GREAT FALLS

city, seat (1887) of Cascade county, west-central Montana, U.S. It lies along the Missouri River, near the falls (96 feet high) for which it was named. In 1805 the explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark observed the falls and nearby Giant Springs, one of the world's largest freshwater springs. First settled in 1883, the community was sustained with the arrival in 1887 of the Manitoba Railway. Great Falls has since become one of the state's largest cities and a financial, distributing, manufacturing, and agricultural centre (based largely on local mineral resources, wheat, and livestock). Copper, zinc, and aluminum are processed, and flour is milled. Malmstrom Air Force Base, nearby, is the site of a Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) installation. The city's institutions include the College of Great Falls (Roman Catholic; founded 1932), the Montana School for the Deaf and Blind, and a state rehabilitation centre for physically handicapped children. Great Falls is the headquarters of the Lewis and Clark National Forest and has a considerable tourist trade. It is the site of the annual state fair and rodeo. Inc. 1888. Pop. (1992 est.) city, 56,628; (1990) MSA, 77,691.