The story
Bannack was Montana's first major gold strike and, for a few months in 1864, its first territorial capital. Gold turned up on Grasshopper Creek in July 1862, and about 3,000 people arrived within a year.
The town is best remembered for its sheriff. Henry Plummer was hanged by vigilantes in January 1864, accused of secretly running the gang that robbed and killed travelers on the road to Virginia City. Historians still argue over how much of it was true. The gallows stood in his own town.
The gold played out slowly, and Bannack faded over decades rather than years — the last school class was held in the 1940s. It became a state park in 1954, preserved as found rather than rebuilt, which makes it a quieter, more honest visit than Montana's more commercial old mining towns.
What remains today
More than fifty original buildings along Main Street, including the Hotel Meade, the combined Masonic lodge and schoolhouse, the jail, and the gallows. Most buildings are open to walk through.
From the field
The most valuable part of this record is the part only visitors can write.
Stamp your passport
Check in at Bannack — GPS-verified visits earn an inked stamp.
File a field report
Road conditions, what's still standing, what's gone — your report joins the record.
Add photographs
Credited, dated, and preserved as part of Bannack's permanent record.
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