blackfoot-valley

Other than Butte, most of the towns that endured and grew in south- western Montana were trade centers like Dillon, Bozeman, Deer Lodge, and Helena. While mining and ore processing continues to some extent in the Helena area, that city has long since turned to other activities, focusing on its key functions as the state capital and as a distributing center. The territorial capital, set up first at the booming mining camp of Bannack, soon moved to the new boom town of Virginia City. Later, the state capital was transferred to Helena in 1875. Helena became the permanent state capital in 1894, de- feating Anaconda in a final runoff election during which exuberant bribery was openly flaunted on both sides. Helena and Butte / Anaconda at the time controlled most of the disposable wealth in the state. “Helena Montana, 1890” Wikimedia Commons 104