50
YEARS BEFORE MONTANA'S RATIFICATION OF THE U.S. CONSTITUTION
1841
Jesuit
missionary Father Pierre Desmet, established St. Mary's
Mission in Stevensville, Montana.
1846
The
northwestern part of Montana was gained by treaty with
Britain.
1847
The
American Fur Company built Fort Benton on the Missouri
River in Montana.
Fort
Lewis (later Fort Benton) founded on the Missouri River
in Chouteau County, Montana. Coordinates 47°49'N-110°40'W.
1850
Fort Lewis,
renamed Fort Benton, in Chouteau County, Montana.
1851
Blackfeet native
American nation/land (reservation) established in northwestern
Montana, near the Canadian border and Glacier National
Park
Crow native
American nation/land (reservation) established in southcentral
Montana, near the Wyoming border.
1854
St. Ignatius
Mission established and built in Montana, by native
Americans under the direction of Catholic missionaries.
May 30, Montana became part of Nebraska Territory.
1855
Flathead native
American nation/land (reservation) established in
northwestern Montana, home of the Kootenai, Pend d'Oreille
and Salish tribes.
1861
March 2, Montana became part of Dakota Territory.
APRIL -
BEGINNING OF THE CIVIL WAR
1862
Civil
War period
July
28, Prospectors found gold in Grasshopper Creek, Montana.
1863
Civil War period
March 4, Montana
became part of Idaho Territory.
May
26, gold discovery by prospectors in Alder Gulch, Madison
County, resulted in the 'birth' of Virginia City, and
the scene of Montana's greatest placer gold rush.
December 21,
due to lack of a formel government, Alder Guch area
residents took the law in their own hands and decided
to hang suspected murderer George Ives, in nearby Nevada
City, Montana.
1864
Civil War period
Alder Gulch
in Montana, named Alder Mining District.
Beaverhead
County established in Montana, seat Dillon.
Bozeman settled
by John M. Bozeman in the southern end of the Gallatin
Valley in Gallatin County, Montana.
Coordinates : 45°41'N-111°02'W,
incorporated as a village. Bozeman
Today :Attractions
& Recreation : Bridger Canyon, Gallatin
National Forest.
Deer Lodge
County established in Montana, seat Anaconda.
Gallatin County
established in Montana, seat Bozeman.
Jefferson County
established in Montana, seat Boulder.
Gold deposits
discovered in Last Chance Gulch in Montana, by the 'Four
Georgians' the group decided the valley was their last
chance, before to return home, and they hit it big.
Lewis and Clark
County established in Montana, seat Helena.
Madison County
established in Montana, seat Virginia City.
Missoula County
established in Montana, seat Missoula.
Montana's
seal originated, when the state was still a territory. Depicting
mountain scenery, Great Falls of the Missouri River,
plow, miner's pic, shovel and motto in Spanish 'Oro
el Plata'.
Stevensville
in Montana authorized by President Lincoln and named
after General Isaac Ingle Stevens.
Bannack,
in Beaverhead County, appointed Montana's first Territorial
capital.
Gold-mining
town Virginia City, first incorporated town in Montana.
January,
21 men were hanged including outlaw sheriff Henry Plummer,
by Bannack and Virginia City vigilantes in Montana.
May
26, Montana part of Idaho Territory, became an independent
Territory, thanks to territorial chief justice, Sidney
Edgerton who convinced Congress.
May
26, Montana became Montana Territory.
May
26, Sidney Edgerton, a Idaho official and initiator
of Montana Territory, served as first governor of Montana
Territory (1864-1865).
October
30, Helena, founded near the Missouri River in Prickley
Pear Valley, in Clark and Lewis Counties, Montana. Coordinates
46°36'N-112°01W'. Attractions
& Recreation : Brewery Theatre, Mount
Ascension, Mount Helena.
1865
Chouteau County
established in Montana, seat Fort Benton.
Custer County
established in Montana, seat Miles City.
Dawson County
established in Montana, seat Glendive.
Fort Benton,
appointed seat of Chouteau County in Montana.
Montana Historical
Society founded.
Montana's
seal approved.
Thomas
Francis Meagher, appointed acting governor of Montana
(1865-1866).
MAY
- ENDING OF THE CIVIL WAR
1866
Green Clay Smith,
appointed governor of Montana (1866-1868).
1867
Bozeman, appointed
seat of Gallatin County in Montana.
Cheyenne and
some Arapaho Native Americans fought against Colonel
George Armstrong Custer at Little Bighorn in Montana.
Fort Shaw (first
Camp Reynolds), built by the 13th U.S. Infantry on the
Sun River in Cascade County, Montana.
Helena, appointed seat
of Clark and Lewis County in Montana.
