. Graham, 699 P.2d at 596. Plaintiffs established that the property's unity of ownership was severed in 1891 and that strict necessity existed at that time. Defendants' evidence concerning Plaintiffs' easement options at the time of trial does not affect Plaintiffs' claim that an easement by necessity arose from land conveyances occurring in the last century. See State v. Cronin (1978), 179 Mont. 481, 488, 587 P.2d 395, 399-400.
Thus, Plaintiffs' indirect evidence, discussed above, establishes that an easement by necessity arose in 1891 because strict necessity existed at the time unity of ownership to the property was severed. Not only was NP Coal's property surrounded to the west, north, and east by rugged mountain terrain, but was also bounded to the south by the railroad right-of-way. This set of circumstances effectively left NP Coal's property landlocked, and the requirement of strict necessity was met because the property was without access to a public road. Logic dictates that the only practical means to access or exit the property was to cross the railroad right-of-way to reach the nearest public road, the Bozeman Trail. In fact, Frank King, a long time resident of the area, testified that in 1926 he started using the planked crossing at issue and that he knew the crossing had been used for an undetermined time before *9 1926. Accordingly, we reverse the District Court and hold that Plaintiffs have an easement by necessity to cross Defendants' railroad right-of-way at the planked crossing at issue which is located in the SW 1/4 of the NW 1/4 of Section 24, Township 2 South, Range 6 East, M.P.M., Gallatin County, Montana.
Reversed.
GRAY, TRIEWEILER, LEAPHART and ERDMANN, concur.



594 So.2d 914 (1991)
Barbara MOBLEY
v.
DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES and Department of State Civil Service.
No. 90 CA 1892.
Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.
December 27, 1991.
*915 Mark E. Falcon, Avant and Falcon, Baton Rouge, for appellants.
Joyce Fisher, Staff Atty., Dept. of Social Services, Bureau of Legal Serv