Editing Bozeman, Montana (section)

===19th century===

[[File:JohnBozeman.JPG|thumb|upright|John Bozeman]]

[[William Clark (explorer)|William Clark]] visited the area in July 1806 as he traveled east from [[Three Forks, Montana|Three Forks]] along the [[Gallatin River]]. The party camped {{convert|3|mi|km}} east of what is now Bozeman, at the mouth of Kelly Canyon. The journal entries from Clark's party briefly describe the future city's location.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://lewisandclark.mt.gov/sites.asp?IDNumber=30 |title=Lewis and Clark, Bozeman and the Museum of the Rockies |publisher=Travel Montana |access-date=January 8, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101231161954/http://lewisandclark.mt.gov/sites.asp?IDNumber=30 |archive-date=December 31, 2010 }}</ref>

====John Bozeman====

In 1863, [[John Bozeman]], a pioneer and frontiersman from [[Pickens County, Georgia]], along with a partner named John Jacob, opened the [[Bozeman Trail]], a new northern trail off the [[Oregon Trail]] leading to the mining town of [[Virginia City, Montana|Virginia City]] through the Gallatin Valley and the future location of the city of Bozeman.

John Bozeman, with Daniel Rouse and William Beall, [[plat]]ted the town in August 1864, stating "standing right in the gate of the mountains ready to swallow up all tenderfeet that would reach the territory from the east, with their golden fleeces to be taken care of."<ref>{{cite book |last=Freeman |first=Cortlandt L. |title=The Growing Up Years The First 100 Years of Bozeman as an Incorporated City from 1883 to 1983 |publisher=Montana Centennial Commission Gallatin County Historical Society |location=Bozeman, MT |year=1988 |pages=62–65 }}</ref> [[Red Cloud's War]] closed the Bozeman Trail in 1868, but the town's fertile land still attracted permanent settlers.

====Nelson Story====

In 1866, [[Nelson Story]], a successful [[Virginia City, Montana|Virginia City]], Montana, gold miner originally from [[Ohio]], entered the cattle business. Story braved the hostile Bozeman Trail to successfully drive some 1,000 head of [[Texas Longhorn (cattle)|longhorn cattle]] into [[Paradise Valley, Montana|Paradise Valley]] just east of Bozeman. Eluding the U.S. Army, who tried to turn Story back to protect the drive from hostile Indigenous Americans, Story's cattle formed one of the earliest significant herds in Montana's cattle industry.<ref name=Kennedy>{{cite book |last=Kennedy |first=Michael S. |title=Cowboys and Cattlemen-A Roundup from Montana The Magazine of Western History |year=1964 |chapter=Tall in the Saddle-First Trail Drive to Montana Territory |publisher=Hastings House Publishing |location=New York |pages=103–111 }}</ref> Story established a sizable ranch in the Paradise Valley and holdings in the Gallatin Valley. He later donated land to the state for the establishment of Montana State University.<ref>{{cite book |last=Wellman |first=Paul I. |chapter=IX-Men Who Didn't Care |title=The Trampling Herd |publisher=J. B. Lippincott & Co. |location=Philadelphia, PA |year=1939 |pages=94–106 }}</ref>

====Fort Ellis====

[[Fort Ellis]] was established in 1867 by Captain R. S. LaMotte and two companies of the 2nd Cavalry, after the murder of John Bozeman near the mouth of Mission Creek on Yellowstone River,<ref>{{cite book |last=Smith |first=Phyllis |title=Bozeman and the Gallatin Valley. A History |publisher=Falcon Press Publishers |location=Helena, MT |year=1996 |isbn=1-56044-540-8 |pages=102–103 }}</ref><ref>{{cite gnis |id=787497 |name=Mission Creek }}</ref> and considerable political disturbance in the area led local settlers and miners to feel a need for added protection. The fort, named for [[Battle of Gettysburg|Gettysburg]] casualty [[Augustus van Horne Ellis|Colonel Augustus Van Horne Ellis]], was decommissioned in 1886 and few remnants are left at the actual site, now occupied by the Fort Ellis Experimental Station of Montana State University.<ref>{{cite book |last=Siebel |first=Dennis |title=Fort Ellis, Montana Territory (1867–1886) – The Fort That Guarded Bozeman |publisher=Gallatin County Historical Association |location=Bozeman, Montana |year=1996 |page=44 }}</ref> In addition to Fort Ellis, a short-lived fort, [[Fort Elizabeth Meagher]] (also simply known as Fort Meagher), was established in 1867 by volunteer militiamen. This fort was located {{convert|8|mi|km|1}} east of town on Rocky Creek.<ref>{{cite gnis |id=1743885 |name=Fort Elizabeth Meagher }}</ref>