This is a timeline of pre-statehood Montana history comprising substantial events in the history of the area that would become the State of Montana prior to November 8, 1889. This area existed as Montana Territory from May 28, 1864, until November 8, 1889, when it was admitted to the Union as the State of Montana.
Pre-territorial period
1805–1840
1805–1806 – Lewis and Clark Expedition travels through Montana November 21, 1807 – Fur trader Manuel Lisa establishes Fort Raymond at the mouth of the Big Horn River on the Yellowstone River. Summer 1808 (1809?) – Fur trapper John Colter escapes a band of Blackfeet Indians near Three Forks, Montana in what is known as "Colter's Run". November 9, 1809 – British fur trader and explorer David Thompson establishes Saleesh House at Thompson Falls on the Columbia River. February 26, 1810 – British fur trader and explorer David Thompson encounters Bitterroot Salish Indians wintering on the Flathead River below Flathead Lake. March 20, 1822 – William H. Ashley forms the Rocky Mountain Fur Company in St. Louis and operates it in Wyoming and Montana for twelve years. Jim Bridger, William Sublette, James Pierson Beckwourth and Jedediah Smith are among its corps of trappers. 1828 – The American Fur Company establishes Fort Union on the Missouri River near its confluence with the Yellowstone River. April–July 1832 – The first steamship into Montana, the "Yellowstone", makes its inaugural round-trip voyage from St. Louis to Fort Union. June 24, 1833 – Prince Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied arrives at Fort Union on the steamship "Assiniboin" spending five weeks traveling among the Native Americans and hunting in the Marias River country. 1836–1845 – Hugh Monroe, a French Canadian fur trader from Quebec was most likely the first white person to visit the region of Glacier National Park.
1841–1850 September 24, 1841 – Jesuit priest Pierre Jean DeSmet, arrives in the Bitterroot Valley and establishes St. Mary's Mission, the first Euro-American settlement in what became Montana.History of St. Mary's Mission in Stevensville, Montana – Where Montana Began June 15, 1846 – The United Kingdom and the U.S. sign the Oregon Treaty establishing the 49th Parallel as the border between Canada and the U.S., as well as ceding the territory of western Montana to the U.S. 1846 – Alexander Culbertson establishes Fort Benton as the last fur trading post on the Upper Missouri River.Chouteau County, Montana Website, accessed 26 October 2009The History of "Old Fort Benton", Fort Benton Website, accessed 26 October 2009
1851–1860 July 16, 1855 – Governor of Washington Territory, Isaac Stevens concludes the Hellgate treaty with Salish, Pend d'Oreille and Kootenai chiefs which establishes the Jocko Reservation. May 2, 1858 – Brothers James and Granville Stuart discover gold at Gold Creek near the present site of Drummond, Montana. 1860 – Frank L. Worden and Captain Christopher P. Higgins found the settlement of Hell Gate near present-day Missoula, Montana. 1859–1860 – A military expedition under command of Captain William F. Raynolds explores parts of what would later become Montana searching for routes through the area. 1859–1860 – The United States federal government completes the Mullan Road between Fort Benton and Walla Walla, Washington. July 2, 1860 – Steamboats "Chippewa" and "Key West" arrive at the head of navigation of the Missouri River at Fort Benton, Montana.
1861–1864
July 28, 1862 – A major gold strike at Grasshopper Creek leads to the settlement of Bannack City. August 26, 1862 – C. W. Spillman, a horse thief is hanged at Gold Creek, the first recorded hanging in what would later become Montana November 1862 – The first permanent settlement in the Gallatin Valley, Gallatin City, is established near present-day Three Forks, Montana by Frank and Thomas Dunbar. November 24, 1862 – The first post office in what would later become Montana is established at Hell Gate. March 4, 1863 – U.S. Congress creates Idaho Territory from the eastern portion of Washington Territory and the western portion of Dakota Territory, for the first time politically uniting lands of present-day Montana west of the Continental Divide with those east of the Divide. May 5, 1863 – Civilian prospectors James Stuart and fifteen men plat Big Horn City at the confluence of the Big Horn and Yellowstone Rivers during the Yellowstone Expedition of 1863. May 26, 1863 – Bill Fairweather and Henry Edgar discover the largest placer gold strike in North America at Alder Gulch. July 1863 – John Bozeman and John Jacobs blaze the Bozeman Trail from Douglas, Wyoming to Bannack, Montana. December 19–21, 1863 – George Ives is tried and hanged for the murder of Nicolas Tiebolt in Nevada City, Montana. Wilbur F. Sanders acts as the prosecution. December 23, 1863 – The Vigilance Committee of Alder Gulch is established in Virginia City, Montana January 1864 – The Vigilance Committee of Virginia City, Montana tries and hangs Cyrus Skinner, Aleck Carter and Johnny Cooper in Hell Gate January 10, 1864 – Henry Plummer, the sheriff of Bannack, Montana, is hanged with two other alleged criminals for robbery and murder by Montana Vigilantes. 1864 – Jim Bridger guides immigrants and prospectors along the Bridger Trail to Virginia City, Montana
Territorial period
1864
May 28 – Montana Territory created from portion of Idaho Territory and Dakota Territory May 28 – Bannack selected as first territorial capital June 22 – Sidney Edgerton appointed first governor of Montana Territory July 21 – Gold was discovered in "Last Chance Gulch" which resulted in the settlement of Helena, Montana. August 9 – The Upper East Gallatin Association formed to officially establish the city of Bozeman, Montana August 27 – Volume 1, Number 1 of the Montana Post was published in Virginia City, Montana as the first newspaper in Montana Territory October 24 – Montana's first congressional election sends Democrat Samuel McLean to the U.S. Congress as Montana's first territorial delegate, cementing the territory's reputation as a Democratic Party stronghold. December 3 – Gold is discovered at Confederate Gulch in the Big Belt Mountains. December 12 – The first territorial Legislature Assembly of Montana convenes in Bannack, Montana. December 30 – Territorial Legislative Assembly names Virginia City as the first incorporated town in Montana.
