Belt, Montana
15 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1890 and the latest in 1984. It stands in the Belt census division. It lies in ZIP code area 59412. It lies near Lewis Coulee. The Survey maps it on the Belt quadrangle. 510 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 3,510 feet above sea level.
On record in Belt
Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.
On the National Register 3 records
Belt Jaillisted 1980- Albright Historic Districtlisted 2025
- Belt Commercial Historic Districtlisted 2004
Population over time
3 figuresBelt fell from 633 to 510 between 2000 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 633 | |
| 2010 | 597 | -36 (-6%) |
| 2020 | 510 | -87 (-15%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
9 surveys from 15 printed sheetsMatched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.
- 1890 USGS Fort Benton quadrangle1:250000
- 1892 USGS Fort Benton quadrangle1:250000
- 1897 USGS Fort Benton quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1954 USGS Great Falls quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1956 USGS Belt quadrangle1:62500
- 1957 USGS Great Falls quadrangle1:250000
- 1975 USGS Belt NW quadrangle1:24000
- 1982 USGS Belt quadrangle1:24000
- 1984 USGS Belt quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
13 since 2017Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 13 fires within 5 miles of Belt between 2017 and 2020, burning about 43 acres in total. 3 started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4 |
| Natural | 3 |
| Debris and open burning | 2 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 2 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 1 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 August 2019 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Cascade County | not named |
| 6 August 2020 | Natural | under an acre | Cascade County | SUNRISE LN |
| 27 August 2019 | Natural | under an acre | Cascade County | LIME KILN |
| 23 August 2020 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Cascade County | MONARCH TWO DOT |
| 11 August 2019 | Natural | under an acre | Cascade County | WILD ROSE |
| 9 July 2017 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | under an acre | Central Land Office | BELT RURAL |
| 30 July 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Cascade County | SPRING CREEK |
| 19 July 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Cascade County | JOHNSON FIRE |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
1 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Belt: 1 past producer. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Silica, Iron, Aluminum, Water, Free. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Belt Clay | Silica, Iron, Aluminum, Water, Free | Past Producer | 1905 |
Storms near this place
24 since 1995Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Belt in 24 storm reports between 1995 and 2023: 12 hail, 10 thunderstorm wind, 1 tornado, 1 flash flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2023 | Hail | Belt | - | Spotter reported quarter size hail in Belt. |
| June 2019 | Hail | Belt | - | Social media post on KRTV weather page. |
| June 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Belt | - | Wind gust estimated to be at least 70 mph. Power outage. Knocked over trees onto houses on 4th Avenue South. |
| June 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Belt | - | Wind gust estimated to be at least 70 mph. Power outage. Knocked over trees onto houses on 4th Avenue South. |
| August 2016 | Hail | Belt | - | A thunderstorm dropped 1 inch diameter hail at Belt 10WNW and at Belt 7NW. |
| July 2013 | Hail | Belt | - | Hail measuring 1.00 inches (quarter sized) was reported in Belt, MT. |
| July 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Belt | - | A thunderstorm produced a wind gust to 70 mph at Belt 4SE. |
| June 2011 | Flash Flood | Belt | - | KFBB reports flash flooding due to heavy rainfall in Belt and Armington. |
| July 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Belt | - | A thunderstorm produced a wind gust to 60 mph at Belt 5SW. |
| July 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Belt | - | A severe thunderstorm produced a wind gust to 60 mph at Belt 1W. Numerous tree branches were reported downed and power was out for an hour. |
| June 2007 | Hail | Belt | - | A severe thunderstorm dropped 1.75 inch diameter hail at Belt 9N. |
| July 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Belt | - | A severe thunderstorm produced a 65 mph wind gust at Belt. |
| July 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Belt | - | A severe thunderstorm produced a wind gust near 60 mph and caused tree damage near Belt. |
| July 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Belt | - | Reported by spotter in Belt...52 kt tstm wind gust reported by spotter at Belt 6 E at 1410 MST. |
| August 2001 | Hail | Belt | - | Actual spotter location Belt 6 E. |
| July 2000 | Tornado (F0) | Belt | - | Near Tiger Butte. |
| August 2004 | Hail | Belt | - | no account filed |
| June 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Belt | - | no account filed |
| July 2000 | Hail | Belt | - | no account filed |
| September 2000 | Hail | Belt | - | no account filed |
| July 1999 | Hail | Belt | - | no account filed |
| May 1996 | Thunderstorm Wind | Belt | - | no account filed |
| June 1995 | Hail | Belt | - | no account filed |
| June 1995 | Hail | Belt | - | no account filed |
Nearest settlements
The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Belton (historical) | 0.7 miles | 15 | |
| Armington | 1.8 miles | 15 | |
| Armington Junction | 3.1 miles | 15 | |
| Wayne | 4.2 miles | 15 | |
| Fife | 7.1 miles | 15 | |
| Pleasant Valley Colony | 7.3 miles | 14 | |
| Blythe | 7.8 miles | 15 | |
| Box Elder (historical) | 10.0 miles | 15 |
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikipedia article on Belt | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q961712 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 779676. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.








