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1743
 ·  The Verendryes, presumably traversing southeastern Montana, sight what they call the "shining mountains."

1749
 ·  The Elder Verendrye dies; sons are deprived of their grants.
 ·  French and Indian War puts an end to all expeditions of discovery.

1763
 ·  New France passes into British hands
 ·  Louisiana (reaching to the Rockies) into control of Spain.

1804
 ·  March 9 Montana east of the Rockies becomes part of the United States through transfer from France of Upper Louisiana, carrying out terms of the Louisiana Purchase of 1803.
 ·  May 14th Captain Meriwether Lewis and William Clark set out from St. Louis to explore the region.

1805
 ·  Sacajawea, Indian wife of the French-Canadian trapper Charbonneau, joins Lewis and Clark at the Mandan villages as interpreter.
 ·  April 26 Lewis and Clark reach the mouth of the Yellowstone;
 ·  June 14th, Great Falls;
 ·  July 19th, Gates of the Mountains;
 ·  July 25, Three Forks;
 ·  August 12, Lemhi Pass, where Captain Lewis passes over the Continental Divide and they meet the Shoshone; and
 ·  September 11, Lolo Pass on the future State Line.
 ·  Francios Larocque, first white man on lower Yellowstone.

1806
 ·  June 29 Lewis and Clark, returning from the Pacific, reach Traveler's Rest near mouth of Lolo Creek; then next day divide the expedition to explore vast areas before their reunion at the mouth of the Yellowstone on August 12th.
 ·  Sept 23, Lewis and Clark arrive at St. Louis.

1807
 ·  Manuel Lisa establishes first trading post in Montana at junction of Big Horn and Yellowstone Rivers.
 ·  John Colter, a veteran of the Lewis & Clark Expedition working for Lisa, crosses Yellowstone Park, a region known for years thereafter as Colter's Hell.

1809
 ·  David Thompson, for the North-West Company, builds Salish House near present site of Thompson Falls; makes expedition into Flathead Region.

1810
 ·  Killing of twenty men by Indians leads to abandonment of the new post at Three Forks established by Menard and Henry.

1811
 ·  Manuel Lisa's post abandoned because of Indian troubles.

1822
 ·  Andrew Henry builds a trading post on the Yellowstone for Gen. William H. Ashley of St. Louis.

1823
 ·  In spring, while traveling up the Missouri, Henry is attacked by Blackfeet near Great Falls, and forced to turn back.

1824
 ·  Alexander Ross and party travel though Hell Gate Canyon near site of Missoula.

1828
 ·  Kenneth MacKenzie builds for the American Fur Company a trading post, Fort Floyd, at the mouth of the Yellowstone near the site of Fort Henry. Fort Floyd later became Fort Union.

1831
 ·  Flathead delegation visits St. Louis, asking for missionaries to teach them Christianity.

1832
 ·  Fort Piegan established near mouth of Marias River.
 ·  Fort MacKenzie built on Marias River following abandonment and burning for Fort Piegan.
 ·  First steamboat, the Yellowstone, reaches Fort Union; amount the passengers is George Catlin, famous painter.
 ·  Alexander Culberston arrives at Fort Union.

1833
 ·  Prince Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied arrives at Fort Union on the Assiniboine, American Fur Company steamer.

1835
 ·  Flatheads again ask for missionaries.
 ·  Fort Van Buren, second American Fur Company post, established on the Yellowstone near the mouth of the Tongue.

1839
 ·  Third Flathead request for missionaries.

1840
 ·  Father de Smet, after celebrating mass with Flatheads in Wyoming, travels north with them into Gallatin Valley.

1841
 ·  September 24 Father de Smet founds St. Mary's Mission near present site of Stevensville in the Bitterroot Valley.

1842
 ·  In spring Father de Smet plants first Montana crops--wheat, oats and potatoes--at St. Mary's Mission.

1843
 ·  John James Audubon, famous naturalist, visits Fort Union.
 ·  Fort McKenzie burns.
 ·  Fort Chardon, at the mouth of the Judith, and Fort Saryp, 25 miles below the mouth of the Tongue, built by American Fur Company.

