When on May 26th, 1864, Montana became a new territory its temporary capitol became Bannack, a small isolated log, brick, and wood frame gold mining camp. Today a ghost town and a National Historic Landmark, Bannack soon ceded its position as capitol to Virginia City, an equally isolated wooden gold mining camp. Virginia City, the scene of the richest placer gold strike in the Rocky Mountains had, by 1865, most of Montana's population and so was named the territorial capitol. However, as was always the case, new gold strikes caused the miners to move on, this time to rich new diggings at Last Chance Gulch at Helena. The population of Virginia City shrank as that of Helena grew. As a result the territorial capitol was moved from Virginia City to Helena in 1875. Virginia City survives as a near ghost town and a National Historic Landmark District.
On November 8, 1889 the dreams of many Montanans were fulfilled when Montana was proclaimed a state by President Benjamin Harrison. The (temporary) capitol was still Helena at that time, but the citizenry was promised that in the general election of 1892 the question of where the permanent state capitol should be would be put to a vote. When 1892 rolled around there were seven cities competing for a place on the ballot, Helena, Deer Lodge, Butte, Bozeman, Great Falls, Boulder and Anaconda - Helena and Anaconda advanced. A bitter fight ensued between
Marcus Daly, one of the three "Copper Kings" of Butte, essentially the "King" of Anaconda, and the citizens of Helena. It was not only a "bitter" fight, but a "dirty" one as well, votes reportedly being bought at $5 to $6 each.
Needless to say, Helena won the popular vote, though by a slim margin, to become the
permanent Capitol of Montana. Helena, of course, had no capitol building, but did have a very nice courthouse, constructed in 1885-86. It had served as the territorial capitol and would serve as the state capitol until the completion of the capitol building in 1902.
When it came time to build the new state of Montana a fancy new capitol building a commission was assembled to set the wheels in motion. The plan they returned proved to be simply too costly for a state as young as Montana and the initial plans, which called for a $500,000 building, were scrapped. To add insult to injury it seems that the members of the commission also planned to skim a few dollars off the top for themselves, creating a scandal which resulted in all the original plans and documents being hastily disposed of.
A second commission was raised and began anew. Meanwhile, the legislature authorized a $350,000 bond issue, secured by the 182,000 acres of land granted to Montana by the federal government at statehood. Soon acceptable plans were available for a building to fill the hole already dug in anticipation of the construction of the initially proposed building. The cornerstone was laid on July 4, 1899 and the Charles E. Bell & John H. Kent designed capitol building was dedicated on July 4, 1902.
When we visited the capitol it was late in the day and everyone had gone home. Fortunately for the avid Waymarker, they had left a door unlocked - we won't say which one. We stealthily entered through the unlocked door to find ourselves alone in the building, save for a few of the cleaning staff. Avoiding the cleaners we went about our business, snapping shots to our heart's content. The capitol building may be an impressive edifice on the outside, but it is a true work of art inside. Filled with marble, tile, intricate woodwork, gold gilt, murals, stained glass, statuary and memorials, it offers a new and beautiful vista around each corner. We're very thankful that someone here was a bit forgetful but hope that it doesn't happen too often.