Editing Troy, Montana (section)

== History ==
Before the westward expansion of the United States, various [[indigenous peoples]] lived in the area, with the [[Kutenai]] and [[Salish peoples|Salish]] as the most recent and the [[Piegan Blackfeet]] earlier.<ref>{{Cite web|date=January 19, 2019|title=Tribal Territories in Montana – Indian Education for All|url=http://www.montana.edu/iefa/introductiontomttribalnations/tribalterritories.html|access-date=December 12, 2020|website=Montana State University}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=History of the Libby, Montana area|url=http://www.libbymt.com/community/history.htm|access-date=December 12, 2020|website=libbymt.com}}</ref> They lived in base camps and seasonal camps based on the availability of plants and fish: "lower elevations in the winter and{{nbsp}}... uplands in the summer and fall," with spring camps near [[camas prairie]]s, which had edible bulbs.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web|date=Oct 1990|title=NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES REGISTRATION FORM (Troy Jail)|url=https://mhs.mt.gov/Portals/11/shpo/docs/NRnoms/MT_LincolnCo_TroyJail.pdf}}</ref> Due to the area's geography and settler fears of the Kutenai, the area remained unsettled until gold was discovered in the 1860s and [[galena]] and [[vermiculite]]<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|title=LIBBY ASBESTOS SITE Site Profile|url=https://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/SiteProfiles/index.cfm?fuseaction=second.cleanup&id=0801744|access-date=December 12, 2020|website=cumulis.epa.gov|language=en}}</ref> in the 1880s. In 1886, the first miners arrived, prospecting on the [[Kootenay River|Kootenai River]] at a tent camp first known as "Lake Camp, Lake Creek Camp, and Lake City", and making land claims on Grouse Mountain.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=History of the City of Troy, Montana|url=https://www.cityoftroymontana.com/history.html|access-date=December 12, 2020|website=The City of Troy, Montana}}</ref> In 1892, a William O'Brien surveyed the Lake City claim, renaming it Troy.<ref name=":0" />

=== Post American settlement ===
Throughout 1892, Troy was filed as a town in then-Missoula County and grew rapidly as the [[Great Northern Railway (U.S.)|Great Northern Railway]] chose a nearby site as a "division yard", or freight terminal,<ref name=":0" /> which was first renamed "West Troy" before just becoming Troy itself as the Lake City area was abandoned.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book|url=https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5280674.pdf|title=SOURCE OF LOCAL LANDMARK NAMES for the Bull Lake Valley, Yaak River Valley and the Troy, Montana Area|publisher=Three Rivers Ranger District|year=2002|editor-last=Calvi|editor-first=Jim|location=Kootenai National Forest}}</ref> The town's first hotel, then called the Windsor Hotel, was built. One transplant described the town as such: "Fifteen saloons gaily lit filled to the doors with “wild men and wild women” yelling, singing, dancing, and cursing, with glasses held high, such was Troy. Two large [[dance hall]]s were in evidence, one grocery store run by John Bowen, several 'beaneries' (called restaurants by some), one drug store owned by 'Doc' Sailey and many shacks and tents where the 'wild women' congregated. Fights and ribaldry were the order of the days and nights."<ref name=":0" /> Another grocery store followed in 1893, the first one-room schoolhouse was built in 1894, and more mining companies, land claims, and support services such as ferries sprung up as gold was discovered on the [[Yaak River]] in 1895.<ref name=":0" />

The 1910s brought change. After the Windsor Hotel had been destroyed by fire in 1906 and rebuilt in 1907, wildfires during the summer of 1910 narrowly missed Troy by a few miles but raged throughout the area, causing lasting damage to the newly-protected [[Kootenai National Forest]]. In 1912, Troy's first bridge across the Kootenai River was built, along with bridges in [[Libby, Montana|Libby]] and [[Rexford, Montana|Rexford]], after a county vote. Previously, crossings were made on horseback – dangerous – or via [[Ferry|ferries]], which had started operating in 1892. Phone service reached the area in 1913. [[U.S. Route 2]] was proposed and a volunteer fire department was created. The [[1918 flu]] closed the local mill and schools temporarily.<ref name=":0" /> By 1920, there was a Chinese restaurant, a church, and an electric plant in town, and [[World War I]] increased the town's mining activity; the rapid expansion and labor conditions sometimes led to strikes and labor conflicts.<ref name=":5" />

