The Long Way
Jefferson County
A dirt road leads up a hill with trees and a mountain under a blue sky.
Plate I. Trailhead road and sign, Ringing Rocks Trailhead. From blm.gov

Ringing Rocks Trailhead

Pipestone, Jefferson County, Montana. Geologic area.

Details

Map. Pipestone, Jefferson County, Montana. Larger map
Where
Rd #2, Pipestone, MT 59701. Directions
When
Outdoors.
Getting there
Take Exit 241 (Pipestone) from I-90 and travel east on a gravel road (parallels interstate) for about three-fourths of a mile, then turn north on a gravel road, cross the railroad tracks and continue north for approximately 3.5 miles. A high clearance vehicle is necessary.
Fees
No Fee.
Access
The project area lies within the Pipestone Special Recreation Management Area and the Ringing Rocks Area of Critical Environmental Concern.
Phone
406-533-7600
Managed by
Bureau of Land Management's Butte Field Office.
Coordinates
45.94327, -112.23893.

Unique geological formation. Part of the edge of the Boulder Batholith, and found in a large jumbled pile of boulders, the rocks in this unique geologic formation near Butte, Montana, chime melodically when tapped lightly with a crescent wrench or mallet.

Notable Events

  1. 1933R.T. (Kid) Ogle, prospector and trapper widely known by Butte people, struck a thin metallic note from the pile with his boot. He tapped with his miner's pick on the other rocks and heard other tones. Through the crater, 150 feet long and 60 feet wide, Ogle tested his way. dailymontanan.com
  2. 1935The Montana Standard reported that samples of the hard rock were in Los Angeles City Hall to demonstrate its use as a building stone, the mineralogy institution of Chicago had some on exhibit, and the gabbro was being considered by army engineers for rip-rap work on the Fort Peck dam. dailymontanan.com
  3. 1960sThe land changed hands until the Bureau of Land Management acquired the area in the mid-1960s, allowing public access and ensuring that the unique rocks wouldn't be mined for commercial use. rockngem.com
  4. 1965Norman Rogers, who owned the mining claim and was mining the black gabbro, complained to senators Lee Metcalf and Ernest Gruening that the BLM had spooked him off the place, invalidating his claim by classifying the gabbro as common stone. dailymontanan.com
  5. 2008The site gained wider attention when Backroads of Montana first featured the Ringing Rocks on Montana PBS television in 2008. dailymontanan.com

People

  • Carrie Kiely, archeologist for the BLM's Butte office.
  • Joan Gabelman, geologist and certified mineral examiner for the Bureau of Land Management in the Butte Field Office.
  • John Gabelman, retired but still active geologist who proposed the Ringing Rocks diatreme theory (2017).
  • Norman Rogers, owned the mining claim; built a seven-mile road into Ringing Rocks and mined the black gabbro to sell to American Chemet Corp. of Helena (1965).
  • R.T. (Kid) Ogle, prospector and trapper widely known by Butte people who discovered the ringing rocks and led tour groups (1933).
  • Stuart Parker, geologist with the Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology.
  • Colleen Elliott, Research professor in geologic mapping at Montana Tech and the Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology, who has studied the musical sounds of the rocks.

Sources

  1. blm.gov/visit/ringing-rocks
  2. blm.gov/announcement/ringing-rocks-road-temporarily-closed-during-construction
  3. discoverjeffersonmt.org/discover/attractions/ringing-rocks
  4. dailymontanan.com/2021/04/04/the-mystery-of-the-ringing-rocks
  5. rockngem.com/why-do-ringing-rocks-ring
  6. umt.edu/this-is-montana/columns/stories/boulder_batholith.php