1845
 ·  Father Ravalli sets up first Montana gristmill at St. Mary's Mission.

1846
 ·  American Fur Company builds Fort Lewis near mouth of Marias River.
 ·  Northwest Montana becomes United States Territory by treaty with England fixing international boundary at forty-ninth parallel.

1850
 ·  Major John Owen established Fort Owen in the Bitterroot Valley at the site of St. Mary's Mission.
 ·  Fort Lewis rebuilt and rechristened Fort Benton by Major Alexander Culbertson.
 ·  Steamboat El Paso reaches mouth of the Milk River.

1852
 ·  Francois Finlay, known as Benetsee, finds gold on what is now Gold Creek, between Garrison and Drummond.

1853
 ·  Gov. Isaac I. Stevens explores a route across Montana for a railroad from St. Paul to the Pacific.
 ·  John Grant brings in the first considerable herd of cattle, most of it picked up along the Oregon Trail.

1854
 ·  Father Hoecken founds St. Ignatius Mission in Mission Valley.
 ·  Sir St. George Gore, Irish sportsman, and large party arrives in Montana.

1855
 ·  Governor Stevens signs treaties with the Salish Indians at Council Grove, near the mouth of the Bitterroot River, and with the Blackfeet, at the mouth of the Judith River.
 ·  St. George Gore and party, with Jim Bridger as guide, explore and hunt in the Powder River region.

1858
 ·  Mullan Wagon Road from Fort Benton to Walla Walla, Washington, begun.
 ·  The Stuart party finds gold on Gold Creek, near site of Finlay's earlier discovery.

1859
 ·  July 2 Stern-wheeler Chippewa is first steamboat at Fort Benton; Key West arrives hours later.

1862
 ·  Gold Rush to Bannack, when John White and William Eads find placer deposits.
 ·  Mullan Wagon Road is completed.
 ·  Sept 26 Capt. John Fisk's expedition of 100 men and 30 women and children from Minnesota, arrives at Gold Creek.

1863
 ·  May 28 Gold discovered in Alder Gulch, near present site of Virginia City by Edgar-Fairweather party.
 ·  Idaho Territory organized, including Montana.

1863-64
 ·   December 20-February 5th Hanging, by Bannack and Virginia City vigilantes, of twenty-four outlaws, including the Sheriff, Henry Plummer, and two deputies; eight others banished. Prisoners admit murdering 102 persons in Montana.
 ·  First schools started at Bannack and Virginia City.

1864
 ·  May 26 Montana Territory created; Bannack, first capital.
 ·  G. O. Humphreys and William Allison stake out first claims on Butte Hill.
 ·  July 14 Gold discovered in Last Chance Gulch, present site of Helena.
 ·  Montana Post, first important newspaper in the Territory is started at Virginia City.
 ·  December 12 First Territorial legislature meets at Bannack.
 ·  Placer discovery in Confederate Gulch.
 ·  John M. Bozeman leads first wagon train over Bozeman Trail, a cut-off to Montana gold camps from Fort Laramie on the Oregon Trail.

1865
 ·  February 2 Montana Historical Society incorporated.
 ·  February 5 Original nine counties of Montana established.
 ·  February 7 Virginia City becomes Territorial Capital.
 ·  Placer gold mining at its height; sensational recoveries in Confederate Gulch.

1866
 ·  Action Gov. Thomas Francis Meagher drowned at Fort Benton.
 ·  Indian troubles bring about establishment of Fort C. F. Smith to protect Bozeman Trail.
 ·  Nelson Story trails in first head of cattle from Texas.
 ·  First constitutional convention at Helena.
 ·  First National Bank of Helena is first bank in Montana.

1867
 ·  Fort Shaw established on Sun River to protect Mullan Road;
 ·  Fort Ellis, near present site of Bozeman.
 ·  John M. Bozeman killed by Piegans near Livingston.
 ·  August 2 Helena Herald first issued.

1868
 ·  Fort C. F. Smith and Bozeman Trail abandoned to placate Indians.

1869
 ·  Camp Baker (later Fort Logan) established in Big Belt Mountains, east of Helena.

1870
 ·  Piegan War; Baker Massacre of non-combatant Indians.
 ·  Population (U.S. Census) 20,595.

