Belt in Cascade County, Montana — The American West (Mountains)
Belt Jail
Photographed by Barry Swackhamer, August 18, 2019
1. Belt Jail Marker
Inscription.
Belt Jail. . Lewis and Clark named nearby Belt Butte for its girdle of rocks and, in 1877, John Castner named his town Belt. Coal brought Castner here, and Fort Benton was the first market for his Castner Coal Company. Then, in 1889, the Boston and Montana Consolidated Copper and Silver Mining Company built their reduction works at Great Falls, in part because of the availability of Belt coal. Castner sold his claims to the Anaconda Copper Mining Company, which had absorbed the Boston and Montana, and their mine soon employed a thousand men. The town experienced a boom time and in 1900 was Cascade Countys second-largest community, with a population above 2,800, including French, Finnish, Slav, German, and Swedish immigrants. It was during this boom that the jail was constructed, late in the 1890s, when 32 saloons flourished in town. Fire destroyed the Anaconda mine in 1915 and, in 1930, the smelters stopped using coal. Belts population fell off, but it remained a center for this agricultural area. The jail itself survived major floods in 1909 and 1953, and a 1976 fire caused by a train derailment, which destroyed five homes and three businesses.
Lewis and Clark named nearby Belt Butte for its girdle of rocks and, in 1877, John Castner named his town Belt. Coal brought Castner here, and Fort Benton was the first market for his Castner Coal Company. Then, in 1889, the Boston and Montana Consolidated Copper and Silver Mining Company built their reduction works at Great Falls— in part because of the availability of Belt coal. Castner sold his claims to the Anaconda Copper Mining Company, which had absorbed the Boston and Montana, and their mine soon employed a thousand men. The town experienced a boom time and in 1900 was Cascade Countys second-largest community, with a population above 2,800, including French, Finnish, Slav, German, and Swedish immigrants. It was during this boom that the jail was constructed, late in the 1890s, when 32 saloons flourished in town. Fire destroyed the Anaconda mine in 1915 and, in 1930, the smelters stopped using coal. Belts population fell off, but it remained a center for this agricultural area. The jail itself survived major floods in 1909 and 1953, and a 1976 fire caused by a train derailment, which destroyed five homes
Click or scan to see this page online
and three businesses.
Erected by The Montana National Register Sign Program.
Location. 47° 23.163′ N, 110° 55.718′ W. Marker is in Belt, Montana, in Cascade County. It is on Castner Street (State Road 331) near 5th Street, on the right when traveling north. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 37 Castner Street, Belt MT 59412, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in andspecifically entral Montana in Russell Country. It is also in the American Mountain West and in the Lewis & Clark Corridor. Globally, it is in North America, the Rocky Mountains, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once Ruperts Land and also the Louisiana Purchase.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 16 miles of this marker, measured as the crow
More about this marker. The jail is home to the Belt Museum.
Credits. This page was last revised on December 22, 2019. It was originally submitted on December 18, 2019, by Barry Swackhamer of Brentwood, California. This page has been viewed 511 times since then and 29 times this year. Photos:1, 2. submitted on December 18, 2019, by Barry Swackhamer of Brentwood, California.
