Welcome to the Mount Haggin WMA Montana Picture Tour

The Mount Haggin Wildlife Management Area has been a favorite SW Montana location of mine since I was kid. North of here my young imagination was triggered while hunting for red and orange-yellow chert scrapers and arrowheads.  You could actually see the “factories” where someone sat under the shade of a pine tree and flaked a chert core to make a variety of tools. All that remained of the tree was a stump. It was harvested by the McCune and the Anaconda Company for use in the smelters.  Next to to the tree stump you would find a circle of chert flakes and an occasional broken scraper or arrowhead that was discarded.  Archaeologists have determined that Native Americans may well have frequented the Mount Haggin area for more than 10,000 years.

Anaconda Mule Ranch

My imagination was triggered a second time as we flew down the old stagecoach road that is now called Highway 569 to get to the Big Hole River.  To the west of the road you could see the remains of the old Anaconda Mule Ranch. We never stopped to explore the old buildings because, quote:  “There was no time for sight seeing, we’ve got trout to catch.”  The picturesque Mule Ranch was the former property of the Anaconda Mining Company. The ranch was established to produce mules for work in the underground mines and hauling wagons. In 1910 alone, the company had over 4,000 mules, one quarter of that number worked exclusively underground. We recently discovered evidence, that says the ranch was started by A.W. McCune, the logging contractor and not the Anaconda Mining Company. Click the link to learn more.

Curious about the landscape

I was just an average fly fisherman on the Big Hole River, because instead of concentrating on the trout, I was always wondering what was over the mountain range on the other side of the stream.   The same question came up as we rolled down Highway 569. What would we see in the Pintler Mountains and what is hidden behind the entrance to the Mount Haggin Wildlife Management Area?  Time past and I was lucky to spend many nights in the Anaconda-Pintler Wilderness. Click here if you would like to see a June hike into Goat Flats.  Even more time past before I could make several trips to the Mount Haggin Wildlife Management Area. In this picture tour we would like to show you pictures of Mount Haggin WMA landmarks that can’t be seen from Highway 569, just in case like me, you might be curious about the landscape.