Giant Springs

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Giant Springs
Big Spring, Wonderful Spring, Roe River, North Fork Roe River
River
Giant Springs
Country	United States
State	Montana
District	Cascade County

City	Great Falls

Mouth	Missouri River
- location	Great Falls, Cascade County, Montana
- elevation	3,314 ft (1,010 m) ^[1]

Length	0.04 mi (0 km)
Discharge	for Giant Springs outlet
- average	242 cu ft/s (7 m³/s) ^[1]

Giant Springs is a large first magnitude spring located near Great Falls, Montana. Its water has a temperature of 54 °F and originates from snowmelt in the Little Belt Mountains, 60 miles (97 km) away. According to radiometric dating, the water takes almost 2,900 years to travel underground before returning to the surface at the springs.

Giant Springs is formed by an opening in a part of the Madison aquifer, a vast aquifer underlying 5 U.S. States and 3 Canadian Provinces.^[2] The conduit between the mountains and the spring is the geological stratum found in parts of the northwest United States called Madison Limestone. Although some of the underground water from the Little Belt Mountains escapes to form Giant Springs, some stays underground and continues flowing, joining sources from losing streams in the Black Hills, Big Horn Mountains and other areas. The aquifer eventually surfaces in Canada.

Rainbow trout in show pond of Giant Springs Fish Hatchery

The spring outlet is located in Giant Springs State Park, just downstream and northeast of Great Falls, Montana on the east banks of the Missouri River. Giant Springs was discovered by Lewis and Clark during their exploration of the Louisiana Purchase in 1805.

Giant Springs has an average discharge of 242 cubic feet (6.9 m³) of water per second.^[1]

Today, some of the spring water is bottled for human consumption, some of the discharge is used for a trout hatchery, and the spring is the headwaters of the 200-foot (61 m)-long Roe River, the shortest river in the world according to Guinness Book of World Records. A Montana state trout hatchery named Giant Springs Trout Hatchery is located here too.^[3] The river flows into the Missouri River which is near the spring and borders its state park. Besides the location of a world record holder, Giant Springs is also the most-visited state park in Montana.

Roe River flowing from Giant Springs

Montana is also home to Warm Springs, and Big Springs (south of Lewistown, Montana). Big Springs is also home to the state's largest cold water trout hatchery.

References

↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Giant Springs". Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks. Retrieved May 5, 2012.
↑ "Madison Aquifer". United States Geological Survey. Retrieved May 5, 2012.
↑ "Giant Springs Trout Hatchery". Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks. Retrieved May 5, 2012.

External links

Giant Springs State Park: State of Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks

Coordinates: 47°32′03″N 111°13′48″W / 47.53417°N 111.23000°W / 47.53417; -111.23000

Protected areas of Montana

Federal

National Parks	Glacier Yellowstone

National Monuments	Little Bighorn Battlefield Pompeys Pillar (BLM) Upper Missouri River Breaks (BLM)

National Battlefield	Big Hole

National Historical Parks & Historic Sites	Grant-Kohrs Ranch NHS Nez Perce NHP

National Historic & Scenic Trails	Lewis and Clark NHT Nez Perce NHT Continental Divide NST Pacific Northwest NST

National Recreation Area	Bighorn Canyon

National Wildlife Refuges	Benton Lake Black Coulee Bowdoin Charles M. Russell Creedman Coulee Hailstone Halfbreed Lake Hewitt Lake Lake Mason Lake Thibadeau Lamesteer Lee Metcalf Lost Trail Medicine Lake National Bison Range Ninepipe Pablo Red Rock Lakes Swan River UL Bend War Horse

National Forests	Beaverhead Bitterroot Custer Flathead Gallatin Helena Kootenai Lewis and Clark Lolo

National Wilderness	Absaroka-Beartooth Anaconda-Pintler Bear Trap Canyon Bob Marshall Cabinet Mountains Gates of the Mountains Great Bear Lee Metcalf Medicine Lake Mission Mountains Rattlesnake Red Rock Lakes Scapegoat Selway-Bitterroot UL Bend Welcome Creek

National Wild & Scenic Rivers	Flathead Missouri

State

State Parks	Ackley Lake Anaconda Smoke Stack Bannack Beaverhead Rock Beavertail Hill Big Arm Black Sandy Brush Lake Camp Baker Chief Plenty Coups Clark's Lookout Cooney Council Grove Eden Bridge Elkhorn Finley First Peoples Buffalo Jump Fort Owen Frenchtown Pond Giant Springs Granite Ghost Town Greycliff Prairie Dog Town Hell Creek Lake Elmo Lake Mary Ronan Lewis and Clark Logan Lone Pine Lost Creek Madison Buffalo Jump Makoshika Medicine Rocks Missouri Headwaters Painted Rocks Parker Homestead Pictograph Cave Pirogue Island Placid Lake Rosebud Battlefield Salmon Lake Sluice Boxes Smith River Spring Meadow Lake Thompson Falls Tongue River Reservoir Tower Rock Travelers' Rest Wayfarers West Shore Whitefish Lake Wild Horse Island Yellow Bay

State Forests	Clearwater Coal Creek Lincoln Lubrecht Experimental Forest Stillwater Sula Swan River Thompson River

Wildlife Management Areas	Amelia Island Aunt Molly Badlands Beartooth Beckman Big Lake Blackfoot-Clearwater Blackleaf Blue Eyed Nellie Bowdoin Buffalo Head Park Bull River Calf Creek Canyon Creek Canyon Ferry Dodson Creek Dodson Dam Dome Mountain Ear Mountain Elk Island F Island Flathead Lake Flathead River Fleecer Mountain Fox Lake Freezout Lake Fresno Reservoir Fresno Tailwater Gallatin Garrity Mountain Grant Marsh Gravelly-Blacktail Haymaker Hinsdale Horseshoe Lake Howard Valley Isaac Homestead Judith River Kootenai/Falls Kootenai/West Kootenai/Woods Ranch Lake Helena Lost Creek Lower Stillwater Lake Madison-Bear Creek Madison-Wall Creek Milk River Mount Haggin Mount Jumbo Mount Silcox Nevada Lake Ninepipe North Swan Valley CE Pablo Ray Kuhns Robb-Ledford Rookery Roundhom Sanders Seven Sisters Silver Gate Silver Run Smith River Sun River Swan Lake Thompson-Fisher CE Three Mile Threemile Vandalia War Dance Island Warm Springs

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Giant Springs

See also

References

External links