[[File:Ali's Show, Hot Club, Troy, Montana.jpg|alt=coffeehouse-like concert at place with many guitars on wall|thumb|A show at the Hot Club, which stands on the site of the former Windsor Hotel]]

The town's population reached 1000 residents in 1924, and the same year, the town's Lincoln Theatre opened. The population peaked around 1926,<ref name=":0" /> but in March of that year, the Great Northern Railway moved its freight terminal elsewhere, leaving "only three supervisors and [a] small force of Japanese [workers]."<ref name=":5" /> Fires destroyed a concentrator in 1927 and a sawmill in 1928, with neither rebuilt, and the region's mines decreased in activity.<ref name=":5" />

The population dropped to as low as 428 during 1930 in the [[Great Depression]].<ref name=":0" /> Still, the Lincoln Theatre began playing [[Sound film|talking movies]] and the Windsor Hotel was renamed to the Great Northern Hotel, which stood until it burned down (for the second time) in 1941. A coffee house and cable shop operate on its former location. The Lincoln Theatre was remodeled in 1994.<ref name=":0" />

In 2006, the [[Troy Jail]] and the [[Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Bridge]] were added to the [[National Register of Historic Places]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Asset Detail|url=https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/AssetDetail?assetID=a136632b-c0b7-4daf-b931-b4e088912b90|access-date=December 12, 2020|website=npgallery.nps.gov}}</ref><ref name="nrhpdoc">{{cite web|author=Historical Research Associates|date=1982|title=National Register of Historic Places Registration: Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Bridge / Troy Bridge|url={{NRHP url|id=06001178}}|access-date=August 8, 2017|publisher=[[National Park Service]]}} With {{NRHP url|id=06001178|photos=y|title=seven photos from 2005}}.</ref>

[[File:Troy Montana (7910697806).jpg|alt=one story whitewashed concrete jail on a road. it has the words "troy jail" painted in block letters above the rectangular door|thumb|The [[Troy Jail]]]]

=== Vermiculite cleanup ===
{{See also|Libby, Montana#Vermiculite mine|label 1=Libby Vermiculite Mine}}
After citizens, media, and local government raised concerns, the [[United States Environmental Protection Agency]] began in 1999 to investigate the contamination of the area surrounding [[Libby, Montana|Libby]] and Troy from vermiculite mines in Libby, which were themselves contaminated with a toxic and easily crumbled form of [[tremolite]]-[[actinolite]] series [[asbestos]], sometimes named Libby Amphibole asbestos (LA).<ref name=":1" /> Removal actions began in 2000, and in 2002 the site was moved to the EPA's Superfund National Priorities List. In 2009, the EPA declared a Public Health Emergency (the first in the EPA's history) "to provide federal health care assistance for victims of asbestos-related disease."<ref name=":1" />

In 2015, an EPA review of toxicity and risks found that the cleanups had managed asbestos exposure risk effectively. By the end of 2018, the EPA had removed "more than one million cubic yards of contaminated soil," and area cleanup was completed that year, except for the location of the former mine, which is the disposal site of the contaminated soil. Contaminated construction materials were disposed of "in a specially designed landfill cell."<ref name=":1" /> The remaining contamination is limited to the forests and property in or near the former mine, with cleanup plans pending and with controls for higher exposures during wildfire fighting.<ref name=":1" />

The EPA transferred control of the site to the Montana Department of Environmental Quality in 2020.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Bolton|first=Aaron|title=EPA Moves To Transfer Oversight Of Libby, Troy Superfund Sites To Montana|url=https://www.mtpr.org/post/epa-moves-transfer-oversight-libby-troy-superfund-sites-montana|access-date=December 13, 2020|website=Montana Public Radio|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Brown |first=Matthew|title=US transfers care for towns polluted with asbestos to state|language=en-US|newspaper=Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/us-transfers-care-for-towns-polluted-with-asbestos-to-state/2020/07/01/80e0f6c8-bbc8-11ea-97c1-6cf116ffe26c_story.html|access-date=December 13, 2020|issn=0190-8286}}</ref>