Editing Deer Lodge, Montana (section)

===European-American settlement, Montana gold rush===
[[File:John_Francis_Grant_circa_1860's_-_courtesy_of_Montana_Historical_Society_-_B_and_W_photo_,_942-461.jpg|thumb|upright|Johnny Grant in his prime]]
[[Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site#Founding the ranch|John Francis (Johnny) Grant]] built the first permanent structures in the valley in 1859–60, at Grantsville near present-day [[Garrison, Montana|Garrison]].<ref name = "A Son of the Fur Trade" /> Grant had begun grazing cattle and horse herds in the north valley several years previously and "wintered over" there in 1857–58.{{sfn|A Son of the Fur Trade|2008|p = 66}} In 1860, feeling as he said "lonely", he returned to Fort Hall for summer trading and induced several fellow trader/trappers and their families to return to the valley with him at the end of the season.{{Efn|Johnny Grant noted that Louis Deschenault, Leon Quesnelle, Louis Demers, David Contois, Fred Burr, the Stuart boys (James & Granville), the Cosgrove boys, Jackson, Jack Meek and two sons of Michaud Leclerc came back with him. They mostly settled at Spanish Fork/Cottonwood.{{sfn|A Son of the Fur Trade|2008|p = 94}}}} Instead of locating at Grantsville, his friends chose to build at the site of present-day Deer Lodge, where several Mexican trapper/traders and their [[Métis people (United States)|Metis]]  families had already established the seasonal settlement of Spanish Fork.{{Efn|Included were Thomas Lavatta, Joe Hill, Alejo Barasta, Joe Pizanthia{{Efn|Pizanthia, also called "the greaser", was executed at [[Virginia City, Montana|Virginia City]] in 1864 by vigilantes for killing George Copely and wounding Smith Ball.<ref>{{Cite book|author=Langford, Nathaniel Pitt|year=1893|title=Vigilante Days and Ways: The Pioneers of the Rockies|location=New York and St. Paul|volume = 2|publisher=D. D. Merrill Company}}, Chapter XI: Death of Pizanthia</ref>}} et al and their families.{{sfn|History of Montana:1739-1885|1885|pp = 551-552}}}} While Johnny Grant had been at Fort Hall, several people had come from [[Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site|Fort Union]] down the Mullan Road route and begun building homes at Grantsville.{{sfn|A Son of the Fur Trade|2008|loc= Chapter 26 and 27}}{{efn|These included Joe Prudhomme and "quite a number of families" associated with the American Fur Company{{sfn|A Son of the Fur Trade|2008|p = 94}}}}

In 1861, the Stuart brothers and Reese Anderson established American Fork near present-day Gold Creek.{{sfn|Where It All Began|1989|p = 15}} Also in that year Johnny Grant moved his large family to his newly built house at Deer Lodge, at the present-day site of [[Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site]].<ref>{{cite web | url =https://www.nps.gov/grko/learn/historyculture/johnnygrant.htm | title =Grant-Kohrs Ranch:John Francis Grant| website = www.nps.gov | publisher =U.S. National Park Service | access-date =July 5, 2016}}</ref>{{Efn|This is still the main house at Grant-Kohrs.}} During the next two years, placer gold discoveries at Grasshopper Creek, Alder Gulch and other locations to the south caused a population decline in the valley, including the abandonment of Grantsville and American Fork.{{sfn|Where It All Began|1989|p = 54}} Beginning in 1864 with gold strikes to the north, Deer Lodge City grew rapidly as a base for supplies to mines in the surrounding mountains.<ref name = "Where It All Began" />