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Montana water data · Zip Code in Custer County

ZIP 59301: well depth, groundwater and water rights

What the public record says about water in ZIP code 59301: how deep wells go, where the water table sits, what wells produce, which water rights are on file, and which documented environmental sites are nearby. Area statistics orient you; a property report analyzes the records around one specific parcel.

Updated September 2026 · Based on 8,701 public records from MBMG GWIC, Montana DNRC, Montana DEQ, EPA SEMS, EPA UST Finder, US Census (ZIP Code Tabulation Area)

Wells on record

2,813

1 per sq mi

Median well depth

165 ft

half of wells 80–300 ft

Median static water level

55 ft

2,100 measurements

Median tested yield

15 gpm

2,233 pump tests

Well depth

How deep are wells in ZIP 59301?

Of 2,546 wells with a recorded total depth, the median is 165 feet. Half were drilled between 80 and 300 feet; one in ten went deeper than 500 feet and one in ten found water shallower than 22 feet. Depth is set by local geology and position on the landscape, both of which change over short distances, so the spread matters as much as the median.

under 50 ft
21%
50–100 ft
9%
100–200 ft
27%
200–300 ft
17%
300–500 ft
15%
500 ft and deeper
11%

Static water level

55 ft

median depth to water at rest · half between 20 and 130 ft

The static level is how far below ground the water stands before pumping, measured by the driller at completion. It affects pump setting and operating cost, and it moves with season and with neighbouring use.

Well yield

15 gpm

median tested yield · half between 8 and 20 gpm

8% of tested wells produced under 5 gallons per minute and 38% produced 20 or more. These are short completion tests, not sustained-capacity tests; a household typically needs 3 to 5 gpm with storage.

Drilling activity

Recent well drilling in ZIP 59301

380 wells have been completed here since 2016, 17 of them in the last twelve months. The newest log on file was completed August 20, 2026. Records run back to 1880.

What the wells are for

  • Stockwater1,506
  • Domestic994
  • Monitoring364
  • Irrigation104
  • Public Water Supply37

How they were drilled

  • Rotary960
  • Forward Rotary323
  • Hollowstem Auger181
  • Drilled35

Drillers filing well logs in ZIP 59301

  • Askin Drilling216 since 2016 · 2026
  • Higgins Drilling Company72 since 2016 · 2025
  • Haz Tech Drilling Inc40 since 2016 · 2025
  • Olympus Technical Services27 since 2016 · 2026
  • West Central Environmental Consultants24 since 2016 · 2024
  • Sharp Drilling Inc8 since 2016 · 2023
  • Gordon Drilling Inc2 since 2016 · 2018
  • Ronald L Askin Drilling206 all-time · 2013

Ranked by well logs filed with GWIC, public record only. Not an endorsement, a referral or a paid listing; we have no business relationship with these companies. Verify licensing with the Montana Board of Water Well Contractors before hiring.

Water rights

Water rights on file in ZIP 59301

Montana DNRC lists 5,751 water rights with a point of diversion inside this area: 2,774 groundwater and 2,977 surface water, 5,356 of them active. The median priority date is 1960, and the oldest claim dates to 1864.

Types of right

  • Statement Of Claim3,248
  • Ground Water Certificate1,363
  • Powder River Declaration585
  • Stockwater Permit180
  • Provisional Permit167

Purposes

  • Stock3,888
  • Irrigation554
  • Domestic475
  • Wildlife192
  • Domestic; Stock163

DNRC basins

  • 42C2,230
  • 42K1,821
  • 42J758
  • 42KJ596
  • 40D346

Area totals describe the neighbourhood, not any one parcel. Montana publishes no authoritative link between a parcel and a water right; whether a right attaches to a specific property is a property-level question that our reports answer with the DNRC abstract linked.

Aquifers and geology

What wells in ZIP 59301 draw from

Drillers record the aquifer a well is completed in. The units below account for the wells here that carry an aquifer assignment; the median depth beside each is for wells completed in that unit.

  • Tullock Member (of Ft Union Fm.)740 wells · 44% · median 165 ft
  • Fox Hills-hell Creek Aquifer446 wells · 26% · median 380 ft
  • Tongue River Member (of Ft Union Fm.)171 wells · 10% · median 125 ft
  • Lance-hell Creek Undifferentiated107 wells · 6% · median 580 ft
  • Sand And Gravel (holocene)105 wells · 6% · median 22 ft

Aquifer assignments are the driller's, recorded at completion, and many older logs carry none. Absence of an assignment is not evidence about the geology.

Environmental groundwater screening

Documented environmental sites in ZIP 59301

Petroleum releases

64

21 open · 43 resolved

Superfund program sites

1

none on the National Priorities List

Registered tank facilities

72

underground storage tanks, current and historical

A documented release or site in the area is not evidence that any particular well is affected. Whether a release reaches a well depends on groundwater flow direction, geology, well depth and construction, the extent of the plume and the cleanup performed. The most recent release reported here dates to 2025. A property report screens the sites within a quarter, half and one mile of a specific parcel and links the agency records.