Alder Gulch

Gold was discovered in the area of Alder Gulch on May 20th 1863, and the inevitable Gold Rush started. On June 7th of that same year, land was claimed for a townsite and by 1864 the town, Virginia CIty, Montana was a rip-roaring gold camp with a high rate of homicide. See John Xavier Beidler, Henry Plummer, and Vigilantes of Montana.