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Bannack,
Montana in
1881
This
image available for photographic prints
HERE!
Bannack
Montana
today, July, 2008, Kathy Weiser
This
image available for photographic prints
HERE!
Bannack got its start when
Colorado prospectors found gold along
Grasshopper Creek in the summer of 1862. The site of the first major gold
discovery in
Montana,
miners soon flooded the area and by fall, the mining camp boasted more
than 400 people. Named after the local Bannock
Indians,
the town grew quickly to some 3000 residents by the spring of 1863. When
Montana became an official territory in May, 1864,
Bannack became its
first capital. Though two years later, the capital would be moved to
Virginia
City.
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Bannack!
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Henry Plummer -
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Montana Ghost
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The flourishing camp quickly sported three hotels, three bakeries,
three blacksmith shops, two stables, two meat markets, a grocery store, a
restaurant, a brewery, a billiard hall, and four saloons.
As
the ores declined, so did the town and by 1890, only 400 residents
remained. However, the town remained populated enough to continue to
support a post office until 1938. The school closed in the early 1950s and
the last residents left in the 1970s. Today,
Bannack is a preserved
Montana State Park and a National Historic Landmark with some 60 remaining
buildings.
© Kathy Weiser/Legends
of America, updated September, 2008
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