Thar's Gold in Them Thar Hills

The Confederates of the gulch's name were mostly veterans of Sterling Price's army, which had invaded Missouri in the fall of 1864, and two paroled prisoners from it are usually credited among the first to reach the creek. In 1866 the gulch held perhaps ten thousand people, about a third of Montana Territory's population. The panel's figure of nearly $150 million in gold is not a period one: regional accounts put the gulch's production at $19 million to $30 million in 1860s currency. By 1871 about sixty people remained.

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Canyon Ferry — steps away
• The Prickly Pear Diggings — 22 mi