Mouat Mine yard, buildings

Abstract

Chromium ore was discovered at the Stillwater Complex in the 1880s in what is now Stillwater County, Montana. Some mining was done, but the area was more thoroughly explored during World War I and Bill Mouat began development of the chromite mines. After the war, mining ceased with the collapse of the chromium market. At the start of World War II the US government arranged with the Anaconda Copper Mining Company to open the mines, including the Mouat Mine in the Nye mining district, on a non-profit basis. The Company built roads and mills to process the ore, and a mining camp near the Mouat Mine site. The chromium mining boom ended with the availability of cheaper chromium ores from overseas, but mining in the area continued intermittently into the 1960s.