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Montana water data · Zip Code in Custer County

ZIP 59345: well depth, groundwater and water rights

What the public record says about water in ZIP code 59345: 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 1,886 public records from MBMG GWIC, Montana DNRC, Montana DEQ, EPA UST Finder, US Census (ZIP Code Tabulation Area)

Wells on record

322

0.6 per sq mi

Median well depth

191 ft

half of wells 120–284 ft

Median static water level

70 ft

262 measurements

Median tested yield

10 gpm

299 pump tests

Well depth

How deep are wells in ZIP 59345?

Of 310 wells with a recorded total depth, the median is 191 feet. Half were drilled between 120 and 284 feet; one in ten went deeper than 421 feet and one in ten found water shallower than 75 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
6%
50–100 ft
10%
100–200 ft
35%
200–300 ft
25%
300–500 ft
19%
500 ft and deeper
5%

Static water level

70 ft

median depth to water at rest · half between 31 and 135 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

10 gpm

median tested yield · half between 6 and 15 gpm

12% of tested wells produced under 5 gallons per minute and 23% 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 59345

25 wells have been completed here since 2016, 1 of them in the last twelve months. The newest log on file was completed November 10, 2025. Records run back to 1912.

What the wells are for

  • Stockwater276
  • Domestic45
  • Monitoring3
  • Irrigation2

How they were drilled

  • Rotary93
  • Drilled44
  • Forward Rotary39
  • Unknown4

Drillers filing well logs in ZIP 59345

  • Askin Drilling17 since 2016 · 2025
  • Higgins Drilling Company6 since 2016 · 2022
  • Ww Drilling Llc3 since 2016 · 2024
  • Ronald L Askin Drilling27 all-time · 2008
  • Drane Drilling Service13 all-time · 1999
  • Bandy6 all-time · 1968
  • Sharp Drilling Inc4 all-time · 2014
  • H & H Drilling3 all-time · 1983

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 59345

Montana DNRC lists 1,562 water rights with a point of diversion inside this area: 487 groundwater and 1,075 surface water, 1,522 of them active. The median priority date is 1952, and the oldest claim dates to 1883.

Types of right

  • Powder River Declaration1,159
  • Ground Water Certificate148
  • Stockwater Permit135
  • Statement Of Claim91
  • Provisional Permit25

Purposes

  • Stock1,087
  • Irrigation319
  • Irrigation; Stock56
  • Domestic; Stock36
  • Domestic19

DNRC basins

  • 42J1,558
  • 42C4

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 59345 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.)152 wells · 51% · median 184 ft
  • Fox Hills-hell Creek Aquifer73 wells · 25% · median 180 ft
  • Hell Creek Formation63 wells · 21% · median 200 ft
  • Lance-hell Creek Undifferentiated8 wells · 3% · median 633 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 59345

Petroleum releases

1

0 open · 1 resolved

Superfund program sites

0

none on the National Priorities List

Registered tank facilities

1

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 2010. A property report screens the sites within a quarter, half and one mile of a specific parcel and links the agency records.