1871
 ·  February 10 David D. Carpenter receives patent on first homestead entry filed at Helena Land Office.

1872
 ·  Congress creates Yellowstone National Park.

1874
 ·  First shipment of Montana cattle to the East made from Ogden, Utah, by James Forbes; the stock had been driven south from the range of Conrad Kohrs on Sun River.

1875
 ·  Seat of government moved from Virginia City to Helena.
 ·  Rich silver strike made at Butte by William Farlin.
 ·  W. A. Clark begins development of Travonia mine, and Marcus Daly arrives from Salt Lake City.
 ·  June General Forsythe, under orders from General Sheridan, explores Yellowstone region.

1876
 ·  June 17th Battle of the Rosebud; the Sioux, under Crazy Horse, defeat General Crook.
 ·  June 25th Battle of Little Big Horn; General Custer and five troops of the 7th U.S. Cavalry cut off and killed by Sioux. (Historians differ as number killed, estimates varying from 208 to 277.)
 ·  Gen. Nelson A. Miles establishes Fort Keogh, the beginning of Miles City, at the mouth of the Tongue River.

1877
 ·  Miles campaigns successfully against the Sioux and Cheyenne.
 ·  Nez Perce War.
 ·  August 9 Chief Joseph defeats General Gibbon at the Battle of the Big Hole.
 ·  October 8 Surrender of Chief Joseph in the Bear Paw Mountains.
 ·  Fort Missoula, west of the Rockies, and Fort Custer, near the mouth of the Big Horn, are established.

1879
 ·  Fort Assiniboine Military Reservation south of Havre established.

1880
 ·  Utah and Northern completed to Dillon.
 ·  Fort Maginnis in Judith Basin.
 ·  Silver surpasses gold.
 ·  Montana mines have produced more than $200,000,000.
 ·  Population, 39,159.

1881
 ·  Northern Pacific Railway enters Montana from the east.
 ·  Marcus Daly begins copper mining at Butte.
 ·  Helena incorporated as a city.

1882
 ·  Fort Benton abandoned as a military post, marking decline of fear of Indians.
 ·  Great Falls, Billings, Livingston, Lewistown and other town sites laid out.
 ·  Utah and Northern completed to Garrison.

1883
 ·  Henry Villard, president of the Northern Pacific Railway, drives last spike in ceremony at Gold Creek.

1884
 ·  Last of the buffalo.
 ·  Extension of the cattle industry.
 ·  Stockmen fight organized cattle thieves.
 ·  January 14-February 9 Second constitutional convention at Helena;
 ·  November 4 constitution ratified, and Congress asked to admit Montana as a State.
 ·  July 28th Montana Stockgrowers Association organized at Miles City, with Theodore Roosevelt as charter member.

1885
 ·  Billings and Missoula incorporated as cities.

1887
 ·  Hard winter starts decline of cattle industry; worst storm, January 28- 30.
 ·   Legislature provides for observance of Arbor Day.
 ·   James J. Hill's construction crews lay tracks of St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba R.R. at record speed.

1888
 ·  Coal mining begins in Cascade County.
 ·  Great Falls incorporated as a city.

1889
 ·  Montana Central Railroad completed to Butte.
 ·  July 4 Third constitutional convention at Helena.
 ·  October 1 New constitution ratified.
 ·  November 8 President Harrison's proclamation announces admission of Montana into Union as a State.
 ·  November 23 First State legislature convenes at Helena.

1890
 ·  Great Northern builds west from Havre through Marias Pass.
 ·  End of steamboat traffic on the Missouri in Montana.
 ·  Hydroelectric plant and smelter established at Great Falls.
 ·  Population 142,924.

1892
 ·  Great Northern Railway completed through State.
 ·  Fort Shaw abandoned as a military post.

Bibliography
Montana, A State Guide Book, pg 417-423
Compiled and Written by the Federal Writers' Project of the Work Projects Administration for the State of Montana.
Hastings House, New York 1939, 1946, 1949, 1955.
Copyright by Department of Agriculture, Labor and Industry, State of Montana, 1939.
Copyright 1949 by Hastings House, Publishers, Inc.