Zortman - Gold in the Little Rockies

A stop on American Prairie: Rewilding the Plains, a free self-guided tour.

The Little Rocky Mountains rise out of the plains like an island, and that island is why this tiny town exists. Prospectors poked around from the 1860s, and when Pike Landusky and a partner found gold in 1884, a rush followed. Pete Zortman owned a mine here by 1893, and the camp took his name.

The gold lay inside the Fort Belknap reservation. In 1895, a federal commission that included George Bird Grinnell negotiated for the tribes to give up the mountain strip, ratified by Congress in 1896. Tribal representatives describe that sale as made under pressure, and the tribes have worked for years to get the land back. The Gros Ventre hold Eagle Child Mountain, in the west of the range, sacred.

Modern cyanide heap-leach mines operated here until 1997 and left polluted runoff that still needs water treatment. Today about 80 people live in Zortman, and the Buckhorn Store is the only store, so check what is open before you count on supplies.

Getting here: Recross the bridge and drive north on US 191, then take the signed turnoff for Zortman into the Little Rockies.

Did you know?: Pike Landusky, who gave his name to the next mining camp over, was shot dead in a saloon fight in 1894 by Kid Curry - the same outlaw tied to the 1901 train robbery near Malta.

Photo op: Frame Zortman's short main street with the pine-covered slopes of the Little Rockies rising right behind it.

More on Wikipedia: Zortman, Montana · Little Rocky Mountains · George Bird Grinnell · Landusky, Montana

Zortman - Gold in the Little Rockies

Stops on this tour