Montana State University - Sentinel Yearbook (Missoula, MT)

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VEULVE HALL Thii historic building is named offer Montana ' s winner of the 1877 Congressional Metol of Honor and is located of historic Fort Missoula With such quick riches come the criminal, trying to get rich quicker and easier Ironically, these leeches were named The Innocents Crime was prosperous in early Montono, but citizens finally formed o vigilance committee Warnings in the form of a code were sent to undesirable citizens telling them to get out or else. During the Vigilantes ' reign, twenty-four men were hanged in six weeks — a record surpossmg even the California group ' Among those to swing was Henry Plummer, sheriff of Bannack ond leoder of the Innocents BUFFALO Once kings of the proine. these moieshc onimal ' now survive cn government ranges TWO MODES OF TRANSPORTATION The statue of John Mullan stands beside o steam locomotive to symbolize Montana ' s earliest days. 9

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FORT FIZ ZLE Misvxilo settlers blockade the way through Lolo Valley to stop Chief Joseph and the Net Perce. When Joseph bypassed the stockade, the fort was obondoocd without a fight Following Lewis and Clark were the fur dealers One of the more famous trappers was John Colter, member of the Lewis and Clark party After the expedition he returned and wos captured by the Blackfeet Indians In a run for his life he gambled ond won Later, he wandered into Yellowstone Park When he told his unbelievable tale about nature ' s oddities there, the people jokingly called the area Colter ' s Hell After receiving word that they were needed by the Flathead Indians, the Jesuits sent a party of Block Robes to the wilderness orea to convert the Indians to Christianity The leader of the Black Robes was Pother DeSmet Not long after his arrival, he built St Mary ' s Mission in 1841 Later, another outstanding missionary, Father Ravalli, came to help the Indians With priests in the area, settlers began to invade the Bitterroot valley and other parts of Montono Strangely enough, it wos not the fur trapper, not the farmer, but the mmer who tamed the ter ntory Even though it was during the Civil Wor, cold-weathered Montana was populated by a ma- jority of southerners Thus came another nick- name, The Stubtoe State, because of the big con- federate boots being mangled by Montana rocks Agom without historical proof, Benetsee Finlay is supposed to be the first to discover gold «n Mon- tana The strike was on Gold Creek in 1856, but the first big rush wos to Grasshopper Creek, loter Bannock, in 1862 After Bannack came Virginia City ond Lost Chonce Gulch Todoy, the moun- toins ore dotted with ghost towns that were once prosperous mining camps In the 19th century 8

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THE MINING INDUSTRY A Copper industry smelter ogointt o copper sunset ore but two of Montana ' s natural treasures. On May 26, 1864, President Lincoln signed a bill creating Montana as a territory with Republi- can Sidney Edgerton as its Governor Immediately problems orose because of a Democratic constitu- ency. Edgerton finally gave up and shipped out of state, leaving the colorful Thomas Meagher as acting governor. Under this Irishman ' s administra- tion, Montana held its first constitutional con- vention Documents were prepared in Helena for Washington and were lost, no records, no notes, nothing was left. Transportation was a mojor headoche in the new territory As early as 1853, Lt. John Mullan, U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, storted building a wagon road overland from Fort Benton to Wolla Walla In 1864 John Bozeman, with Jim Briger, branched off the Oregon Trail to bring settlers to Montana over the Bozeman trail When it drove its golden spike at Garrison in 1883, the Northern Pacific, a land grant railroad, became the first transcontinental railwoy in the area The N P was followed by the Greot Northern under James J. Hill which crossed the country by way of the newly discovered Marias Pass in 1893 10