Montana cable reels: long hauls, few trailers wasted

Freight decides almost everything here

Montana is the fourth-largest state by area and one of the least crowded. Billings to Missoula is about 340 miles on I-90; Glendive to Kalispell is farther than Chicago to Pittsburgh. Freight is paid by the trailer, so the distance between a reel pile and the next buyer for that size often matters more than the reels' condition.

That is not a reason to leave empties to rot. It is a reason to fill the trailer. A van takes about 120 reels with 42-inch flanges in Sonoco's packing guide, against 22 with 72-inch flanges. A Montana lot of small and mid reels, or a big lot of anything, prices well. A dozen large reels on a ranch road may need to wait for company on the same route, and we will say so.

NorthWestern Energy, the co-ops and a federal utility

NorthWestern Energy sold 6,309,919 MWh in Montana in 2024, nearly four times the next retailer on EIA's list. It serves most of western and central Montana, from Missoula and Butte to Bozeman, Helena and Great Falls. Flathead Electric Cooperative, second, covers the Flathead Valley around Kalispell and Whitefish. Montana-Dakota Utilities serves the eastern plains around Glendive, Miles City and Sidney. Yellowstone Valley Electric Co-op serves country around Billings.

Fourth on the list is something few states have: a federal utility. Mission Valley Power, run under the Bureau of Indian Affairs, serves the Flathead Reservation south of Flathead Lake. Its crews and contractors do the same distribution work as anyone else, and their empties are as welcome here as any.

Where Montana empties pile up

Without a wire or cable plant in the state, Montana's reels come from the work that uses cable. Utility contractors around Billings, Missoula and Bozeman, where growth has been fast, leave URD and feeder reels. Mines around Butte and elsewhere in the west use power and trailing cable and replace it often. The Montana end of the Bakken, around Sidney in Richland County, produces oil field power cable reels much like those across the line in North Dakota.

Reels from mine and oil field work see rough handling. Expect torn drive holes, knocked flanges and lagging nails left behind. Send close photos of both flanges on the worst reel of each size, and the desk will grade the rest from there.

• Billings and Yellowstone County: utility and commercial work, the state's biggest city.
• Gallatin Valley (Bozeman, Belgrade): rapid growth, URD and building wire reels.
• Missoula and the Bitterroot: distribution rebuilds, fiber.
• Butte and Anaconda: mine electrical, heavy-duty reels.
• Sidney and Richland County: oil field power cable.
• Flathead Valley: co-op distribution, resort growth.

Mountain passes and winter loads

I-90 crosses the Continental Divide at Homestake Pass east of Butte, climbs Bozeman Pass between Bozeman and Livingston, and crosses into Idaho at Lookout Pass. I-15 runs from Idaho over Monida Pass through Dillon and Butte to Helena and Great Falls. I-94 leaves I-90 at Billings and runs east across the plains to North Dakota. US-2, the Hi-Line, crosses the north from Glacier to Havre, Glasgow and Wolf Point.

Winter storms make those passes slow and sometimes close them, and wind on the eastern plains piles snow across roads. A pickup booked in a storm week may slip. Store reels on their flanges on blocking before the snow, keep a lane plowed, and give us a window rather than a single day.

BEAD: $629 million for a big, empty state

NTIA's June 2023 table gave Montana $628,973,798.59 in BEAD funds, thirtieth among the states and large for its population. Unserved locations are spread across ranch country, reservations and mountain valleys, sometimes many miles from the nearest neighbor. Rural fiber that long uses a lot of reels, and it uses them far from the cities where empties gather.

That is a useful match for this desk. A Billings or Missoula contractor with clean 30 to 48 inch empties, drums sized to the fiber bend rule of at least 20 times the cable diameter, has buyers in the same state. Keeping those reels in Montana, instead of hauling them out and others back in, saves freight for both sides.

Buying reels for a Montana job

Buyers in Montana are often line contractors short of a few empties for re-spooling, wire shops in Billings or Missoula, ranchers who want a sturdy reel for fence wire or hose, and fiber subcontractors who need a few dozen reels of one drum size. Tell us the cable or rope you plan to wind, its outside diameter and length, or simply the reel size you already use. We will look for a matching lot inside Montana first, because a reel that doesn't cross two states is a reel that costs less to deliver.

Weight matters when you plan the unloading. Southwire's published figures put a 48x28x24 nailed wood reel at about 212 lb empty and a 60x28x28 at about 397 lb, and Okonite lists heavier 72-inch builds at well over 500 lb. Those are forklift or loader reels, not ones two people roll off a tailgate. Say what you have on site to unload, and we will match the delivery to it.

Selling a Montana lot

1. 01

   Write up the sizes

   Flange, traverse and drum from each stencil, with a count per size.

2. 02

   Photograph

   The pile, one stencil per size, and the worst reel of each size from both sides.

3. 03

   Give the location

   Nearest town and how far from I-90, I-94 or I-15. In Montana this sets most of the freight.

4. 04

   Describe the access

   Road surface, room for a trailer, loading equipment and any season the road closes.

5. 05

   Agree and book

   We price each size group and book the truck for a window that suits road and weather.