1865 February 2 – Historical Society of Montana incorporated at Virginia City, Montana. February 5 – Governor Edgerton approves the Montana Territorial Seal designed by Francis M. Thompson (effectively the seal used by the state of Montana) February 7 – Virginia City, Montana becomes the second capital of Montana Territory March 24 – Congress authorizes the Blackfoot Treaty of 1865 (signed in October at Fort Benton, Montana) by which the Blackfoot tribes ceded all lands south of the Missouri and Teton rivers and west of the Milk river to the Rocky Mountains to the U.S. Government. Summer – Frank L. Worden and Captain Christopher P. Higgins began construction of lumber and flour mills five miles east of Hell Gate. Known as Missoula Mills, this became the site of Missoula, Montana August 26 – The Montana Post, Virginia City, Montana publishes the first serial of Thomas J. Dimsdale's The Vigilantes of Montana September 1 – U.S. Army forces engaged about 300 Hunkpapa, Sans Arc, and Miniconjou Lakota Sioux at Alkali Creek, near Broadus, Montana during the Powder River Expedition. September – Thomas Francis Meagher appointed territorial governor of Montana October 14 – The first regular mails arrived in Helena, Montana via stagecoach from Corinne, Utah.
1866
Thomas J. Dimsdale, Virginia City, Montana publishes the first edition of The Vigilantes of Montana in book form. The first book ever published in Montana. July – Green Clay Smith appointed territorial governor of Montana July 10 – Camp Cooke, the first U.S. Army post built in Montana located on the Missouri River, at the mouth of the Judith River was named for General Philip St. George Cooke, the commander of the Department of the Platte at the time. August 12 – Fort C. F. Smith established on the Big Horn River to protect the Bozeman Trail. August 23 – Cattleman Johnny Grant sells his Deer Lodge, Montana ranch to cattle baron Conrad Kohrs. November 2 – The first telegraph messages to and from Montana are sent from Salt Lake City to Virginia City and back to President Andrew Johnson by Governor Green Clay Smith. December – Nelson Story arrives in Paradise Valley with first herd of Texas Longhorn cattle driven north on the Bozeman Trail from Texas.
1867 May – Montana Territorial militia establish Fort Elizabeth Meagher near Bozeman, Montana. July 1 – Thomas Francis Meagher, Territorial Governor mysteriously dies in the Missouri River near Fort Benton, Montana. August 27 – U.S. Army establishes Fort Ellis just east of Bozeman, Montana garrisoned with five companies of the 2nd Cavalry Regiment to protect the Gallatin Valley.
1868 July 29 – Fort Smith evacuated, beginning the closure of the Bozeman Trail to white settlers as a result of Red Cloud's War.Montana Yesterday » July 29, 1868: The demise of Fort Smith November 6 – Red Cloud signs Treaty of Fort Laramie, which required abandonment of all forts along the Bozeman Trail.
1869 James Mitchell Ashley appointed territorial governor of Montana territory August 23 – Prominent Helena rancher Malcolm Clarke was killed at his ranch home near the mouth of the Prickly Pear Creek by a band of Piegan Blackfeet. September 6 – David E. Folsom, Charles W. Cook and William Peterson of Diamond City, Montana, a gold camp in the Confederate Gulch area of the Big Belt Mountains east of Helena, Montana begin the Cook–Folsom–Peterson Expedition which was the first organized expedition to explore the region that became Yellowstone National Park. November 20 – The first Crow Indian Agency was established on Mission Creek just east of Livingston, Montana.
1870
January 23 – Piegan Blackfeet are massacred on the Marias River by the U.S. Army 2nd Cavalry Regiment under the command of Major Eugene Baker. August 16 – Civilian members of the Washburn–Langford–Doane Expedition depart Helena, Montana en route to Fort Ellis to link up with a U.S. Army escort for the first official exploration of the Yellowstone region. Benjamin F. Potts appointed territorial governor September 29 – Henry Comstock, a discoverer of the Comstock Lode died (suicide) in Bozeman
1871 June 30 – the Hayden Geological Survey of 1871 enters Montana Territory en route to the Yellowstone region via Fort Ellis to spend 45 days exploring what was to become Yellowstone National Park in 1872. September 13 – The first issue of the weekly Avant Courier newspaper, the precursor of the Bozeman Chronicle was published in Bozeman. November 4 – President Ulysses S. Grant issued an Executive order directing the removal of the Flathead Indians from the Bitterroot Valley to the Jocko reservation.
1872 March 1 – President Ulysses S. Grant signs the bill establishing Yellowstone National Park, portions of which are in Gallatin and Park counties, Montana. June 5 – The U.S. Congress establishes the Flathead Indian Reservation for Bitterroot Salish, Pend d'Oreille and Kootenai tribes and opens the Bitterroot Valley to homesteading. July 23 – Col. John A Haydon leads a Northern Pacific railway survey party from Fort Ellis, east of present-day Bozeman, Montana. Haydon's supply train consisted of almost seventy wagons with rations for 105 days and a small herd of beef cattle. Haydon's military escort, commanded by Major Eugene Baker, Second Cavalry, consisting of four companies, 187 men, of the Second Cavalry, and four companies, 189 men, of the Seventh Infantry.