Meagher County
established in Montana, seat White Sulphur Springs.
1868
The Crow native
Americans, accepted a reservation from former tribal
lands in Montana.
James Tufts,
appointed acting governor of Montana (186-1869).
1869
Introduction
of sheep, made Dillon in Beaverhead County, Montana's
wool shipping point.
James Mitchell
Ashley, appointed governor of Montana.
Wiley Schribner,
appointed acting governor of Montana (1869-1870).
1870
Montana population,
20,595 residents.
Benjamin Franklin
Potts, appointed governor of Montana 1870-1883).
1872
Salish-speaking
Flathead Native Americans reside mainly on land at Flathead
Lake in Montana.
1874
Bozeman,
incorporated as a town in Gallatin County, Montana.
1875
Helena in Clark
and Lewis counties, became capital of Montana Territory
1876
Visible coal
deposits in southern Montana, noted by a military expedition.
June 25, as
a result of disregarding the Treaty of Fort Laramie
by thousands of gold seeking miners in Montana's Sioux
nation/land (reservation), about 6.000 Arapaho, Cheyenne,
Lakota Sioux Native Americans, wiped out an entire detachment
of U.S. cavalrymen, under the command of Lieutenant
Colonel George A. Custer (who disobeyed orders), winning
their last major victory at the Battle
of Little Bighorn, known as the Custer Massacre.
June 25, General
George Armstrong Custer, died during the Battle of Little
Bighorn in Montana.
1877
August 7, 'Nez
Perce Trail' after the Battle of Clearwater, the Nez
Perce under leadership of Chief Looking Glass, entered
Montana, crossing the Bitterroot Range at Lolo Pass,
stopping at Big Hole to set up their tipis.
August 8, 'Nez
Perce Trail' after a surprise attack by Colonel John
Gibbon's 7th US Infantry, at Big Hole in Montana, and
big losses the Nez Perce headed to Soshone County.
1879
Havre, founded
in Hill County, Montana. Named for Le Havre in France
Coordinates 48°33'N-109°41'W.Attractions
& Recreation : Fresno Dam and Reservoir.
1880
Montana population,
39,159 residents.
The Utah and
Northern Railroad reached Dillon, seat of Beaverhead
County in Montana.
June 11, Jeannette
Rankin, born in Missoula, Montana. First woman elected
to the U.S. House of Representatives.
1881
Glendive on
the Yellowstone River, founded. Seat of Dawson County
in Montana. Coordinates 47°06'n6104°43'W. Attractions
& Recreation : Frontier Gateway Museum,
Makoshika State Park.
Helena, incorporated
in Clark and Lewis County, Montana.
Silver Bow County
established in Montana, seat Butte.
1882
Billings,
established by the Northern Pacific Railway, on the
Yellowstone River in Yellowstone
County, Montana. Coordinates
: 45°47'N-108°29'W. Billings
Today : Attractions &
Recreation : Custer National Forest, Ghost Cave, Grasshopper
Glacier, Pictograph Cave.
1883
Anaconda, originally
Copperopolis, laid out by Marcus Daly founder of the
copper industry in Montana. Seat of Deer Lodge County
in Montana. Coordinates 46°08'N-112°57'W.
Anaconda
Today : Attractions
& Recreation : Deer Lodge National
Forest, Georgetown Lake.
Billings, appointed
seat of Yellowstone County, Montana.
Bozeman, incorporated
as a city in Gallatin County, Montana.
John Schuyler
Crosby, appointed governor of Montana (1883-1884).
Fort Benton,
incorporated in Chouteau County, Montana.
1884
Northern
Cheyenne native American nation/land (reservation) established
in southeastern Montana.
Marcus
Daly built a copper smelter nearby Warm Springs Creek
in Anaconda, Deer Lodge County, Montana.
Benjamin
Platt Carpenter, appointed governor of Montana (1884-1885).
1885
Billings, incorporated
in Yellowstone County, Montana.
Fergus County
established in Montana, seat Lewistown.
Samuel Thomas
Hauser, appointed governor of Montana (1885-February
1887).
1887
Cascade County
established in Montana, seat Great Falls.
Great Falls,
appointed seat of Cascade County in Montana. Coordinates
47°30'N-111°17'W.Attractions & Recreation :
Lewis and Clark National Forest.
The
Great Northern Railway, arrived in Great Falls, Cascade
County, Montana.
Upon arrival
of the Great Northern Railway, Havre townsite relocated
along Bull Hook Creek in Hill County, Montana.
Park County
established in Montana, seat Livingston.
Saint Paul's
Mission established by the Bureau of Catholic Missions
in Montana.
February, Preston
Hopkins Leslie, appointed governor of Montana (1887-March
1889).
