Bannack is a

ghost town Ghost Town(s) or Ghosttown may refer to: * Ghost town, a town that has been abandoned Film and television * Ghost Town (1936 film), ''Ghost Town'' (1936 film), an American Western film by Harry L. Fraser * Ghost Town (1956 film), ''Ghost Town'' ...

Beaverhead County Beaverhead County is the largest county by area in the U.S. state of Montana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 9,371. Its county seat is Dillon. The county was founded in 1865. Much of the perimeter of the county is the Continental Di ...

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

, United States, located on Grasshopper Creek, approximately upstream from where Grasshopper Creek joins with the Beaverhead River south of

Dillon Dillon may refer to: People *Dillon (surname) * Dillon (given name) * Dillon (singer) (born 1988), Brazilian singer *Viscount Dillon, a title in the Peerage of Ireland Places Canada *Dillon, Saskatchewan United States *Dillon Beach, Californi ...

. Founded in 1862, the town is a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

managed by the state of Montana as Bannack State Park.

History

Founded in 1862 and named after the local

Bannock Bannock may mean: * Bannock (food), a kind of bread, cooked on a stone or griddle * Bannock (Indigenous American), various types of bread, usually prepared by pan-frying * Bannock people, a Native American people of what is now southeastern Oregon ...

natives, Bannack was the site of a major gold discovery in 1862, and served as the capital of

Montana Territory The Territory of Montana was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 26, 1864, until November 8, 1889, when it was admitted as the 41st state in the Union as the state of Montana. Original boundaries T ...

briefly in 1864, until the capital was moved to

Virginia City Virginia City is a census-designated place (CDP) that is the county seat of Storey County, Nevada, and the largest community in the county. The city is a part of the Reno– Sparks Metropolitan Statistical Area. Virginia City developed as a boom ...

. Bannack continued as a mining town, though with a dwindling population. The last residents left in the 1970s. At its peak, Bannack had a population of about ten thousand. Extremely remote, it was connected to the rest of the world only by the

Montana Trail The Montana Trail was a wagon road that served gold rush towns such as Bannack, Virginia City and later Helena during the Montana gold rush era of the 1860s and 1870s. Miners and settlers all traveled the trail to try to find better lives in Montan ...

. There were three hotels, three bakeries, three blacksmith shops, two stables, two meat markets, a grocery store, a restaurant, a brewery, a billiard hall, and four saloons. Though all of the businesses were built of logs, some had decorative false fronts. Among the town's founders was Dr. Erasmus Darwin Leavitt, a physician born in

Cornish, New Hampshire Cornish is a town in Sullivan County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 1,616 at the 2020 census. Cornish has four covered bridges. Each August, it is home to the Cornish Fair. History The town was granted in 1763 and contained a ...

, who gave up medicine for a time to become a gold miner. Dr. Leavitt arrived in Bannack in 1862, and alternately practiced medicine and mined for gold with pick and shovel. "Though some success crowned his labors," according to a history of Montana by

Joaquin Miller Cincinnatus Heine Miller (; September 8, 1837 – February 17, 1913), better known by his pen name Joaquin Miller (), was an American poet, author, and frontiersman. He is nicknamed the "Poet of the Sierras" after the Sierra Nevada, about which h ...

, "he soon found that he had more reputation as a physician than as a miner, and that there was greater profit in allowing someone else to wield his pick and shovel while he attended to his profession." Subsequently, Dr. Leavitt moved on to

Butte, Montana Butte ( ) is a consolidated city-county and the county seat of Silver Bow County, Montana, United States. In 1977, the city and county governments consolidated to form the sole entity of Butte-Silver Bow. The city covers , and, according to the ...

, where he devoted the rest of his life to his medical practice Bannack's sheriff,

Henry Plummer Henry Plummer (1832–1864) was a prospector, lawman, and outlaw in the American West in the 1850s and 1860s, who was known to have killed several men. He was elected sheriff of Bannack, Montana, in 1863 and served until 1864, during which ...

, was accused by some of secretly leading a ruthless band of road agents, with early accounts claiming that this gang was responsible for over a hundred murders in the Virginia City and Bannack gold fields and trails to

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

. However, because only eight deaths are historically documented, some modern historians have called into question the exact nature of Plummer's gang, while others deny the existence of the gang altogether. In any case, Plummer and two compatriots, both deputies, were hanged, without trial, at Bannack on January 10, 1864. A number of Plummer's associates were

lynched Lynching is an extrajudicial killing by a group. It is most often used to characterize informal public executions by a mob in order to punish an alleged transgressor, punish a convicted transgressor, or intimidate people. It can also be an ex ...

and others

banished Banished may refer to: * ''Banished'' (TV series), a 2015 drama television series * ''Banished'' (film), a 2007 documentary * ''Banished'' (video game), a city-building strategy game by Shining Rock Software * Banished (Halo), an alien faction ...

on pain of death if they ever returned. Twenty-two individuals were accused, informally tried, and hanged by the

Vigilance Committee A vigilance committee was a group formed of private citizens to administer law and order or exercise power through violence in places where they considered governmental structures or actions inadequate. A form of vigilantism and often a more stru ...

