Pennsylvania native John Castner discovered rich coal deposits along Belt Creek in 1870. Within just a few years, he and Fort Benton trader T.C. Power opened a commercial coal mine near here. The partners sold coal for use by the Great Northern . . . — — Map (db m143650) HM
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 . . . — — Map (db m143649) HM
The town of Belt owes its existence to the coal mines located here in the 1890's. In those days the pop. was 4,000. The Anaconda mine, seen here, employed 1,000 men and produced 2,500 tons of coal daily.
The bituminous coal went to the Anaconda . . . — — Map (db m143651) HM
The scenic Highwood Mountains, visible on the skyline to the northeast, are composed of resistant volcanic rocks which tower above the relatively soft surrounding sedimentary rocks. The mountains contain an unusual abundance of a dark igneous rock . . . — — Map (db m143648) HM
A one-story wood-frame building stood here between 1897 and 1907. Reflecting the mining town's early hard-drinking culture, it first originally housed two saloons. When Swedish immigrants Charles Carlson and George Edman purchased the lot in 1907, . . . — — Map (db m246264) HM
