Distinctly Montana Magazine

24 D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA N A M A G A Z I N E • W I N T E R 2 0 2 3 - 2 4 W HEN MONTANA TERRITORY ENTERED THE UNION AS THE FORTY-FIRST STATE IN NOVEMBER 1889, Helena had been the seat of the territorial capital for fourteen years. Residents with voting rights ratified the state constitution in October 1889, but an important question remained to be answered: where would the state capital be located? Locating the capital was a weighty issue. The de- cision held the power to make or break Montana's position politically, economically, and culturally. Branding was everything. The capital city would be the image that Montana presented to the rest of the United States and to the entire world. It had to be a place fitting of its role as a representation of all that Montana was: not a frontier backwater, but a thriv- ing center of industrial and cosmopolitan promise. To some, the answer seemed obvious: keep the capital in Helena. But to others, the solution was anything but obvious. Why stick with the status quo when given the opportunity to make a mean- ingful change? On August 8, 1889, The Daily Independent in Helena printed coverage of the latest assembly of the constitutional convention. Discussion to re- locate the temporary capital from Helena quickly devolved into heated debate about where it should end up permanently and when the decision should be made. John E. Rickards, a Silver Bow County delegate to the state constitutional convention who would later serve as second governor, believed the first general election in 1890 premature to make a decision about the capital's location. Rickards an- ticipated an "immense immigration," and was con- fident that several sizable towns suited for the role would spring up on the "west side [of the Divide]." Deer Lodge County delegate John C. Robinson argued that the earlier the vote was held, the bet- ter. Waiting until the third general election would mean a decade-long gap without a capital. The only thing all the delegates agreed on was that the decision to locate the permanent capital should be left up to the people. Helena remained the temporary capital, with the permanent location ultimately left to a statewide vote in 1892. Between 1889 and 1892, seven communities threw their hats into the ring: Butte, Bozeman, Boulder, Great Falls, Deer Lodge, Anaconda, and Helena. by LINDSAY TRAN Race for the Capital

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