Welcome to GOLD CREEK, Montana
On September 8, 1883, Henry Villard, president of the Northern Pacific Railroad, came to Gold Creek to drive the iron spike that completed the line that linked the West Coast with the East.
This spot, at the junction of Gold Creek and the Clark Fork River, is claimed to be the scene of the first gold discovery in Montana; however, “no one has been able to establish exactly who discovered the first hold in Montana or where. Francois Finley, a half-blood better known as Benetsee, is said to have brought a teaspoon of gold dust into Fort Connah to Angus McDonald in 1850 and reported that he had gotten it at the present site of Gold Creek, near Garrison” (Toole). The Gold Creek area was originally called the Benetsee Creek area. Nothing was done to develop it until James and Granville Stuart began working there. On May 8, 1862, they set up the first sluices in Montana near the head of Gold Creek. A letter written by the Stuarts to their brother Thomas in Colorado advising him to join them started a small rush to Montana. (from Cheney’s Names on the Face of Montana, Mountain Press Publishing Company)
Today the Gold Creek Overland Stagecoach offers you the opportunity to travel through the Gold Creek area just as the early settlers did. Take a historic hour tour through the Gold Creek area to the old mining ghost town of Pioneer, once a thriving gold mining town that was home to more than 2,000 residents. Pioneer was the first big strike of gold to be found in Montana. Wander down the old main street of the town and see the relics of what once was a booming city. Hear the history of the town and the surrounding area as the coach rumbles across this beautiful valley.
