founded by the American Fur Company in 1846. Gold was discovered as early as 1852 by François Finlay, a half-breed, near the Hellgate River, but the discovery aroused little attention till 1857, when John Silverthorn appeared at Fort Benton with a large quantity of gold dust which he had obtained in the mountains. In the winter of 1860 James and Granville Stuart settled on Gold Creek in the Deer Lodge Valley, attracted by the rumors of gold in that region, and in the following year they commenced mining on a small scale, having been joined in the meanwhile by three other pioneers. Rich placers were soon discovered at various points in the mountains and an active immigration set in, mining settlements springing up at Bannack City on Grasshopper Creek, on the Bighole River, and on North Boulder Creek. In May, 1863, gold was discovered at Fairweather Gulch, near Alder Creek. The town of Virginia City sprang up near the spot, and within a year it had a population of 4000. In 1863 the Territory of Idaho, including the present Montana, was set off from Washington and Dakota, and on May 22, 1864, the Territory of Montana was erected from land taken from Idaho. The early settlers were naturally of a reckless and lawless character and, as a result, for a considerable length of time life and property were in jeopardy. The existing state of affairs was, however, remedied by the stern administration introduced by the establishment of vigilance committees. The Montana Post, the first newspaper in the Territory, was published at Virginia City in 1865. In 1874 the seat of government was removed from Virginia City to Helena. On June 25, 1876, occurred the disastrous fight between General Custer and the Sioux Indians under Sitting Bull on the Little Big Horn River.
The prosperity of the Territory was increased by the completion of the Northern Pacific Railroad in 1883, surveys for the route having been made as early as 1853 by Isaac I. Stevens under authority of Congress. About 1880 began the development of silver and copper mining, which soon surpassed in importance the gold-mining industry, the value of the output of the two metals rising from $1,000,000 for both in 1880 to more than $18,000,000 for silver and nearly $37,000,000 for copper in 1901. In January and February, 1884, a constitutional convention framed a Constitution which was ratified by the people in November, and application was made to Congress for admission into the Union. No action was taken, however, until February, 1889, when an enabling act was passed by Congress. On November 8, 1889, Montana was admitted into the Union by proclamation of the President after a State Constitution had been framed and State officers elected. From the first politics in Montana were marked by a spirit of bitter partisanship, which led to frequent delays in legislation. In January, 1891, the dispute between two rival legislatures was settled only by a conscienceless bargain between the Democrats and the Republicans. The influence of the great mining corporations has also proved a source of political evil. In national elections Montana was Republican in 1892; and in 1896 and in 1900 it was carried by a fusion of the Democrats and Populists. The Governors of the Territory and State of Montana have been as follows:
| TERRITORIAL | ||
| Sidney Edgerton | 1864-65 | |
| Thomas K. Meagher (acting) | 1865-66 | |
| Green Clay Smith | 1866-69 | |
| James M. Ashley | 1869-70 | |
| Benjamin F. Potts | 1870-83 | |
| John S. Crosby | 1883-84 | |
| B. Platt Carpenter | 1884-85 | |
| Samuel T. Hauser | 1885-86 | |
| H. P. Leslie | 1886-89 | |
| Benjamin F. White | 1889 | |
| STATE | ||
| Joseph K. Toole | Democrat | 1889-93 |
| John E. Rickards | Republican | 1893-97 |
| Robert B. Smith | Democrat and Populist | 1897-1901 |
| Joseph K. Toole | “““ | 1901 — |
Bibliography. United States Geographical and Geological Survey of the Territories (Washington, 1872-74); Mineral Resources of the United States (Washington, 1892); Montana Agriculture, Labor, and Industry Bureau Annual Report (Helena, 1893 et seq.); Montana Historical Society Contributions (ib., 1877 et seq.); Bancroft, The Northwest Coast (San Francisco, 1884); id., Washington, Idaho, Montana (ib., 1890).
MONTANA, University of. A coeducational State institution at Missoula, Mont., founded in 1895. It maintains a preparatory department and a department of literature, science, and the arts, and offers graduate courses, leading respectively to the degrees of B.A., B.S., M.A., and M.S. There is also a summer school of science and a biological station. Tuition is free. The university had in 1902 a student enrollment of 347 and 13 instructors. The library contained 10,000 volumes. The endowment consists of 72 sections of land given by Congress in 1892. The income fund arises from the rental of lands unsold, from licenses to cut trees, and from the interest on the proceeds of the sales of lands invested in the permanent university fund, which is applied to the payment of the bonds issued in 1897 for the construction and equipment of buildings. The income for maintenance amounted in 1902 to $37,000. The total value of the university property was $200,000, including a campus of 40 acres and buildings valued at $140,000.
MONTANELLI, mō̇n′tȧ-nĕl′lē̇, Giuseppe (1813-62). An Italian author and statesman, born at Fucecchio, January 21, 1813. He studied law at Pisa and began to practice there, composing meanwhile the verses which appeared in a small volume at Florence in 1837. He became professor of commercial law in the University of Pisa, identified himself with the Liberal Party there, and with two coöperators founded L'Italia, a periodical. After the rising of 1849 he became one of a triumvirate which also included Guerrazzi and Mazzini. When the dictatorship passed into the hands of Guerrazzi, Montanelli went on a mission to Paris, where he remained, practically in exile, for some ten years. During this period he wrote a number of his works: a poem, La tentazione; a tragedy, Camma; and a few political and historical treatises: the Schiarimenti nel processo politico contra il ministero democratico (1852); the Appunti storici sulla rivoluzione italiana (1859); and the most noteworthy of all his writings, the Memorie sull’ Italia e specialmente sulla Toscana dal 1814 al 1849 (1853). He returned to Italy in 1859 and advocated the formation of a central Italian kingdom. He was a deputy to the Tuscan Assembly, but there he accomplished little, for all
