After the turn of the twentieth century homesteaders poured into Montana, and by 1910 the area’s land office at Great Falls processed between a thousand and fifteen hundred homestead filings per month. The peaceful little river town of Fort Benton boomed again. Increased population meant more business, and longtime saloon proprietor John H. McGraw took advantage of the times, building a new club in 1912. Dark maroon bricks and lovely tile inserts reveal the availability of better, more durable materials than the soft local brick used in the previous century.
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