DescriptionFor thousands of years, Native Americans quarried chert for arrowheads and spear points in the Prickly Pear Valley region that surrounds what now is Montana City. The first gold prospectors arrived here in the summer of 1862, and 2 years later the Lower Prickly Pear Mining District was established to govern the area. The Montana Town Company laid out Montana City in October 1864, naming it in honor of the newly designated territory. By 1868, the placer mines were proving less profitable, and Chinese miners began moving in to rework the claims. In 1887, there was a brief revival with the arrival of the Helena and Wickes Railroad and a Great Northern Railway branch line, and the establishment of a post office. In the late 1940s, Henry Kaiser built a cement plant for Permanente Cement Company just east of what remained of the town, because of its proximity to an Anaconda Company lime quarry. A new Montana City began to grow in the 1960s, and is now a prospering bedroom suburb for Helena. Personal NamesKaiser, HenryContributing InstitutionMontana Historical Society Library and ArchivesGeolocation[1] Elevation4053 ft.CountyJefferson County
