Public Enterprises

Gallatin Canyon Road

It was about 1898 that the first wagon road was built up the Gallatin River as far as Taylor’s Fork, the intention being to connect with a National Park wagon road at Swan Lake Basin. James M. Moore, a pioneer who celebrated his eighty-fifth birthday anniversary in November 1932, says that in 1910 and 1911, he and a nephew, William Moore, blazed the trail from Taylor’s Fork to West Yellowstone, building 53 bridges and culverts. In 1932, there is a fine surfaced highway from Bozeman to West Yellowstone, and this gateway to Yellowstone Park is said to have the finest scenery to be found on any park entrance.

Bozeman Sanitarium

The Bozeman Sanitarium, established in 1894 by Dr. H. W. Foster, was the first hospital established in Gallatin County. It was taken over by Dr. J. F. Blair after the death of Dr. Foster, and was later leased by Deaconesses of the Methodist Episcopal Church, then purchased with the aid of local subscriptions. The original hospital was transformed into a nurse’s home and rooms for the training school when the new and larger Deaconess Hospital was built. There are now some smaller hospitals in other parts of Gallatin County.

Lumber Business

George W. Flanders was among the first to start the lumber business in Middle Creek Canyon, and J. J. Tomlinson and Z. Sales on West Gallatin River. Other lumber mills developed, also for some time tie camps flourished, and lumberyards are important features of the business in Gallatin County in later years.

First Telegraph Line

The first telegraphic communication between Bozeman and Helena was completed November 11, 1871, and a telegraph line between Bozeman and Bismarck, Dakota, was completed March 20, 1880.

Telephones Installed

Telephones were installed in Bozeman in 1885 by the Rocky Mountain Bell Telephone Company, but were not adopted very generally for a few years. Later, an independent company installed what was known as the home telephone, the system being later absorbed by the Bell Company, which sold in 1911 to the Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph Company. Bozeman now has 2,358 telephones, and the company has exchanges in the other towns in the county and a large number of telephones in rural homes of Gallatin County. Long distance connection may be made not only throughout Montana, but also with any part of the United States.

Sweet Pea Carnival

The Sweet Pea Carnival, sponsored largely by the Bozeman Civic League, with the cooperation of the Gallatin Valley Club was first held in 1906, and also with the cooperation of the Bozeman Lodge of Elks in 1907, was an event in which people of the community, as well as some from other parts of the valley, helped. The state grand lodge of Elks being held in connection with the carnival in August 1907, brought hundreds of people to the city, and boosted Bozeman as the “Sweet Pea City,” because of the exceptionally fine blossoms grown here. The parade showed many elaborately decorated rigs and floats. After a few years, the carnival was given up.

Government Fish Hatchery

The Bozeman Fish Technology Center, established in 1894, is located in Bridger Canyon, about four miles northeast of Bozeman. It includes about 120 acres of ground, some land having been turned over to the Gallatin National Forest a few years ago for the location of the Bridger Ranger Station. The hatchery is supplied with cold water from a spring-fed creek, and has a number of open fish ponds in addition to the hatchery building. Fish have been distributed from this hatchery, not only to many streams and ponds in Montana, and to Glacier National Park, but also to other states, including Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Wyoming.

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