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Bannack Historic District

City: Dillon

County: Beaverhead

National Register #: 66000426

Type: n/a

Date of Designation: July 4, 1961

Public Access: Yes

Current Use: Commercial district; www.fwp.state.mt.us; [406) 834-3413.

Bannack sprang up almost overnight when gold was discovered in 1862. It became the first capital of Montana Territory in 1864. Remaining buildings are of frame and log construction, typical of a frontier boom town and reminiscent of its brief fame.

Butte-Anaconda Historic District

City: Butte (Anaconda)

County: Silver Bow

National Register #: 66000438

Type: Historic District: Historical

Date of Designation: July 4, 1961

Public Access: Yes

Current Use: Commercial District; www.co.silverbow.mt.us/www.butteinfo.org.

The American Labor History Theme Study, completed in 2003, identified Butte as one of 16 sites that warranted further evaluation as an NHL for its association with labor history. The Butte-Anaconda district represents several themes discussed in the theme study, including: Marking Labor History on the National Landscape, Extractive Labor in the United States, and American Manufacture: Site of Production and Conflict. It meets the requirements for national significance defined in the theme study. This nomination also expands the NHL district to encompass all of the nationally significant resources associated with copper production and unionism. While the 1961 designation focused on Butte, this nomination also includes the communities of Walkerville and Anaconda, as well as the Butte, Anaconda & Pacific Railroad. Walkerville represents the districtÂ’s mining camp period and was the site of its earliest mining discoveries; WalkervilleÂ’s mines were also the focus of the districtÂ’s first labor strike. Anaconda, ButteÂ’s "sister city," was an integral component of the copper district. The ore that was mined in Butte was shipped to Anaconda via the Butte, Anaconda & Pacific Railroad for smelting. Established as a company town for the purpose of providing smelting operations for the copper district, AnacondaÂ’s history and development is intertwined with that of Butte and Walkerville. The Butte-Anaconda Historic District is a unique and outstanding part of AmericaÂ’s built environment that is critical to understanding and appreciating broad patterns of the nationÂ’s extractive mining and labor history. The historic district powerfully illustrates the dramatic changes that resulted from AmericaÂ’s emergence as the worldÂ’s leading industrial nation. The meteoric rise of Butte-Anaconda to the pinnacle of world copper production was inherently linked with the advent of the Age of Electricity and the corresponding industrial revolution of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. By providing vast reserves of red metal just when it was needed most, Butte-Anaconda helped transform the United States into a modern economic superpower. Butte-Anaconda profoundly affected the nationÂ’s labor movement. As AmericaÂ’s "Gibraltar of Unionism," Butte-Anaconda embodied the strengths (and periodic weaknesses) of the industrial working class, spread the gospel of unionism, and spearheaded the formation of the Western Federation of Miners (WFM) and International Workers of the World (IWW). In addition, events at Butte-Anaconda catalyzed the schism that led to the formation of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO).

Camp Disappointment

City: Browning

County: Glacier

National Register #: 66000434

Type: Domestic - camp

Date of Designation: May 23, 1966

Public Access: No

Current Use: n/a

A campsite for Meriwether Lewis on his return trip from the Pacific in 1806. Northernmost point reached by the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Situated on the Blackfeet Reservation.

Chief Joseph Battleground of Bear's Paw

City: Chinook

County: Blaine

National Register #: 70000355

Type: Defense - battle site

Date of Designation: June 7, 1988

Public Access: Yes

Current Use: Park.

Site of the battle in which Chief Joseph and more than 400 Nez Perce Indians surrendered to the United States Army (1877). The Bear Paw surrender signaled the close of the Nez Perces' existence as an "independent Indian people." Henceforth, they lived as a group of displaced persons; in the white culture, but certainly not of it.

Fort Benton

City: Fort Benton

County: Chouteau

National Register #: 66000431

Type: Historic District: Historical

Date of Designation: November 5, 1961

Public Access: Yes

Current Use: City Park: River & Plains Society 406-622-3278, riverplains@mcn.net.

Established as a fur trading center in 1847, the fort prospered with the growth of steamboat traffic starting in 1859 and an 1862 gold strike, but declined with the advent of the railroad.

Going-to-the-Sun Road

City: West Glacier

County: Flathead

National Register #: 97000345

Type: Transportation - road - related

Date of Designation: February 18, 1997

Public Access: Yes

Current Use: Road in Glacier National Park; See www.nps.gov/glac/montana.htm; 406-888-7800.

An essential step in making large scenic reservations accessible to the motoring public without unduly marring landscape scenery or natural systems was the initiation of "landscape engineering." When it was begun, Going-to-the-Sun Road was the most ambitious road construction project ever undertaken by the Bureau of Public Roads and the NPS. The extreme terrain and conditions, as well as the newness of the administrative agreement between the two federal bureaus, made the road a laboratory of innovative road engineering practices and policies. While building the road, the NPS and the Bureau of Public Roads developed the construction standards and the cooperative administration that characterized future road construction not only in national parks, but on other federal lands and, after 1933, in state parks as well.

Grant-Kohrs Ranch

City: Deer Lodge

County: Powell

National Register #: 72000738

Type: Farm/Ranch

Date of Designation: December 19, 1960

Public Access: Yes

Current Use: Grant-Kohrs National Historic Site; See www.nps.gov/grko; 406-846-3388.

