Editing Montana City, Montana (section)

==History==
Montana City is located on top of one of the oldest prehistoric sites in the state of Montana. As early as 9,000 [[Common Era|BCE]], [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] came to Montana City to collect [[chert]], a rock similar to [[flint]], which was used to make spear tips, arrowheads, and knives.<ref>[http://www.helenair.com/news/article_9e98f2ae-6aa6-5be1-af91-9215ebc51dbf.html Kidston, Martin J. "Prehistoric Find."] ''[[Helena Independent Record]].'' June 20, 2004.</ref> White American explorers discovered gold at the site on July 2, 1862, and later that year [[United States Army|U.S. Army]] Captain Jason L. Fisk brought a mule train from [[Minnesota]] which stopped at the site and built the first houses that became Montana City.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=wrluAAAAMAAJ Hedges, Cornelius. "Centennial Address on Lewis and Clarke County, Delivered July Fourth, 1876." ''Contributions to the Historical Society of Montana.'' 1896.]</ref> The town became one of the most important mining centers in Montana during the height of the gold rush in the 1860s.<ref>Miller, Donald C. and Miller, Shari. ''Ghost Towns of Montana: A Classic Tour Through the Treasure State's Historical Sites.'' Guilford, Conn.: Globe Pequot, 2008. {{ISBN|0-7627-4517-7}}</ref> The Montana Town Company laid out the city in 1864, naming it after the territory's new [[Montana Territory|name]].<ref name="Places">Aarstad, Rich. ''Montana Place Names: From Alzada to Zortman.'' Helena, Mont.: Montana Historical Society, 2009. {{ISBN|0-9759196-1-X}}</ref> [[Chinese people|Chinese]] miners soon made up a majority of the workforce when the mines began to play out in 1868, and the town saw a brief revival after the arrival of the railroads and the establishment of a [[post office]] in the 1880s.<ref name="Places" /> At its height in the 1880s, Montana City had 3,000 residents and competed for the location of the state capital.<ref>Federal Writers' Project. ''Montana: A State Guide Book.'' Helena, Mont.: Department of Agriculture, Labor, and Industry, State of Montana, 1939. {{ISBN|1-60354-025-3}}</ref>

Montana City was almost a [[ghost town]] for most of the 20th century until the Permanente Cement Company built a [[cement]] manufacturing plant there in 1940.<ref name="Places" /> Today, Montana City is a [[Commuter town|bedroom community]] serving Helena.<ref name="Places" /><ref>Holmes, Krys; Walter, Dave; and Dailey, Susan C. ''Montana: Stories of the Land.'' Helena, Mont.: Montana Historical Society, 2008. {{ISBN|0-9759196-3-6}}</ref>