Sand Coulee is located about twelve miles east and south of Great Falls in a small coulee with high sandstone cliffs. Sand Coulee is located in an area teeming with great Montana attractions. Within a thirty-mile radius you will find Great Falls, which offers museums, shopping, the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail Interpretive Center, and Giant Springs State Park. Also within a short drive of Sand Coulee are Lewis and Clark National Forest land, Benton Lake National Wildlife Refuge, First Peoples Buffalo Jump State Park, Sluice Boxes State Park and much more! History: Named Giffen in 1881, after Nat McGiffen, the town's name changed to Sand Coulee when the McGiffens left the area. Eugene Willis, an African American, in 1883 established the first coal-mining company Sand Coulee Coal Company. Recognizing the potential, James J. Hill purchased the company and renamed it Cottowood Coal Company. Hill's Montana Central Railway reached Sand Coulee in 1888, helping spur a boom. Sand Coulee procuded 600,000 tons of coal between 1891 and 1896, and its bituminous coal powered the smelters at Great Falls, Butte and East Helena, as well as the steam engines of the Great Northern Railway. As it grew, the town developed 3 distinct sections; Shacktown, where many of the miners lived; Middletown or Finn Town, name for the large Finnish population; and Downtown, where the majority of the businesses were located. Sand Coulee reached its height in 1891-1897 and slowly withered when the railroad switched to diesel engines in the 1930s and natural gas became more prevalent for home heating.