A Brief History of
Beaverhead County, Montana

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Beaverhead County, in the Southwestern corner of the state, was organized as one of the original territorial counties on February 2, 1865. It was named for the rock which Sacajawea pointed out to Lewis and Clark explaining that her people had called it that because it resembled a beaver's head [see photo above]. It was one of the smallest of the original counties, but is now one of the largest. Beaverhead County is shown as Beaver Head County in early records and newspapers.  It has maintained its original area until 1911 when 938 square miles of Madison County were added. Beaverhead County contains 5,657 square miles or 3,620,480 acres.
 

Originally populated by Indians, the gold rush started here in 1862 when gold was discovered on Grasshopper Creek.  News spread like wildfire and miners rushed in.    They set up humble abodes and created a town called Bannack (named for the Bannock Indians who were in the area) which sprung up overnight.    Originally called Bannack City, it was first capital of Montana.  Montana's first Governor lived in Bannack and his residence was shown below.   The first post office in Montana was set up there in November 1863.   The capital was moved to Virginia City in 1865 in Madison County, eventually moving to Helena Bannack is now known as a ghost town.

As the miners came in, the "Road Agents" arrived.  Read more about the communities answer to that crime, Vigilantes.

The farmers and ranchers followed the miners. They were primarily cattle and sheep ranches.  John F Bishop brought in the first band of sheep overland into Montana.  At one time Beaverhead County was the largest exporter of sheep wool in Montana. The 1870 census shows a total of 185 dwellings, 293 families and 593 white males.  No doubt some were missed by the census taker, but you can see the area was still sparsely populated.

 

1877 brought the Battle of Big Hole with the Nez Perce.  The Nez Perce were attempting to go into Canada to escape the Cavalry.  The Big Hole Battlefield is a National Battlefield Park now.

 

Next came the railroad in 1879 from the southern end of the county.  As the railroad was built, tent cities were established every fifty miles. Dillon started  in one of those tent cities in 1880, and was named for the Union Pacific Railroad President Sidney Dillon. Dillon became the county seat (taking away from Bannack) in 1881.  The first brick building was built there in 1881.

 

Some historic information is on our towns and communities page.

 

For information about the Vigilante time see that Vigilantes on this website.

 

You can read an excerpt from "Bannack, Cradle of Montana" by F. Lee Graves about Henry Plummer, one of Bannack's most colorful characters. Mr. F. Lee Grave has very generously allowed us to transcribe and place information from his book that pertains to Henry Plummer on this website. we would like to thank Mr. Graves for this wonderful book about Bannack and for granting us permission to use parts of his book for all to read.  Enjoy!

 

Sources: From Names on the Faces of Montana (by Roberta Carkeek Cheney, Copyright 1983 Revised 1984, 6th printing, January 1996); The Church on  the Changing Frontier by Helen O. Belknap, 1922; History of Washington, Idaho and Montana 1845-1889, page 622-623.

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