The spectacular gold deposit discovered in Alder Gulch on May 26, 1863, led to the rapid growth of this colorful and legendary gold camp town. Thousands of fortune‑seekers rushed to the area, and by…
View Tour

The architectural character of this pleasant district was initially shaped by copper king Marcus Daly. Between 1890 and 1905, Daly's Anaconda Copper Mining Company constructed substantial high…
View Tour

The federal government’s strategy for populating a newly claimed territory and limiting land use by Native Americans led to a series of Homestead Acts passed between 1862 and 1912. Under these acts…
View Tour

Montana’s gold rush and the lure of free farmland brought waves of fortune-seekers and homesteaders to Montana Territory between 1864 and 1918. The families who settled Montana’s rural areas…
View Tour

Struggling to tame the wild land in which they settled, Montana’s early settlers worked to establish Euro-American concepts of governance in their growing communities. Montanans moved quickly after…
View Tour

From almost the beginning of the territory, Montana workers tried to organize themselves into unions to secure safer working conditions and better wages and to redress grievances. Where union locals…
View Tour

Fraternal societies flourished in Montana and throughout the United States in the mid to late nineteenth century, an era sometimes called the “Golden Age of Fraternalism.” By 1897, approximately six…
View Tour

Few Montana places encompass as much varied history as Judith Landing. For millennia, Native peoples used this wide landing spot as a seasonal campground and burial site. Captains Meriwether Lewis and…
View Tour

As railroads expanded west in the late 1800s, Montana’s population boomed and so did crime. Towns like Bozeman developed rapidly to serve new homesteaders; Gardiner grew as tourists traveled to…
View Tour

In the 1860s Euro-Americans poured into Montana, lured by stories of rich gold strikes and aided by the completion of the Mullan Road and the Bridger and Bozeman trails. As they encroached on…
View Tour

As Euro-American settlers moved west in the mid-1800s, demand for live entertainment followed. Early opera houses hosted traveling performances such as operas, stage plays, and musical variety shows…
View Tour

Saloons rank among the West’s most iconic buildings. Carried over by European colonizers, the term saloon was synonymous with other drinking establishments like bars and taverns. Use of the term…
View Tour

Healthcare in Montana first arose with Indigenous use of native plants, especially the Four Sacred Medicines — tobacco, cedar, sage, and sweetgrass — which treated various ailments, whether spiritual,…
View Tour