A glittering discovery beside a quiet creek changed Montana forever in 1862. When prospector John White struck placer gold along Grasshopper Creek on July 28, thousands of miners, merchants and fortune seekers rushed to the area, giving birth to Bannack — Montana Territory's first major mining town. Within months, the once-isolated settlement had transformed into one of the busiest boomtowns in the northern Rockies.
Named after the local Bannock people, Bannack quickly became a thriving frontier town packed with hotels, saloons, general stores, blacksmith shops, churches, schools and homes. Its rapid rise was so remarkable that it became the first capital of Montana Territory before the title shifted to Virginia City in 1865.
