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).
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.
- 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.
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.
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.
- 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.
- 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.
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).
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).
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.
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.
1910
- Montana population, 376,053 residents.
- Glacier National Park, established
in the Rocky Mountains in Montana.
1911
- 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.
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
-
December 16, William Elmer Holt, elected governor of Montana
(1935-January 4, 1937).
1937
-
January 4, Roy Elmer Ayres, elected governor of Montana
(1937-January 6, 1941).
1939
50 YEARS
AFTER MONTANA'S RATIFICATION OF THE U.S. CONSTITUTION.
