The West Butte, 2128 meters above sea level, is just within Montana, USA.
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Climate Writing-On-Stone Provincial Park |
Hoodoos Sweetgrass Hills |
Northwest Mounted Police Early Settlement |
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Animals |
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| The Sweetgrass
Hills
The West Butte, 2128 meters above sea level, is just within Montana, USA. |
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Location
of the Sweetgrass Hills
The
Sweetgrass Hills are located in north central Montana, USA.
| This Landsat image, taken October 25, 1982, is located in southeastern Alberta and northern Montana. The east-west line marks the international boundary and is evident because of different land uses (rangeland in Alberta and farmland in Montana). The three peaks in the left center are the Sweetgrass Hills and the other peak in the right bottom is the Bear Paw Mountains. The Milk River valley is the major valley which crosses the border. | 
Click on map to view larger image. |
This image has a scale of 1:1,000,000 and was taken from Landforms of Alberta by D.G. Smith (1987), page 101.
Formation
About
45 million years ago, the ground surface was many kilometers above where
it is today. During this time, molten rock came up a volcanic neck and
seeped along bedding planes far below the ground surface. As more the more
molten rock squeezed up, it formed a bulge which pushed the soft rock above
it upwards.
This mound of molten rock hardened below ground surface. Through weathering, the surface was eroded away, exposing igneous rock. When glaciers swept through this area, the surrounding land was eroded further, but the top of these hills was not leaving three nunatacks standing above the ice. Today, the three hills stand far above the surrounding plains. The top of the Sweetgrass Hills consists of igneous rocks. No one knows how far down the igneous bulge starts.
Significance
to the Blackfoot People
In
Blackfoot, the Sweetgrass Hills are known as the Sweet Pine Hills, referring
to the balsam fir which grows upon them. The difference is name is due
to inaccurate translations. The Sweetgrass Hills served a number of functions
to the
Blackfoot People. These great hills provided
many plants (especially trees) and animals not normally found in the prairies.
As well, these great heights were used to sight the position of herds of
bison (buffalo) upon the plains. The Sweetgrass Hills are a very unique
and amazing feature upon the prairies. As such, they were thought to possess
abundant spiritual powers. Teepee rings, cairns, and U-shaped formations
made of rock have been discovered. The U-shaped rock structures would protect
young individuals who came on a vision quest from the cold wind.
Sweet
Grass Hills Protective Association
Indigenous
Environmental Network and Mining
Talus
Action Center
Reprieve
in Montana, High Country News, Sept. 20, 1993