(the

Montana Vigilantes The history of vigilante justice and the Montana Vigilantes began in 1863 in what was at the time a remote part of eastern Idaho Territory. Vigilante activities continued, although somewhat sporadically, through the Montana Territorial period un ...

) of Bannack and

. Nathaniel Pitt Langford, the first superintendent of

Yellowstone National Park Yellowstone National Park is an American national park located in the western United States, largely in the northwest corner of Wyoming and extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U.S. Congress with the Yellowston ...

, was a member of that vigilance committee. A number of mining camps dotted the banks of Grasshopper Creek during the gold booms, starting at Bannack downstream almost to where the stream joins Beaverhead River. While many were short lived and considered just extensions of Bannack, others were designated towns of their own. Yankee Flats adjoined Bannack and was referred to as an "addition" to Bannack. Centerville and Marysville, about downstream, were both laid out as little camps in the winter on 1862. By the following March, a townsite company had laid out and platted Centerville. However, Marysville, named for early arrival Mary Wadam, gained more people and so contemporary maps alternately used the name on record, Centerville, or the name used by locals, Marysville. Dogtown was south of and "near" Bannack in 1866. It was named for the numerous stray dogs, and had a blacksmith shop, saloon, and grocery store. Jerusalem (also New Jerusalem or Jerusalem Bar) was located downstream of Bannack. Bon Accord, about downstream, was a larger camp that saw a revival in the 1890s, and had a post office and school district. White's Bar, located possibly downstream, was where John White and Company made the initial discovery of gold in 28 Jul 1862.

State park

Sixty historic log, brick, and frame structures remain standing in Bannack, many quite well preserved; most can be explored. The site, now the Bannack Historic District, was declared a

in 1961. It joined the roster of Montana state parks in 1954. Volunteers work in conjunction with the state to preserve the fabled ghost town.

Bannack Days

Every year, during the third weekend of July, this abandoned town witnesses a historical reconstitution known as "Bannack Days". For two days, Bannack State Park officials organize an event that attempts to revive the times when Bannack was a boom town, re-enacting the day-to-day lives of the miners who lived there during the

gold rush A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, New Z ...

. An authentic, old-fashioned breakfast is served in the old Hotel Meade, a well-preserved brick building which was for many years the seat of

, before it became

Dillon, Montana Dillon is a city in and the county seat of Beaverhead County, Montana, United States. The population was 3,880 at the 2020 census. The city was named for Sidney Dillon (1812–1892), president of Union Pacific Railroad. History Dillon was fo ...

Physiography

The mines surrounding Bannack are located on both sides of

Grasshopper Creek The Beaverhead River is an approximately tributary of the Jefferson River in southwest Montana (east of the Continental Divide). It drains an area of roughly . The river's original headwaters, formed by the confluence of the Red Rock River and ...

, which flows southeastward through the district and into the

Beaverhead River The Beaverhead River is an approximately tributary of the Jefferson River in southwest Montana (east of the Continental Divide). It drains an area of roughly . The river's original headwaters, formed by the confluence of the Red Rock River and ...

about downstream.

Gallery

File:1st Floor School 2nd Floor Masonic Lodge (24530680903).jpg, Schoolhouse and Masonic Lodge File:Scenic Montana (9270304556).jpg, Hotel Meade File:43331 The Methodist Church.jpg, Methodist Church, built in 1877 File:Bannack House (25064160921).jpg, Private home in Bannack File:43366 Bannack Cemetery Family Enclosures (3910222981).jpg, Family plot in cemetery File:43355 Historic Landmark (3910222171).jpg, Historic landmark plaque

References

Bibliography

External links

Bannack State Park
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks
Bannack State Park
Bannack State Park and Bannack Association {{authority control Populated places in Beaverhead County, Montana Ghost towns in Montana Populated places established in 1862 Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Montana National Historic Landmarks in Montana Former colonial and territorial capitals in the United States Mining communities in Montana Gold mining in the United States Open-air museums in Montana Symbols of Montana 1862 establishments in Washington Territory National Register of Historic Places in Beaverhead County, Montana Populated places on the National Register of Historic Places in Montana