Deer Lodge

Travel Montana

Deer Lodge Directory Listings

A view from 1939:

DEER LODGE, (4,530 alt., 3,510 pop.), seat of Powell County, is bisected by Clark Fork of the Columbia, here called the Deer Lodge River. On the west side of the town are the somber stone walls and guard towers of the State penitentiary, and the yards and shops of the CM. St. P & P R.R., the town's leading industrial unit, which employs 250 men. On the east side, which has broad streets, are many sturdy square houses popular in the West during the 1870's and 1880's. Castles built with the wealth of mines and ranches and log cabin homes survive almost side by side.

In 1862, when the first important gold strikes in this area attracted attention, a shack town sprang up here, called variously, Cottonwood, Spanish Forks, and La Barge. Deer Lodge was the name officially adopted in 1864. An important stop on the Mullan Wagon Road, it was listed by Captain Mullan in his Miner's and Traveler's Guide. It was one of the few places along the route where immigrants could obtain fresh beef and vegetables, and the services of a blacksmith. Prospectors coming up from the south called it the "good little town on the road to Bear" because it was a pleasant place to break the journey on the trail to Bear-mouth, a mining camp 50 miles farther down the Clark Fork.

The W. A. Clark House (open), 311 Clark Ave., once the residence of W. A. Clark, dates from the 1860's. The front of the T-shaped one-story structure is frame with a wide porch. The shank of the T is built of logs.

The State Penitentiary (open 2-4 Fri), south end of Main St., was built in 1871. Its walls and older buildings are constructed of stone, the newer of brick and reinforced concrete. More than one-fifth of the 600 convicts are employed on ranches and in other work outside the walls. Those inside work in a sawmill, weave rag rugs, or manufacture automobile license plates. The prison has a bakery and a laundry, and conducts barber, carpenter, shoe repair, plumbing, and vulcanizing shops. Much of the food is produced on prison farms.

The Warden's Residence is directly opposite the penitentiary. The outside is finished with varnished Oregon spliced fir, the inside with oak, curly birch, and Circassian walnut. The living room and dining room floors are bordered with zigzag inlay.

A Gold Nugget Collection (open on application), Main St. and Milwaukee Ave., contains specimens taken from the streams of Powell County, including Gold Creek, site of the earliest placer finds in the State. The nuggets have an aggregate weight of 140I/2 ounces, and are worth $3,707. The largest has a Troy weight of 23.18 ounces.

Source: Montana: A State Guide Book; Compiled and Written by the Federal Writers' Project of the Work Projects Administration for the State of Montana; September, 1939.