blackfoot-valley

he walked 21 miles in steaming tropical heat and drenching downpours with all that he owned on his back. Heading north by sea and land, he finally reached the Montana gold fields, arriving at Blackfoot City in 1867. He quickly went to where the action was, Washington Gulch in the upper Nevada Valley. Here in the Nevada Creek headwaters area he worked for a mine owner named W.A. Clark. When it became clear that Clark was making insufficient money from the mine to pay him, Michael quit. To his complete surprise he found that his cousins John and Jim Geary were also in the area, and sought them out. The three Gearys put their heads together and decided to go jointly into ranching and farming in a promising area off lower Nevada Creek (the area where Helmville was later to be established). John, “Big Jim”, and Michael built up a herd of Shorthorns that bore the appropriately chosen 3-G brand. John married and in due time the couple had eight children. The three original Gearys soon became leaders of standing in the area. All three occu- “Homestead on the Blackfoot River” 125