Billings is divided by the Rims and cliffs. It’s
located in the downtown’s north and east part and separated the Heights that’s
500 feet tall and Lockwood that’s 800 feet tall. The city’s total area is 43.52
square miles, while 43.41 square miles are land and 0.11 square miles are
water. The city is surrounded by six mountain ranges and can be seen from the
city. One of them is the Bighorn Mountains, and it’s around 13,000 feet tall.
It contains more than 200 lakes. The other one is Pryor Mountains, where the
wild horse range is. Another mountain is the Beartooth Mountains, which is the
highest area in Montana. Another mountain is the Big Snowy Mountains, where
there is a Crystal Lake. Another mountain is the Bull Mountains; it’s located
at the north of Heights and positioned in the low heavy forested range. The
other mountain is the Crazy Mountain.
Billings have the largest coal reserves within the U.S. There are twelve coal mines in Montana. Coal mining in Bull Mountain started around the 1800s. There is an underground coal mining area called the Signal Peak Mine. But it was being shut down during 2011 due to the great amount of carbon monoxide found within the mine. Soon after that, nitrogen is being added into the mine to reduce the gas to the safety standard. In 2007, it’s estimated that 12.5 million tons were being produced.
