1895 Map of Three Forks

About this map

Virginia and the gold-bearing drainages of Alder Gulch anchor the southwestern corner of this late nineteenth-century Montana landscape. The survey documents a critical junction where the Madison River, Jefferson, and Gallatin Rivers converge to form the Missouri. This river-and-rail economy is defined by the Northern Pacific Railroad as it tracks through Three Forks, Logan, and Manhattan toward Bozeman. In the outlying valleys, small agricultural and mining hubs like Red Bluff, Sterling, and Pony illustrate the dispersed settlement patterns of the territorial era.