Gallatin County

The first flour mill in Gallatin County, and said to be the first in the territory to make flour for commercial purposes, was built by Cover and McAdow, in the fall of 1864 and the spring of 1865, on ground a short distance northeast of the present city limits of Bozeman. It was ready for business in the fall of 1865. P. W. and W. B. McAdow later bought the interest of Thomas Cover, and the McAdow brothers continued the mill until 1879, when P. W. McAdow went down on the Yellowstone and located on a ranch, establishing the town […]

The first library in Gallatin County was started in Bozeman in 1872, by the Young Men’s Library Association, in a room over Alward’s Drug Store. Later, it was in the office of Judge A. D. McPherson, then in the office of J. V. Bogert, and in 1885, the books were given to the Bozeman schools. The following year, the Young Men’s Christian Association started a library, and books were collected by a group of women, who took turns in serving as librarian. In 1890, the library was taken over by the city, and a librarian was employed part time, with

Our monuments have been erected in Gallatin County, impressive ceremonies marking their dedication or unveiling. On August 8, 1914, a monument unveiled in Bozeman was erected. “In commemoration of the organization of the Territory of Montana, May 26, 1864, and of the admission of the territory to the union of states, November 6, 1889. Erected August 8, 1914, by the Society of Montana Pioneers, assembled in annual reunion.” The reunion that year marked the Golden and Silver Jubilee of Montana, and the Golden Jubilee for Bozeman, the city being officially named August 9, 1864. The Montana Daughters of the American

The First National Bank of Bozeman opened for business in August 1872, was the first bank established in Bozeman or in Gallatin County. The officers were: President, L. M. Black; cashier, George W. Fox; additional directors, C. J. Lyster and John P. Bruce. The bank suspended in 1878. The Bozeman National Bank opened in 1882, with Emory Cobb, president; C. H. Cobb, vice president; D. F. Sherman, cashier; directors, Thomas Lewis, W. H. Tracy, F. M. Esler, C. W. Hoffman, G. W. Wakefield and Walter Cooper. In 1893, this bank was closed for four months, on account of the panic,

The Bridger Trail Jim Bridger, the old mountaineer who led his first party over the divide in the early sixties, and traversed the same route many times afterward, was said to be the most famous frontiersman to act in the role of trailblazer into what is now Montana. The Bridger Trail left the main transcontinental route, the Oregon Trail, at a point on the north fork of the Platte River, a short distance east of Independence Rock, Wyoming. Proceeding northward, the trail crossed tributaries of the Big Horn River, entering Montana west of the Pryor Mountains, in what is now

The first newspaper published in Gallatin County, one of the early publications of the territory, was the “Montana Pick and Plow,” published and edited by H. N. Maguire in Bozeman. Mr. Maguire had been connected with the “Montana Post,” the first newspaper of the territory, published in Virginia City. A copy of the first number of the Pick and Plow, issued December 31, 1869, and preserved for 60 years by Mrs. W. J. Beall, an early pioneer who died in 1930, was presented to Mrs. E. L. Houston, secretary of the Pioneers’ Society of Gallatin County, whose father, W. W.

The Gallatin Valley, though never a permanent home to any tribe, was frequented by various Native American groups including the Blackfeet, Crow, Bannock, Nez Perce, Flathead, and Snake. These tribes traversed the valley en route to hunting and trapping grounds, leaving deep trails in the soil. The Blackfeet, in particular, laid claim to a vast territory spanning from the Saskatchewan to the Yellowstone rivers. A treaty in 1855 with the U.S. government recognized their ownership of this land, which included modern-day Gallatin County. Despite the treaty, subsequent actions by Presidents Grant and Hayes reduced the Blackfeet’s territory without their consent, leading to their current claim for compensation. Additionally, the Gallatin Valley, known as the “Valley of Flowers,” was considered neutral ground among tribes due to a legendary event that promoted peace in the region.

The Yellowstone Expedition down the Yellowstone in 1874 is identified in a way with the history of Gallatin County, as it was started from Bozeman, the prime object being to open up the Wolf Creek country, where the men supposed there were rich placer mines as represented by a man named J. L. Vernon, a former Bozeman teacher, who claimed he had found gold in paying quantities in the Wolf Creek Mountains. James Gourley, one of the party, a pioneer who came to what is now Montana in 1862, and who on May 4, 1932, celebrated his ninety-second birthday anniversary

While the Gallatin Valley is beautiful, and was called by the late Theodore Roosevelt, “a fair dimple in the cheek of nature,” when he visited here a number of years ago, the valley is recognized as one of the most productive in the state. In early days, wheat and oats with several kinds of vegetables were the principal products, and there was some wild hay put up. Later, barley was a standard product, and then crops of clover, timothy and alfalfa became especially important. Potatoes have been one of the principal vegetables in the valley since pioneer days, and records