The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-12-18
GRAND OLD DEER LODGE
fs One Of Montana's Original
Counties.
CHANGES MADE BY TIME
Growth and Development OF the County
Since Its Creation In lee5-It Has
Had Three County Seats.
Gold Discovered Here.

y Up at the lei of Main street mat
tters arc progressing rapidly in connec-
, tion with the new court house of Deer
lodge county. There has been but lit
ale stir in connection with this work.
and IL is doubtful IL there are four
score of people in town. outside Of
Whose who are engaged in the con-
a struction work. who know that the
foundations of the court house are fin
irhed and that the Jail is under roof.
sSxork on the interior of the latter
.6uiiding will be well under way in a
><hort time. and the walls OF the court
Mouse will soon attract the eye Of
those who pass along Main street The
work is being well and thoroughly
! DONE. and the buildings will be credita-
BILE to the county.
Deer Lodge has not had many chang
4 es in its seat of government or in the
, buildings which have housed Its off,
GERS and been the repositories of its
records. When the county was estap-
Wished by the first territorial legisla-
azure of Montana. Feb. 2. 1865. the coun-
Ny seat was located at Silver Bow City.
(which was then within the limits of
Deer Lodge. There the county scat
remained for a little more than a year.
: until the drift of population toward the
placer diggings in the gulches north
ward had decimated the population u
the once thrifty camp at Silver Bow.
The Town of Deer Lodge had by this
him acquired a degree of ~permanency
.3bat was unusual in those days. and
40 h pretty village on Cottonwood
Wreck the officers transported their
meager records Of the young county.
~ 49, ~ 49, G.Al -
TOWNSHIP company had laid out the
, strets and blocks of the new met-op-
oils. This townsite company donated
TO the county an entire square in the
center of the town. and upon this land.
.stwo years later. were erected the first
County buildings. This was in 1865. and
Jail and court hbuse then built did
service until the growth of the county
made necessary the brick addition TO
the court house and the new Jail. which
were used until the change of the coun-
~ seat to Anaconda.
II will not be long before the new
court house is ready for occupancy.
1t will be a modern structure and
many an old-timer. as he looks at II,
will mentally contrast II with the rude
cabin in Silver Bow City from which
the affairs of the county were adminis-
tered in 1866 and 1866 and the shack in
Deer Lodge that was occupied by the
county officers in 1867 and 1868. When
the old frame court house was erected
? in Deer Lodge in 1868 IL was one of the
finest buildings in all Montana. Yet.
this structure seems crude, indeed.
. when compared with the model build
ing now in course of construction in
the city OF Anaconda. The county will
d. have before another Christmas arrives,
ia building that will be a credit to the
T. county and an to the beau
y tiful city where IL is located.
Deer Lodge county has not seen IS
many ups and downs as most Western
counties. From the .creation of the
county in 1865. IL has been almost Con-
~tinually prosperous. The sources Of the
prosperity have changed from time to
time. but the changes have always
been for the better. Populated in the
beginning by reason of the gold excite
ment. quartz mining and agriculture
succeeded sluicing and grading as
the means Of livelihood of the residents
Of the young county. Now. with its
area much reduced by the segregation
OF other counties. Deer Lodge ranks
az the preatest copper producing coun-
ty In the world. In this connection IL
is interesting TO note that the first
placer gold found in Montana was dis
civered in Deer Lodge county. on Gold
.creek. in 1852. and long before Alder
. gulch and Last Chance were known.
Z men were taking out gold in This
county.
The first building erected in Deer
Lodge county was constructed in 1859
at the mouth of Little Blackfoot
creek by John f. Grant. The little set
Element that grew up around this
house was called Granville. but IL
was short lived and was deserted In
1863. In october. 1850. the first houses
were built in the town of Deer Lodge.