Montana's DAR Markers . . . Honoring Where History Was Made

“Grasshopper Diggins.” Many followed and by January 1862, Bannack’s
population was 500. Many of these men were wild and ruthless. Henry
Plummer, who was elected sheriff, was later hanged by the Vigilantes
who accused him of being the ringleader of a gang of violent bandits.
When the Montana Territory was established in 1864, Bannack
was its first territorial capital. Sidney Edgerton, named governor by
President Abraham Lincoln, assumed office in Bannack as the First
Territorial Governor and resided in Bannack during his term of office.
The first legislative session ever held in the territory convened at
Bannack during the winter of 1864, meeting in the governor’s cabin. In
1866, however, the territorial capital was moved to Virginia City until
being permanently moved to Helena in 1877.
It was DAR that saved Bannack. In 1953, DAR member Mrs.
Elfreda Woodside decided to purchase the rapidly-deteriorating mining
camp of Bannack. With the aid of a sizeable loan from a banking
friend, she secured the famed Gold Gulch from a defunct mining
company, and the following year donated it to the state of Montana.
She subsequently sparked campaigns that resulted in Bannack being
designated a National Historic Landmark and later a State Park. In
1962, she chaired the 100th Anniversary of Bannack’s Centennial
Celebration of the discovery of gold in the Montana Territory.
DAR’s marker was moved to the parking lot at the entry of
Bannack State Park in 1989 or 1990 when the county abandoned the
old road. This is a National Historic Landmark and a Register of
Historic Places site.
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