Three Forks Montana Map

About Three Forks, Montana

Three Forks is a locality in Gallatin County, Montana, United States. It has a population of approximately 1,989. The population density is 536.3 people per km². Three Forks is located at 45.8896°N, 111.5527°W. It observes the Mountain Time (America/Denver) timezone. Three Forks is an incorporated locality. ZIP codes: 59480, 59936, 59752.

Three Forks occupies a sprawling basin where the high plains meet the vast, open sky of the American West. It lies 19.8 miles west-northwest of Belgrade, MT (from Belgrade, MT: bearing 294°T), and is situated 10.9 miles west-northwest of Manhattan. The landscape is defined by the steady, persistent presence of the Jefferson River, which curls through the earth just a mile from the center of the grid, carving its path toward a distant confluence. To the far horizon, the jagged silhouette of the Bridger Range rises in a pale, serrated line against the atmosphere, while closer at hand, the terrain dips into the quiet, shadowed folds of Mud Spring Gulch. The light here has a sharp, clarifying quality, bleaching the grasses to a pale straw color and casting long, thin shadows that stretch across the dry, open ground as the sun begins its descent. At the Three Forks Ponds Fishing Access Site, the water remains glassy and still, reflecting the expansive vault of the sky with a clarity that seems to sharpen the senses.

History in Three Forks is written in the endurance of the soil and the legacy of those who first mapped these plains, finding sustenance in the convergence of the waterways. The local economy remains tethered to the rhythm of the land, supported by a heritage of ranching and the steady, quiet labor of those who manage the surrounding acreage. Life moves with an internal, measured pace, far from the frantic hum of larger urban centers, where the passage of time is marked by the shifting colors of the seasonal grasses rather than the ticking of a clock. While Plunket Lake sits thirteen miles away as a quiet, secluded mirror for the clouds, the character of Three Forks is forged by the immediate, practical necessities of the valley floor. It is a place where the wind carries the scent of sage and dry earth, a reminder of the immense, unpopulated distances that define the surrounding region.

About This Three Forks Map Page

This page provides an embedded street and satellite map of Three Forks, Montana. Coordinates: 45.889568, -111.552748. Live weather conditions are sourced directly from the National Weather Service. Real-time local and world news feeds keep the page current.

Detailed location data for Three Forks includes the ZIP code (59480, 59936, 59752), telephone area code (406), county seat of Gallatin County (Bozeman), and school district assignment (Three Forks High School District).

Location data is drawn from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) and cross-verified against 2020 US Census records by coordinate proximity. Population figures are sourced from the 2020 US Census.