Editing Billings, Montana (section)

===Coulson/Billings===
[[File:Coulson, Montana.jpg|thumb|[[Coulson, Montana]]]]

The area where Billings is today was known as Clark's Fork Bottom. Clark's Fork Bottom was to be the hub for hauling freight to Judith and Musselshell Basins. At the time these were some of the most productive areas of the [[Montana Territory]]. The plan was to run freight up Alkali Creek, now part of Billings Heights, to the basins and [[Fort Benton, Montana|Fort Benton]] on the [[Hi-Line (Montana)|Hi-Line]].{{citation needed|date=May 2014}}

In 1877, settlers from the Gallatin Valley area of the Montana Territory formed [[Coulson, Montana|Coulson]] the first town of the Yellowstone Valley.<ref name="autogenerated2" /> The town was started when John Alderson built a sawmill and convinced PW McAdow to open a general store and trading post on land Alderson owned on the bank of the Yellowstone River. The store went by the name of Headquarters, and soon other buildings and tents were being built as the town began to grow. At this time before the coming of the railroad, most goods coming to and going from the Montana Territory were carried on paddle riverboats. It is believed it was decided to name the new town Coulson in an attempt to attract the Coulson Packet Company that ran riverboats between St Louis and many points in the Montana Territory. In spite of their efforts the river was traversed only once by paddle riverboat to the point of the new town.

Coulson was a rough town of dance halls and saloons and not a single church. The town needed a sheriff and the famous mountain man [[Liver-Eating Johnson|John "Liver-Eating" Johnson]] took the job. Many disagreements were settled with a gun in the coarse Wild West town. Soon a graveyard was needed and [[Boothill Cemetery (Billings, Montana)|Boothill Cemetery]] was created. It was called Boothill because most of the people in it were said to have died with their boots on. Today, Boothill Cemetery sits within Billings' city limits and is the only remaining physical evidence of Coulson's existence.

When the railroad came to the area, Coulson residents were sure the town would become the railroads hub and Coulson would soon be the Territories largest city. The railroad only had claim to odd sections and it had two sections side-by-side about two miles west of Coulson. Being able to make far more money by creating a new town on these two sections the railroad decided to create the new town of Billings, the two towns existed side by side for a short time with a trolley even running between them. However, most of Coulson's residents moved to the new booming town of Billings. In the end Coulson faded away with the last remains of the town disappearing in the 1930s. Today Coulson Park, a Billings city park, sits on the river bank where Coulson once was.<ref>{{cite web|title=Yellowstone County Towns, Train Stations & Post Offices|url=http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mtygf/towns.htm|publisher=rootsweb|access-date=March 27, 2013}}</ref>