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.[3] The conduit between the mountains and the spring is the geological stratum found in parts of the northwest United States called the 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. Giant Springs has an average discharge of 242 cubic feet (6.9 m3) of water per second or 150 million gallons per day.[1]
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 bank of the Missouri River. Giant Springs was first described by Lewis and Clark during their exploration of the Louisiana Purchase in 1805. Before that, the Blackfeet people utilized the springs as an easy-to-access water source in the winter. The springs were mostly ignored by settlers until 1884 when the town of Great Falls was established and the springs became the place for Sunday recreational activities. In the mid-1970s the park was established as a Montana State Park.[4]
Today, some of the spring water is bottled annually for human consumption and some of the discharge is used for a trouthatchery. The hatchery is a Montana state trout hatchery named Giant Springs Trout Hatchery and raises mostly Rainbow Trout.[5] The spring serves as the headwaters of the 200-foot (61 m)-long Roe River, once listed as the shortest river in the world according to Guinness Book of World Records. The river flows into the Missouri River which is near the spring and borders its state park.
giant, springs, this, article, uses, bare, urls, which, uninformative, vulnerable, link, please, consider, converting, them, full, citations, ensure, article, remains, verifiable, maintains, consistent, citation, style, several, templates, tools, available, as. This article uses bare URLs which are uninformative and vulnerable to link rot Please consider converting them to full citations to ensure the article remains verifiable and maintains a consistent citation style Several templates and tools are available to assist in formatting such as reFill documentation and Citation bot documentation August 2022 Learn how and when to remove this template message Giant Springs is a large first magnitude spring located near Great Falls Montana and is the central feature of Giant Springs State Park Its water has a constant temperature of 54 F 12 C and originates from snowmelt in the Little Belt Mountains 60 miles 97 km away According to chlorofluorocarbon dating the water takes about 3 000 years 2 to travel underground before returning to the surface at the springs Giant SpringsBig Spring Wonderful Spring Roe River North Fork Roe RiverGiant SpringsLocationCountryUnited StatesStateMontanaDistrictCascade CountyCityGreat FallsPhysical characteristicsSource locationMontanaMouthRoe River locationGreat Falls Cascade County Montana elevation3 314 ft 1 010 m 1 Length0 04 mi 0 064 km Discharge locationGiant Springs outlet 1 average242 cu ft s 6 9 m3 s 1 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 3 The conduit between the mountains and the spring is the geological stratum found in parts of the northwest United States called the 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 Giant Springs has an average discharge of 242 cubic feet 6 9 m3 of water per second or 150 million gallons per day 1 Rainbow trout in show pond of Giant Springs Fish HatcheryThe spring outlet is located in Giant Springs State Park just downstream and northeast of Great Falls Montana on the east bank of the Missouri River Giant Springs was first described by Lewis and Clark during their exploration of the Louisiana Purchase in 1805 Before that the Blackfeet people utilized the springs as an easy to access water source in the winter The springs were mostly ignored by settlers until 1884 when the town of Great Falls was established and the springs became the place for Sunday recreational activities In the mid 1970s the park was established as a Montana State Park 4 Today some of the spring water is bottled annually for human consumption and some of the discharge is used for a trout hatchery The hatchery is a Montana state trout hatchery named Giant Springs Trout Hatchery and raises mostly Rainbow Trout 5 The spring serves as the headwaters of the 200 foot 61 m long Roe River once listed as the shortest river in the world according to Guinness Book of World Records The river flows into the Missouri River which is near the spring and borders its state park Roe River flowing from Giant SpringsSee also editSpring hydrosphere References edit a b c d Giant Springs Montana Fish Wildlife amp Parks Archived from the original on January 14 2010 Retrieved May 5 2012 Giant Springs Heritage State Park a Montana State Park located near Great Falls www stateparks com Retrieved December 4 2018 Madison Aquifer United States Geological Survey Retrieved May 5 2012 http fwp mt gov mtoutdoors HTML articles 2005 GiantSprings htm Giant Springs Trout Hatchery Montana Fish Wildlife amp Parks Retrieved May 5 2012 External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Giant Springs State Park State of Montana Official Giant Springs State Park website Youtube Giant Springs 1 Youtube Giant Springs 2 Youtube Giant Springs 347 32 03 N 111 13 48 W 47 53417 N 111 23000 W 47 53417 111 23000 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Giant Springs amp oldid 1168285048, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
