Editing Deer Lodge, Montana (section)

===Fur trade era===
Before 1860,  the Deer Lodge Valley was not the territory of any [[Native Americans in the United States|American Indian]] group.{{sfn|Where It All Began|1989|p = 13}} Gatherings were held there, including horse races.{{sfn|Where It All Began|1989|p = 102}} American Indian groups from the west, [[Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Nation|Flatheads]], [[Pend d'Oreille]]s et al. passed through the valley as an alternative route to and from the buffalo hunting grounds to the east.<ref name = "Ferris">{{Cite book|author=Ferris, Warren Angus |editor=Paul C. Phillips|year=1940|title=Life in the Rocky Mountains; etc.|location=Denver, Col.|publisher=F. A. Rosenstock, Old West Pub. Co.|ref = CITEREFFerris1940}}, Chapter XIX</ref>{{sfn|Ferris|1940|loc= Curious Indian Letter}}

The first documented visit to this area by European-American explorers occurred in 1805–1806, when [[Lewis and Clark]]'s [[Corps of Discovery]] expedition passed by the Deer Lodge Valley without entering it.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.gutenberg.org/files/8419/8419-h/8419-h.htm | title =THE JOURNALS OF LEWIS AND CLARK | last1 =Lewis | first1 =Meriwether | first2 =William | last2 =Clark | date =January 26, 2013 | website =www.gutenberg.org | publisher =Project Gutenberg | access-date =July 2, 2016 }}</ref> Evidence of earlier incursion, probably by Spaniards, was noted by miner James B. Beattle on Sugar Loaf mountain in the Race Track mining district<ref>{{Cite news | title = none | newspaper = The Philipsburg Mail | location = Philipsburg, Montana | date = June 16, 1887}}, p. 4, col. 3</ref> on the west side of the Deer Lodge Valley.<ref name = "Great North Trail">{{Cite book|author=Cushman, Dan|year=1966|title=The Great North Trail|publisher=McGraw-Hill Book Company}}, p. 67</ref>

Early European trapper/traders passing through the valley referred to it as "the Deer House Plains". The Clark Fork river was called the Arrow Stone River in the 1830s.<ref name = "Ferris"/> By the 1850s it was called the Deer Lodge Creek/Hellgate River.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Mullan |first=John|display-authors=et al|year=1855|title=Reports on Explorations and Surveys etc., Vol. I|location=Washington, DC|publisher=Beverley Tucker, Printer}}, Papers Annexed to Report: # 24, p. 342-345</ref> Catholic Father [[Pierre-Jean De Smet]] brought the first wagons known to have passed through the valley, in 1841.{{sfn|Where It All Began|1989|p = 14}}

In 1846, the Deer Lodge Valley became part of the United States and [[Oregon Territory]] with the signing of the [[Oregon Treaty]] by the U. S. and [[Great Britain]]. From 1853 to 1863 it was in [[Washington Territory]], then briefly part of [[Idaho Territory]] until the creation of [[Montana Territory]] in 1864.<ref name = "Malone">{{Cite book |last1=Malone|first1=Michael P.|first2=Richard B.|last2=Roeder|first3=William L.|last3=Lang|year=1976|title=Montana: A History of Two Centuries|location=Seattle and London|publisher=University of Washington Press|isbn=0-295-97129-0|ref = CITEREFMalone1976}}, p. 94</ref>{{Efn|Eastern and western Montana were first joined as part of Idaho Territory<ref name = "Malone"/>}}

European-American settlement of the valley gained momentum during the 1850s and 60's, with the primary site being at present-day Deer Lodge. During the 1850s, trapper/traders from [[Fort Hall]] began wintering herds of horses and cattle in the valley.{{sfn|A Son of the Fur Trade|2008|loc= Introduction xii}} Also during that decade placer gold finds were made near present-day [[Gold Creek (Montana)|Gold Creek]], first in 1852 by [[Gold Creek (Montana)|Francois (Bennetsee) Findley]], followed in 1856 by Hereford, Saunders, Madison et al.,<ref name = "History of Montana:1739-1885">{{Cite book|author=Leeson, Michael A.|year=1885|title=History of Montana:1739-1885|location=Chicago|publisher=Warner, Beers and Company|ref = CITEREFHistory_of_Montana:1739-18851885}}, p. 209</ref> and in 1858–61 by James and Granville Stuart, Reese Anderson et al.{{sfn|Where It All Began|1989|p = 15}} In 1860–62, [[John Mullan (road builder)|Lt. John Mullan]] oversaw construction of the [[Mullan Road]], which connected [[Walla Walla, Washington]] Territory with [[Fort Benton, Montana|Fort Benton]], then in [[Dakota Territory]].<ref name = "McDermott">{{Cite book|last1=McDermott|first1=Paul D.|first2=Ronald E.|last2=Grim|first3=Philip|last3=Mobley|year=2015|title=The Mullan Road, etc.|publisher=Montana Press Publishing Company|location = [[Missoula, Montana]]|isbn=978-0-87842-632-4|ref = CITEREFMcDermott2015}}</ref> The Mullan Road passed through the north end of the Deer Lodge Valley.