Court Sheriff Campground

Court Sheriff Campground is located at the very north end of Canyon Ferry Reservoir, 30 miles east of Helena, Montana, along Montana Highway 284, between the Big Belt and Elkhorn mountain ranges. It offers year-round access to a wide range of recreational opportunities. This is a very popular and well-developed campground: paved, with 48 campsites, most located along the water. During the peak summer months services include vault toilets, potable water, trash, recycling containers and a campground host. Canyon Ferry Reservoir offers year-round recreation. Water related activities include everything from swimming and fishing to sailing and motor-boating. Canoeists and kayakers explore the many quiet backwater bays. Jet skiers, windsurfers and water skiers skim the summer waves, while winter draws ice fishermen, ice boaters and ice skaters. The campground is named for the Sheriff family. In 1865 Court Sheriff moved into the region from Illinois to work the mines. He first worked the mines in Diamond City, then hired on as a carpenter to help build a wooden flume for the Magpie-Gave Hill ditch. In 1875 he opened a general mercantile to serve the miners east of the Missouri River at Cavetown. He moved to nearby Canyon Ferry in 1880, and by 1883 had established a general store and later added a livery stable and a two-and-a-half-story hotel. The campground sits halfway between Yellowstone National Park and Glacier National Park, near the capital city of Helena.