Square Butte Sunrise

The distinctive Square Butte, just outside of Great Falls is a regional landmark, made famous in the early 1900’s in several C.M. Russell paintings. In fact, Montana's most well know artist considered Square Butte one of his favorite backdrops. With this mind, I caught this view during a spring sunrise near the banks of a small creek, swollen from spring runoff.
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Many of the scenes that Russell painted are very different today than when he first saw them – the result of mankind’s impact on the Montana landscape. The area around Square Butte is not immune to “progress.” While still a beautiful site, if you look closely, you’ll notice houses, and colonies that dot this landscape – not to mention the barbed-wire fence – the invention often cited by historians that truly tamed the west.