1985 Map of Hailstone Basin

About this map

Hailstone National Wildlife Refuge dominates the southern landscape of this Stillwater County survey, centering on a seasonal basin environment. This remote Montana territory is defined by the drainage of Painted Robe Creek, which cuts through the northern half of the sheet with a series of steep, branching coulees. The landscape represents a transition from high prairie to more broken, eroded terrain, where a lone Spring and ephemeral water sources dictate the character of the land. Produced from original manuscript drawings and field-checked in the late 1970s, the map illustrates a sparsely populated region primarily managed for conservation and wildlife, reflecting the open-range character of the plains before late-twentieth-century developments.