D I S T I N C T L Y M O N T A N A M A G A Z I N E • F A L L 2 0 2 2
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G E T T O K N O W G E T T O K N O W
A C O U N T Y A C O U N T Y
M I N E R A L C O U N T Y M I N E R A L C O U N T Y
ON AUGUST 7TH, 1914, the Montana Legislature
created Mineral County, taking the western end
of Missoula County and placing the seat at Su-
perior. Covering 1,220 square miles, it is fiftieth
of Montana's 56 counties in area, and with a 2020 population
of 4,880, it is the second
smallest county west of
the Divide. In the West,
only Granite County
has fewer people.
A long, narrow slice
of land, Mineral County
lies along the Bitterroot
Mountains, bordering
Idaho, with one fed-
eral highway running
through its middle, In-
terstate 90. The inter-
state itself runs parallel
to the St. Regis River
at its western end, and
to the Clark Fork River
for the rest of its length
in the county. There
are nineteen exits from
I-90 in Mineral County, and since all the populated areas are
along this corridor, let's drive west to east along the inter-
state as we get to know Mineral County.
EXIT 0, just east of the Idaho state line, takes you to Look-
out Ski Area. A popular family resort with 38 groomed trails,
Lookout Ski Area is in
the process of expand-
ing and will soon dou-
ble its current size of
540 acres. The chalet
is also where you buy
tickets for the Hiawatha
Trail, a bike/hike trail
following the path of
the old Milwaukee Rail-
road line from East Por-
tal westward down the
mountain through a se-
ries of tunnels and over
trestles built originally
in the early 1900s.
EXIT 5, Taft, is where
you leave I-90 to get
to East Portal and the
Hiawatha Trail. Today,
article and photos by BRYAN SPELLMAN
HARLOWTON
