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most within the vicinity of present-day Sherbourne Dam. Of course oil was
there, but not really under the mountains. It was probably just traces ema-
nating from the oil fields that lie on the plains at base of the mountains to
the east from Alberta to Colorado in what is known as the "Overthrust Belt."
They were looking in the wrong place!
Sherbourne Dam was constructed between 1914 and 1921. The reservoir
behind the dam now floods most of the lower mining and oil claims.
Cracker Flats, the site of Altyn, is flooded every year by the impoundment
of Swiftcurrent's runoff.
Even when the Flats are visible at the end of each summer, there is no
longer any evidence of the former town. As the claims were abandoned,
the land reverted back to the federal government and added on to the park
acreage. The last holdout, the land containing the Cracker and Bulls Head
mines, was finally purchased by the Glacier Natural History Association in
1953 for just under $124 and repatriated to the park.
In the end, these mountains dodged a bullet and we are all better off with the
undeveloped, pristine wilderness of Glacier National Park. This is the real wealth
that these mountains were holding from the very beginning, and it doesn't take a
pick, shovel, dynamite or a drill for all of us to be enriched by it.
The author wishes to thank Anya Helsel, Librarian, Glacier National Park,
for providing valuable reference material that made this article possible.
Historic photo of Altyn (top) and present-day Cracker Flats (bottom).