1888
Fort Belknap
native American nation/land (reservation) established
in northcentral Montana, home of the Assiniboine and
Gros Ventre tribes.
Fort
Peck native American nation/land (reservation) established
in northeastern Montana, home of the Assiniboine and
Sioux tribes.
Entrepreneur
William Chessman built a three-story Queen Anne-style
mansion in Helena, Montana.
Great Falls,
incorporated in Cascade County, Montana.
1889
March, Benjamin Franklin White, appointed governor of
Montana (1889-November 1889).
November
8, Montana MT, 41st state
admitted to the Union
Montana
Today : Capital Helena. Area 147,046
sq.mi. (56.775km²), 26th largest state, known
as 'Big Sky Country' nickname 'Treasure State' motto
' Oro y Plata'.
Counties 56 :Beaverhead,
Big Horn, Blaine, Broadwater,
Carbon, Carter, Cascade, Chouteau, Custer, Daniels,
Dawson, Deer Lodge, Fallon, Fergus, Flathead, Gallatin,
Garfield, Glacier, Golden Valley, Granite, Hill, Jefferson,
Judith Basin, Lake, Lewis and Clark, Liberty, Lincoln,
Madison, McCone, Meagher, Mineral, Missoula, Musselshell,
Park, Petroleum, Phillips, Pondera, Powder River,
Powell, Prairie, Ravalli, Richland, Roosevelt, Rosebud,
Sanders, Sheridan, Silver Bow, Stillwater, Sweet Grass,
Teton, Toole, Treasure, Valley, Wheatland, Wibaux,
Yellowstone. Attractions
& Recreation; Absaroka Beartooth Wilderness, Agassiz
Wilderness, Agua Tibia Wilderness, Aldo Leoplod Wilderness,
Aleutian Islands Wilderness, Alexander Springs Wilderness,
Allegheny Islands Wilderness, Almena Diversion Dam,
Alpine Lakes Wilderness, Alta Toquima Wilderness,
Anaconda Pintler Wilderness, Andreafsky Wilderness,
Anita Reservoir, Ansel Adams Wilderness, Apache Creek
Wilderness, Apache Kid Wilderness, Arc Dome Wilderness,
Argus Range Wilderness, Arrastra Mountain Wilderness,
Arrow Canyon Wilderness, Ashdown Gorge Wilderness,
Aubrey Peak Wilderness, Baboquivari Peak Wilderness,
Badger Creek Wilderness, Badlands Wilderness, Glacier
National Park, Yellowstone National Park,
November 8, Joseph Kemps Toole, elected governor of
Montana (1889-January 1, 1893).
1890
Montana population,
142,924 residents.
First post
office established in Dell, Montana.
1892
Havre incorporated
as town in Hill County, Montana.
1893
Flathead County
established in Montana, seat Kalispell.
Granite County
established in Montana, seat Philipsburg.
Montana's
state seal adopted by the Legislature.
Montana
State Univerisity, founded in Bozeman, Montana.
Revalli
County established in Montana, seat Hamilton.
Teton
County established in Montana, seat Choteau.
Valley County
established in Montana, seat Glasgow.
Yellowstone
County established in Montana, seat Billings.
January 2,
John Ezra Rickards, elected governor of Montana (1893-January
3, 1897).
1894
Helena
in Clark and Lewis counties, became capital of the state
of Montana.
1895
Blaine County
established in Montana, seat Chinook.
Carbon County
established in Montana, seat Red Lodge.
Sweet Grass
County established in Montana, seat Big Timber.
Montana College
of Mineral Science and Technology founded in Butte,
Montana.
1897
Broadwater
County established in Montana, seat Townsend.
January 4,
Robert Burns Smith, elected governor of Montana (1897-January
7, 1901).
1899
Montana State
Capitol costructed in Helena, Clark and Lewis counties.
1900
Montana population,
243,329 residents.
1901
Powell County
established in Montana, seat Deer Lodge.
Rosebud County
established in Montana, seat Forsyth.
January 7,
Joseph Kemps Toole, elected second-term governor of
Montana (1901-April 1, 1908).
May 7, Gary
(Frank James) Cooper, born in Helena, Montana. Popular
motion-picture actor, e.g. 'High Noon' and
'For Whom the Bell Tolls'
1902
Glendive, incorporated
as city in Dawson County, Montana.
1903
Havre, incorporated
as city in Hill County, Montana.
1906
First post
office established in Conner, Montana.
Sanders County
established in Montana, seat Thompson Falls.
1908
April 1, Edwin
Lee Norris, elected governor of Montana (1908-January
5, 1913).
1909
First post
office established in Cardwell, Montana.
Lincoln County
established in Montana, seat Libby.
