Coal Mines and Railroads

The panel closes the district in 1929, but the old workings never stopped draining. Corrosive water turned up in the mines early; by 1902 drainage from the Sand Coulee mine was reported polluted, and in 1927 a mine report called the pumped water practically acid. In the mid-1990s the abandoned mines around Stockett and Sand Coulee were still discharging an estimated 350 to 400 gallons of acid water a minute. Montana's abandoned-mine program rebuilt Sand Coulee's town water supply between 2010 and 2016 and has since tested drainage wells to starve the workings of groundwater.

What the plaque says

Coal Mines and Railroads While not as glamorous as gold, coal played a critical part in Montana's history. It fueled the railroads, fired the smelters, and heated Montana homes. Much of the state's economy was once based on coal. Extensive bituminous coal deposits were discovered near here in the early 1880s. The coal's high quality drew the attention of railroad tycoon James J. Hill, who constructed a railroad between Great Falls and Stockett in 1888. For decades, the 14-mile spur line carried coal from the mines at Tracy, Centerville, Stockett, and Sand Coulee. The coal powered locomotives, provided fuel for the Anaconda Copper Mining Company's refinery at Great Falls, and was used for domestic purposes throughout central Montana. The coal camps near the mines were wide open towns where "saloons were filled with miners relaxing after [a] hard day's work in the pits, and nobody looked ahead much farther than the next pay day." By 1928. the refinery in Great Falls had converted to natural gas and the railroad's steam locomotives burned oil instead of coal. The last commercial coal mine in the Sand Coulee District closed in 1929 and the railroad abandoned the spur line in 1932.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Giant Springs State Park — 7.4 mi
  The spring William Clark called the largest he ever saw, and the 201-foot river a fifth-grade class got into the record books.
• C. M. Russell Museum — 8.1 mi
  The cowboy artist's house and log studio, and the story of Nancy Russell, who turned his bar-tab paintings into a career.

More markers nearby

• Lewis & Clark Portage Route — 5.1 mi
• Malmstrom Air Force Base — 5.1 mi
• Black Eagle — 7.5 mi
• Twenty-Eight Mile Station — 10 mi