1973 Map of Four Buttes

About this map

Four Buttes sits at the heart of this Montana landscape, where the Burlington Northern railroad cuts a straight east-west line across the prairie. The settlement is defined by its relation to the rail line and the nearby watercourses that carve through the plains, including the winding Butte Creek and its various tributaries. The map captures a moment in the mid-1970s when the region's agricultural and industrial character was marked by numerous Storage Bins, a prominent Radio Tower, and an isolated Oil Well to the northwest. Land use is further illustrated by the fine network of fence lines and coulees like Audet Coulee and La Pierre Coulee, which dictate the movement across the undulating terrain north of the railroad tracks.