How Did Montana and Granite County Happen

 

The history of the development of the county is a story within itself. This area was:

•  known first, before 1804, as The District of Louisiana (which included Montana East of the Divide) with the first capital being Biloxi, Mississippi until 1723, when the capital became New Orleans, Louisiana; 
•  which was renamed the Territory of Louisiana in 1805, with Vincennes the capital; 

• Then re-named Missouri Territory in 1812, with St. Louis the capital.  East of the Divide was conceded by Britain to the US in 1818 and west of the Divide was claimed by both countries.
•  Eastern Montana became part of Indian Country in 1821. 
•  Western part of Montana was ceded to the US by Great Britain in 1846. 
•  Next, Oregon Territory was created by Congress in 1848, with first Champoeg, then Oregon City and finally Salem, Oregon being the capital, in 1853. 
•  Eastern Montana was in Nebraska Territory after 1854, and Bellvue, Nebraska was the capital in 1854 and Omaha in 1855. 
• The western half of what is now Montana was included in Clarke County from Fort Vancouver to the Divide, when it was first Washington Territory in 1853; then Clarke was divided and the eastern side was named Skamania county, then Walla Walla county and then Spokane county 
• On December 14, 1860, Missoula County was created out of the eastern part of Spokane County and the seat of Justice was located at Hell’s Gate Road where Worden & Co.’s Trading Post stood and “embraced the present 1885 counties, of Missoula and Deer Lodge, west to the summit of the main range”. 
• Dakota Territory was created in 1861 and included eastern Montana, with the capital Yankton. 
• Then for an even shorter period western Montana, was included in Idaho Territory, in 1863, with the capital Lewiston. 
• The area finally became Montana Territory in 1864, with Bannack the first capital, then Virginia City in 1865 and Helena in 1875; 
• Then the State of Montana, Deer Lodge County in 1889, with Deer Lodge the county seat. 

Finally in March of 1893, the area became Granite County, with Philipsburg elected the county seat, November 1894, by the margin of 715 votes to Stone Station 272 and Drummond 186. 

If the United States Congress had possessed better knowledge regarding the geography of the western territories, Granite County would probably be in Idaho, instead of Montana. The Idaho Territory was shown in a map published by Alvin Jewitt Johnson, in 1863, to extend to the Continental Divide. 

All early maps name Fred Burr Creek as Burr Creek and Flint Creek is labeled as Flint River. Rock Creek is called both Stony and Rock Creek. Also the Hellgate, now known as the Clark Fork was called Arrowhead during the early 1800’s when the Hudson Bay Trappers were in the area and when Father DeSmet journaled about his travels through the area. 

While speaking about Montana politics, K. Ross Toole, in Montana: an uncommon land, described the territorial boundary change, because of Sidney Edgerton. Mr. Edgerton had been named Chief Justice of Idaho Territory, by Abraham Lincoln. When Edgerton recognized the immensity of the area he was intended to administer he: “Realized that the area east of the Bitterroot Mountains could never be effectively governed from Lewiston and that it should not be part of Idaho Territory…” Thus, Edgerton, W.F. Sanders, Con Orem and other influential parties petitioned Congress for a separate territory. 

Edgerton then traveled to Washington D.C. to present the petition and that is how Montana Territory came about. Lincoln named Edgerton the Governor, of the new territory. The proclamation signed by Lincoln on Wednesday May 26, 1864, carved out for future statehood more than ninety two million acres. The designated area was located roughly between the forty-ninth parallel on the north, the forty-fifth parallel on the south, the 104 meridian to the east and the crest of the Bitterroot and Beaverhead Mountains to the west. 

Unknown to the politicians, this vast area divided itself into at least two distinct areas. The eastern boundary was changed slightly in 1873 when Congress realized a small area of land just west of the 111 meridian had been left attached to Dakota in 1868, when Wyoming territory was created. Montana had always exercised jurisdiction over the area and it was physically separated from Dakota by hundreds of miles. 

The Flint Creek Valley, Lower Willow Creek and Rock Creek area are documented either incorrectly on early Washington D.C. maps and as unexplored on the Mullan Maps, first published in 1863. We know that Tom Adams grazed cattle in Flint Creek valley in 1858 and in 1861 the Stuart group took Milch cows into the valley to catch moose calves. Fortunately they did not see any!