John Grant, the original owner of the ranch, starting in 1853, is sometimes credited with founding the range-cattle industry in Montana. Conrad Kohrs, who bought the ranch about 1866, was among the foremost "cattle kings" of his era.

Great Falls Portage

City: Great Falls

County: Cascade

National Register #: 66000429

Type: Transportation - water -related

Date of Designation: May 23, 1966

Public Access: Yes

Current Use: 406-454-5840; www.fwp.state.mt.us; www.corpsofdiscovery.org.

The Lewis and Clark Expedition undertook an 18-mile, 31-day portage at Great Falls, one of the most difficult ordeals of their westward trip. The Great Falls Portage NHL is within Giant Springs State Park.

Great Northern Railway Buildings

City: Glacier National Park

County: Flathead

National Register #: 87001453

Type: Domestic - hotel

Date of Designation: May 28, 1987

Public Access: Yes

Current Use: For Park & Reservation information see www.nps.gov/glac. - click on lodging..

The Great Northern Railway Buildings National Historic Landmark is comprised of five building complexes: Belton Chalet, Granite Park Chalet, Many Glacier Hotel, Sperry Chalet, and Two Medicine Store. Together they exemplify a distinct architectural style being used on a massive scale for park concessions development (c. 1913-15). This National Historic Landmark probably contains the largest collection of Swiss-style buildings and the only U.S. example of the use of a European system of hostelries built a day's hike or ride apart.

Hagen Site

City: Glendive

County: Dawson

National Register #: 66000432

Type: Domestic - village site (pueblo group)

Date of Designation: July 19, 1964

Public Access: No

Current Use: n/a

An archeological site representing one of the Crow villages after the tribe had split from the Hidatsa on the Missouri River (c. 1550-1675). The site has the potential to revewl evidence on the extent to which horticulture was still being practiced in this area, and also for extracting other dietary information.

Lake McDonald Lodge

City: West Glacier

County: Flathead

National Register #: 87001447

Type: Domestic - hotel

Date of Designation: May 28, 1987

Public Access: Yes

Current Use: Hotel; See www.nps.gov/glac; 406-755-6303.

A fine example of Swiss chalet hotel architecture in the U.S. (1913). Also significant because of its later inclusion as an addition to the chalet system of the Glacier Park Hotel Company.

Northeast Entrance Station

City: Yellowstone National Park

County: Park

National Register #: 87001435

Type: Recreation & Culture - outdoor recreation

Date of Designation: May 28, 1987

Public Access: Yes

Current Use: Entrance Station; See ; 307-344-7381; www.nps.gov/yell; view of exterior; interior closed..

Designed following the parameters of the rustic design ethic, it is not only a physical, but also a psychological boundary between the rest of the world and the area set aside as a permanent wild place. The best of its type remaining in the National Park System, and it is virtually unchanged since its construction in 1935.

Pictograph Cave

City: Billings

County: Yellowstone

National Register #: 66000439

Type: n/a

Date of Designation: July 19, 1964

Public Access: Yes

Current Use: Montana State Park: 406-247-2940 : http://www.pictographcave.org.

One of the key archeological sites used in determining the sequence of prehistoric occupation on the northwestern Plains. The deposits indicate occupation from 2600 BC to after 1800 AD.

Pompey's Pillar

City: Pompey's Pillar

County: Yellowstone

National Register #: 66000440

Type: Landscape - natural feature

Date of Designation: July 23, 1965

Public Access: Yes

Current Use: National Monument: www.mt.blm.gov/pillarmon; 406-875-2233.

Pompey's Pillar is a massive natural block of sandstone which was a major landmark on the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Clark's signature, carved on its surface, is still visible, the only physical evidence remaining of the expedition.

Rankin Ranch

City: Avalanche Gulch

County: Broadwater

National Register #: 76001119

Type: Farm/Ranch

Date of Designation: May 11, 1976

Public Access: No

Current Use: n/a

Residence (1923-56) of Jeanette Rankin, first woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives (1916). She served two terms (1917-19) and (1941-43). Best remembered for her pacifism, she played an important role in women's rights and social reform movement. She was the only member of the House to oppose the declaration of war against Japan in 1941.

Traveler's Rest (Montana)

City: Lolo

County: Missoula

National Register #: 66000437

Type: Domestic - camp

Date of Designation: October 9, 1960

Public Access: Yes

Current Use: Interpretive signage along road.

Campsite where Lewis and Clark stopped before crossing the Bitterroot Mountains on their 1805 trip west and on their return the next year.

Virginia City Historic District

City: Virginia City

County: Madison

National Register #: 66000435

Type: Historic District: Historical

Date of Designation: July 4, 1961

Public Access: Yes

Current Use: Town; www.edheritage.org/heritagecommission; 406-843-5247.

Virginia City was the territorial capital of Montana (1865-75) and the site of one of the greatest gold strikes in the West (1863). Today it seems a classic Western ghost town, with many false-fronted buidings which are open as museums. More than two hundred historic buildings and some one million authentic artifacts of its history remain.

Wheeler, Burton K., House

City: Butte

County: Silver Bow

National Register #: 76001129

Type: Domestic - single dwelling

Date of Designation: December 8, 1976

Public Access: No

Current Use: n/a

Montana home (1908-23) of a Senate radical of the 1920s and 1930s. The first prominent Democrat to support F.D.R. for the Presidency, he later broke with Roosevelt over the court-packing plan and Lend-Lease.

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