steamboat era. Prior to that time, the log for the building of homes depended upon the wooded areas along the Missouri and Poplar River.”- Roosevelt County’s Treasured Years
“Little mention has been made in other printed materials of the vast number of coal mines which were located in Roosevelt County. It would not be feasible to even hazard a guess as to the number of tons of coal mined individually in the early years of settlement. Since most of the commercial mines are also closed, those figures are also unattainable. It is remembered that in the eastern part of the county, that
Most of the mines were being commercialJy operated and coal sold for $2.50 to $4.00 a ton in 1925. Hauling was still done by the individual farmer. By 1950, with the change in living patterns, oil furnaces,
propane and natural gas had almost completely taken the place of coal for heating. Electricity had also taken its place in the home and the coal-wood range is now only a remnant of the past.”- Roosevelt County’s Treasured Years
Collections Spotlight:
- Fort Union Plant Fossil, Deciduous Leaf.jpg, Clinker Butte.jpg
Photos, Maps, etc:
- Coal Bins.jpg
- Coal Mine.jpg
- Coal Strip Mining.jpg
- Petrified Tree Trunk near Missouri River, Mondak, Montana.jpg