Zortman, Montana

Prospectors arrived in the Zortman area in 1868. About 2,000 men came to Zortman in 1884, when Pike Landusky and Dutch Louie discovered gold. By 1893, Pete Zortman and a partner owned the Alabama Mine. Other mines in the area were the Ruby Mine and the Little Ben Mine. It is estimated that local mines had produced $125 million in gold by 1949. ==Climate==

According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Zortman has a semi-arid climate, abbreviated "BSk" on climate maps. Zortman has a long history of wildfires. Many of the original buildings in Zortman were lost in fires during 1929 and 1944. A forest fire in 1936 reached the edges of Zortman, killing four people and burning 23,000 acres. ==Pegasus and Landusky mines==

Zortman was home to a mine operated by Pegasus Gold Corp., which was shut down in 1997. The company went bankrupt the following year, in 1998. The Zortman mine is about a mile and a half from the Landusky mine. Both are cyanide heap-leach gold mines. According to the Bureau of Land Management, • "Precipitation runoff from Zortman and Landusky mines has deposited dangerous substances into nearby tributaries and rivers. • A $13.8 million trust fund was set up to construct and operate three water capture and treatment systems." Water treatment plants for Zortman and Landusky are operated on behalf of the Montana Department of Environmental Quality in order to preserve the water quality of the Milk and Missouri Rivers, and of the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation. ==References==