Lincoln is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

and

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

(CDP) in Lewis and Clark County,

Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...

, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 1,013.

History

Meriwether Lewis Meriwether Lewis (August 18, 1774 – October 11, 1809) was an American explorer, soldier, politician, and public administrator, best known for his role as the leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery, with ...

passed through the area on his return to

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

in 1806, following the famous "River of the Road to the Buffalo" created by Native Americans centuries before. Gold discoveries in the mid-1860s brought miners to a number of camps in the area, and Lincoln was eventually created when nearby Lincoln Gulch was abandoned in favor of the town's present location. Recreational, logging and mining activities along the Blackfoot River in the early 20th century made it a convenient commercial center. Nearby wilderness areas continue to attract visitors and residents. In 1865, David Culp and Thomas Patterson staked a claim in what they designated Abe Lincoln Gulch in honor of the recently assassinated president. Word broke out, gold-seekers descended upon the area, and a small community soon formed at the mouth of the gulch with the abbreviated name – Lincoln. After several starts and stops, a continuously operating post office was finally established in 1887. The Lincoln Community Hall (1918) and the Hotel Lincoln (1914) are listed on the National Register of Historical Places.

"Unabomber" arrest

On April 3, 1996, federal officers arrested

Ted Kaczynski Theodore John Kaczynski ( ; May 22, 1942 – June 10, 2023), also known as the Unabomber ( ), was an American mathematician and domestic terrorist. He was a mathematics prodigy, but abandoned his academic career in 1969 to pursue a reclusi ...

at his remote cabin south of Lincoln on Stemple Pass Road, under suspicion of being the "Unabomber", a domestic

terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...

who placed pressure-sensitive bombs inside mailed packages. The bombing campaign resulted in three deaths and 23 wounded. Kaczynski was sentenced to eight life sentences without the possibility of parole.

2017 earthquake

At 12:30 a.m. on July 6, 2017, there was a 5.8-

magnitude Magnitude may refer to: Mathematics *Euclidean vector, a quantity defined by both its magnitude and its direction *Magnitude (mathematics), the relative size of an object *Norm (mathematics), a term for the size or length of a vector *Order of ...

earthquake An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...

about south of Lincoln.5.8 magnitude earthquake rattles Helena area
. ''

Independent Record The ''Independent Record'' (often abbreviated to ''IR'') is a daily newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a w ...

'' (

Helena, Montana Helena (; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Montana and the county seat, seat of Lewis and Clark County, Montana, Lewis and Clark County. Helena was founded as a gold camp during the Montana gold ...

). July 6, 2017.M 5.8 – 11km SSE of Lincoln, Montana
. ''Earthquakes Hazard Program''.

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on Mar ...

. July 6, 2017. The earthquake originated from a depth of nearly underground, near a fault system known as the Lewis and Clark line, which runs from

northern Idaho The Idaho panhandle—locally known as North Idaho, Northern Idaho, or simply the Panhandle—is a salient region of the U.S. state of Idaho encompassing the state's 10 northernmost counties: Benewah, Bonner, Boundary, Clearwater, Idaho, K ...

to east of

. It was the eighth-strongest earthquake recorded in Montana. There were at least nine more tremors nearby within the first hour after the earthquake, with magnitudes between 3.1 and 4.9.

Geography and climate

Lincoln is located in western Lewis and Clark County. The CDP contains the unincorporated center of Lincoln and extends east up the Blackfoot River valley and west, or down valley. Its elevation is

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level ...

. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the CDP has a total area of , of which are land and , or 2.87%, are water. Lincoln is located on

Montana Highway 200 Montana Highway 200 (MT 200) in the U.S. state of Montana is a route running east–west, across the entire state of Montana. From the starting point at Idaho State Highway 200, ID 200, near Heron, Montana, Heron, the highway runs east to N ...

, the longest route signed as a state highway in the United States, running from

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...

North Dakota North Dakota ( ) is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota people, Dakota and Sioux peoples. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minneso ...

. From Lincoln, the highway runs northeast up and over the

Continental Divide A continental divide is a drainage divide on a continent such that the drainage basin on one side of the divide feeds into one ocean or sea, and the basin on the other side either feeds into a different ocean or sea, or else is endorheic, not ...

to Great Falls and west to

Missoula Missoula ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Missoula County, Montana, Missoula County, Montana, United States. It is located along the Clark Fork River near its confluence with the Bitterroot River, Bitterroot and Blackfoot River (Montana), ...

. Lincoln has a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...

(Dfb) bordering closely on a

subarctic climate The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, or boreal climate) is a continental climate with long, cold (often very cold) winters, and short, warm to cool summers. It is found on large landmasses, often away from the moderating effects of ...

(Dfc). Summers are warm to hot while winters are cold and snowy, with annual average snowfall totaling 85.4 inches (217 cm). Rogers Pass, northeast of Lincoln on Highway 200, is known for being the location of the coldest recorded temperature in the United States outside of Alaska. On January 20, 1954, a temperature of was recorded. Lincoln has a humid continental climate bordering on semi-arid. Snow is usually dry powder, although strong Pacific Ocean storms sometimes bring moisture-laden snow to the area. Some sources list Lincoln as having November's record low of , but that never happened, Lincoln's real November record low is .

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2010, there were 1,013 people, 507 households, and 296 families residing in the CDP. The population density was . There were 846 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the CDP was 95.5%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 2.2% Native American, 0.2% Asian, and 1.9% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 1.5% of the population. There were 507 households, out of which 16.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.3% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 6.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 41.6% were non-families. 18.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 33.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.00 and the average family size was 2.55. In the CDP, the population was spread out, with 16.3% under the age of 18, 3.7% from 18 to 24, 16.1% from 25 to 44, 41.2% from 45 to 64, and 22.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 53 years. For every 100 females, there were 108.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 107.3 males. The median income for a household in the CDP was $26,688, and the median income for a family was $32,784. Males had a median income of $24,583 versus $15,227 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the CDP was $14,243. About 17.4% of families and 21.2% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 28.8% of those under age 18 and 9.8% of those age 65 or over.

Infrastructure

Lincoln Airport is a public use airport located two miles (4 km) east of town.

Education

Public education in Lincoln is administered by Lincoln Public School District #38, a unified PK-12 school district The district educates students from kindergarten to 12th grade. Lincoln High School's team name is the Lynx. Lincoln has a

public library A public library is a library, most often a lending library, that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil servic ...

, a branch of the Lewis & Clark Library.

Media

The ''Blackfoot Valley Dispatch'' was a community newspaper published in Lincoln for 44 years until ceasing in 2025. The town receives radio stations from the wider Helena area.

Notable people

, aka "Unabomber" * Doug Swingley, four-time winner of the

Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, more commonly known as The Iditarod (), is an annual long-distance sled dog race held in Alaska in early March. It travels from Anchorage to Nome. Mushers and a team of between 12 and 16 dogs, of which at lea ...

References

External links

{{authority control Census-designated places in Lewis and Clark County, Montana Census-designated places in Montana Helena, Montana micropolitan area