From Last Chance Gulch to the Capitol Dome

On a sweltering July afternoon in 1864, four discouraged prospectors made a decision that would change Montana forever. John Cowan, D.J. Miller, John Crab, and Reginald Stanley—collectively known as the Four Georgians—had spent weeks searching for gold in the Prickly Pear Valley with nothing to show for their efforts. Heading back to their camp, they paused in a narrow ravine. 'Let's try one last chance,' someone said. They staked their claim and named it Last Chance Gulch. Within hours, they'd found color. Within days, word had spread across the territory. Within weeks, thousands of prospectors, merchants, gamblers, and families flooded into the ravine, setting up tents and rough-hewn cabins along the creek bed. By autumn of 1864, Last Chance had become a bustling mining camp with no…

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