Belt, MT

Belt is a Cascade County town in the Great Falls metropolitan area, where the 2020 census counted 510 residents. The town took its name from Belt Butte, whose dark rock layer resembles a belt, and Belt Creek flows through the center. Belt was home to Montana's first coal mine, supplying fuel to Fort Benton and helping create a mining town in the late nineteenth century.

The Belt Museum occupies the original town jail, a native-stone building from the coal boom, while the Belt Commercial Historic District preserves fifteen downtown buildings. Belt Public Schools serves students from kindergarten through twelfth grade, keeping education in the same small center shaped by mining and rail-era commerce. The Highwood Mountains rise nearby, adding a mountain edge to the creek valley. Belt's map brings together coal, creek, historic buildings, school grounds, and a mountain name that can be seen from town. The coal story is still visible in the museum and downtown buildings along Belt Creek.