Roman Catholic Carroll
College, established in Helena, Clark and Lewis counties,
Montana.
1910
Montana population,
376,053 residents.
Glacier National
Park, established in the Rocky Mountains in Montana.
1911
Havre, appointed
seat of Hill County in Montana.
Musselshell
County established in Montana, seat Roundup.
Penn's Cabin
constructed on the top of East Pryor Mountain in Montana.
A temporary shelter for cowboys and railroad workers
during severe weather.
December 10,
Chet Huntley born in Cardwell, Montana. Correspondent
and television newscaster 'The Huntley-Brinkley Report'
nightly news.
1912
Hill County
established in Montana, seat Havre.
1913
Big Horn County
established in Montana, seat Hardin.
Fallon County
established in Montana, seat Baker.
Sheridan County
establsihed in Montana, seat Plentywood.
Stillwater
County established in Montana, seat Columbus.
The
State of Montana acquired the William Chessman mansion
in Helena, to serve as its first official governor's
residence.
The
first 'recognized' flight in Billings, Montana, by Dr.
Frank Bell, a local dentist, with a Curtiss 0-X-5 self-assembled
aircraft.
January
6, Samuel Vernon Stewart, elected governor of Montana
(1913-January 2, 1921).
1914
Mineral County
established in Montana, seat Superior.
Richland County
established in Montana, seat Sidney.
Toole County
established in Montana, seat Shelby.
Wibaux County
established in Montana, seat Wibaux.
1915
Phillips County
established in Montana, seat Malta.
Prairie County
established in Montana, seat Terry.
1916
Rocky Boy's
native American nation/land (reservation) established
in northcentral Montana near the Canadian border, home
of the Chippewa-Cree tribe.
1917
Carter County
established in Montana, seat Ekalaka.
Wheatland County
established in Montana, seat Harlowton.
168 Miners
died in a hardrock mine disaster in Butte, Montana.
1919
Garfield County
established in Montana, seat Jordan.
Glacier County
established in Montana, seat Cut Bank.
McCone County
established in Montana, seat Circle.
Pondera County
established in Montana, seat Conrad.
Powder River
County established in Montana, seat Broadus.
Roosevelt County
established in Montana, seat Wilf Point.
Treasure County
established in Montana, seat Hysham.
May
5, the Anaconda Copper Company smelter stack completed
in Anaconda, Montana. One of the tallest free standing
brick structures in the world, 585 feet and 1.5 inches
high.
1920
Montana population,
548,889 residents.
Daniels County
established in Montana, seat Scobey.
Golden Valley
County established in Montana, seat Ryegate.
Judith Basin
County established in Montana, seat Stanford.
Liberty County
established in Montana, seat Chester.
1921
Rancher Penn,
filed a homestead claim on the lands surrounding 'Penn's
Cabin' later the Montana government acquired the property.
January 3,
Joseph Moore Dixon, elected governor of Montana (1921-January
4, 1925).
1923
Lake County
established in Montana, seat Polson.
1925
January 4, John
Edward Erickson, elected governor of Montana (1925-March
13, 1933).
1926
Petroleum County
established in Montana, seat Winnett.
1927
Eastern Montana
College, established in Billings, Yellowstone County,
Montana.
1928
May 29, Billings
Municipal Airport in Montana, officially opened.
1929
Northern Montana
College, established in Havre, Hill County, Montana.
1930
Montana population,
537,606 residents.
1932
The Roman Catholic
College of Great Falls, founded in Great Falls, Cascade
County, Montana.
1933
Northwest Airlines
started an air service to Billings, Montana.
March 13, Frank
Henry Cooney, elected governor of Montana (1933-December
15, 1935).
1934
Inland Airlines
began a passenger air service in Billings, Montana.
1935
An earthquake damaged
Helena in Clark and Lewis County, Montana.
December 16,
William Elmer Holt, elected governor of Montana (1935-January
4, 1937).
1936
An
earthquake damaged Helena in Clark and Lewis County,
Montana.
1937
An earthquake damaged
Helena in Clark and Lewis County, Montana.
January 4,
Roy Elmer Ayres, elected governor of Montana (1937-January
6, 1941).
MT
1839-1939
HILL COUNTY
Timeline
3 Topics
1879
Havre, founded
in Hill County, Montana. Named for Le Havre in France
Coordinates 48°33'N-109°41'W.Attractions
& Recreation : Fresno Dam and Reservoir.
1887
Upon arrival
of the Great Northern Railway, Havre townsite relocated
along Bull Hook Creek in Hill County, Montana.
1892
Havre incorporated
as town in Hill County, Montana.
1939
50
YEARS AFTER MONTANA'S RATIFICATION OF THE U.S. CONSTITUTION.