A Travel Guide to Helena, Montana

By William Howard

“A Travel Guide to Helena, Montana” contains the following sections: Introduction, Attractions, Activities, Day Trips, Motel/Hotel Accommodations, Bed & Breakfast Establishments, RV Parks & Campgrounds, Restaurants. Breweries & Distilleries, Wine Bars, Art Galleries, Shopping, Transportation and Essential Services.

• Language: English
• Publisher: William Howard
• Release date: May 19, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370399130

William Howard

William Howard was born and raised in Colorado. He has been on faculty at Western Michigan University and Northern Michigan University. He holds a Doctorate in Special Education and worked in public education for 26 years. He travels often to Colorado, South Dakota, Wyoming, New Mexico and Arizona.

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A Travel Guide to Helena, Montana

William Howard

Copyright 2017 by William Howard

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Table of Contents

Welcome to Helena, Montana

Attractions

Activities

Day Trips

Hotel/Motel Accommodations

Bed & Breakfast Establishments

RV Parks & Campgrounds

Restaurants

Breweries & Distilleries

Wine Bars

Art Galleries

Shopping

Transportation

Essential Services

Helena Memories

Welcome to Helena, Montana

The Helena area was long used by various indigenous peoples. Evidence from the McHaffie and Indian Creek sites on opposite sides of the Elkhorn Mountains southeast of Helena Valley show that people of the Folsom culture lived in the area more than 10,000 years ago. Before the introduction of the horse some 300 years ago, and since, other native people, including the Salish and the Blackfeet, utilized the area seasonally on their nomadic rounds.

By the early 1800s people of European descent from the United States and British Canada began arriving to work the streams of the Missouri watershed looking for fur-bearing animals like the beaver, bringing them through the area now known as the Helena Valley. Yet, like the native people, none of them stayed for long.

On July 14, 1864, the discovery of gold by a prospecting party in a gulch off the Prickly Pear Creek led to the founding of a mining camp in the area they called Last Chance. By fall, the population had grown to over 200, and some thought the Last Chance name of the town was too crass. On October 30, 1864, a group of at least seven self-appointed men met to name the town, authorize the layout of streets, and elect commissioners. After much debate a Scotsman name John Summerville proposed the town’s name as Helena. Later tales of the naming of Helena claimed the name came after the island of St. Helena, where Napoleon had been exiled, or was that of a miner’s sweetheart.

The town site was first surveyed by Captain John Wood. However, many of the original streets followed the chaotic paths of the miners, going around claims and following the winding gulch. As a result, few city blocks are consistent in sizes, rather they from Last an irregular variety of shapes and sizes.

By 1888, about fifty millionaires lived in Helena, more per capita than any city in the world. About