Most of those mines have since played out. The new economic glory holes are what Sunset magazine last spring called ''the West's most beautiful lakes,'' tourist-magnet blue-green oases nestled among the pine-carpeted peaks.
But a new $200 million copper and silver mine awaiting federal and state regulators' approval under Montana's Cabinet Mountains Wilderness near the Idaho border could pull the plug on some of the region's mountain lakes, turning them into dry holes, officials fear.
''Their biggest challenge is on top of the Cabinet Mountains there are several naturally occurring lakes and there are faults that run through that mountain range,'' Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer told The Associated Press in a recent interview. ''Unless they can demonstrate that they are going to be able to pierce into that mountain and not allow that fault to drain those lakes, they are not going to get those permits.''
Spokane, Wash.-based Revett Minerals bills the Rock Creek Mine as a new generation of environmentally benign and aesthetically pleasing mineral extraction plants. The company's advertising slogan for the mine is, ''You won't even know we're there.''
The project has been mired in lawsuits almost since its inception 20 years ago as the first mine beneath a federally protected wilderness area. Environmental groups have successfully overturned two of the three biological opinions in favor of the mine by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and are challenging the U.S. Forest Service's initial approval for the mine to move forward. In 2004, Tiffany and Co. took out a full-page Washington Post newspaper ad opposing the mine, declaring the area more valuable for wildlife than for jewelry.
Revett has pledged to boost the area's dwindling grizzly bear population by creating a 2,450-acre sanctuary and paying 35 years' worth of salaries for a Montana state bear management specialist and a security guard to protect the bear habitat. The Fish and Wildlife Service said in October that building the mine would be better for the bears than leaving intact the 114 million ounces of silver and 935 million ounces of copper lying underground.
Revett CEO William Orchow said he was surprised that Schweitzer, who has previously expressed support for the mine proposal, would raise the lake-draining issue after the Forest Service had determined it was not a threat.
''This has been exhaustively studied,'' said Orchow, whose company expects to begin exploratory digging at the site as soon as the snow melts next spring. ''We are going to stay a minimum of a thousand feet away from the edge and the bottom of the lake and it's been determined that will be a sufficient safeguard to prevent any draining.''
