Communities

They are legacies of Montana's past …

One single moment in time led to their existence. On July 28, 1862, a band of wandering prospectors found gold in stream gravels of what they named Grasshopper Creek.

By the following spring, 3,000 people populated the newly minted town of Bannack which grew from that original find! From there prospectors fanned out … other discoveries quickly followed. The stillness and quiet that was Montana before that initial strike ended. Montana was about to change dramatically and forever.

Virtually every Southwestern Montana community owes its beginnings to that long ago afternoon. Rough mining camps eventually became permanent settlements … Helena and Butte, among them.

Miners had to eat … distribution centers were needed for the developing agricultural industry… and the new wealth required commerce. It was here then, in Southwest Montana, that Montana’s foundation was established, and lasting human enclaves put down roots.

This from discovery of a precious metal on a remote mountain stream.