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Colstrip

Travel Montana

Colstrip Directory Listings

A view from 1939:

COLSTRIP, (2,540 alt., 160 pop.). The coal-mining operations here are very impressive. A 30-foot vein of lignite lies only a few feet underground. A gigantic dragline scrapes the overburden, then a steam shovel takes up the coal at the rate of five to seven tons at each "bite." The machinery is electrically operated, and all the coal is dumped directly into railroad cars as it comes from the vein. If this work were done by ordinary coal-mining methods, an army of men would be employed. Colstrip supplies much of the coal used for operation of Northern Pacific locomotives.

Source: Montana: A State Guide Book; Compiled and Written by the Federal Writers' Project of the Work Projects Administration for the State of Montana; September, 1939.