General Information

A Brief History of Beaverhead County

from Names on the Faces of Montana
by Roberta Carkeek Cheney
Copyright 1983, Revised 1984, 6th printing 1996

Beaverhead County, in the Southwestern corner of the state, was organized as one of the original territorial counties on February 2, 1865. It was named for the rock which Sacajawea pointed out to Lewis and Clark explaining that her people had called it that because it resembled a beaver's head [see photo above]. It was one of the smallest of the original counties, but is now the largest. Beaverhead County maintained its original area throughout all the county dividing and the only change in its borders was made by an annexation of a part of Madison County in 1911. It contains Montana's oldest town, Bannack City, where a post office was established in November 1863. Dillon is the county seat.

Henry Plummer

At this link you can read an excerpt from Bannack, Cradle of Montana by F. Lee Graves, which discusses Henry Plummer, one of Bannack's most colorful characters. Thanks to Mr. Graves for his generous permission to include this section of his book for your enjoyment.

Geography

Surrounding Counties

Montana Genweb County referral page

• Ravalli County— Hamilton
• Granite County— Philipsburg
• Deer Lodge County— Anaconda
• Silver Bow County— Butte
• Madison County— Virginia City

Idaho Genweb County referral page

• Clark County— Dubois, Idaho
• Fremont County— Saint Anthony, Idaho
• Lemhi County— Salmon, Idaho

More Geography

• Schools in Beaverhead County.
• Mines in Beaverhead County.
• Ghost Towns.
• Satellite maps of Montana, and one from 1895.
• Maps of Montana showing different features like rivers, etc.

Genealogy Resources

MTGenWeb Archives

The Montana GenWeb Archive has county links including Beaverhead County files. There are many and varied resources available, such as obituaries, military records, indexes to selected history books, Montana towns listed with their counties, memorials, population census extracts, school census, voter and tax rolls, pioneer immigrant lists, news articles, etc.

The Montana GenWeb Photo Archive has photos of state-wide relevance, such as the Capitol building, old territorial prison, various county courthouses, museums, veterans, old maps, and even old menus from around Montana. There are also links to each county, including Beaverhead County photos.

Public Query Forum

There is a free RootsWeb discussion list devoted to genealogy and history. It is categorized by geography, from the world level down to Beaverhead county. You can read others' queries and messages, search them, leave your own queries or responses, etc. Responses are purely dependant on public response— nobody is designated to answer queries or questions posted on the list. To join the list via e-mail in list mode or digest mode type subscribe and nothing else in the body of the email.

Genealogical Society

The BeaverHead Hunters Genealogical Society provides research including both off and on-line index searches (marriages, obituaries, and census records), as well as more in-depth research.

Other Sources of Information

• Checklist of Local Records to consider, including the type of records available from various sources with contact information.
• WorldGenWeb | USGenWeb | MTGenWeb Projects
  
• Montana Death Index on-line browsable by decade increments, one surname first letter at a time.
• Lima Historical Society (email)
      PO Box 2
      Lima, Montana 59739
      Connie Strang, director; ph (406) 276-3394
• Beaverhead County Museum (email)
      15 S. Montana
      Dillon, Montana 59725
• Dillon City Library
• University of Montana—Western (previously Western Montana College)
• Beaverhead County Courthouse
      2 S. Pacific
      Dillon, Montana 59725