Conner, Glen

National Environmental Satellite and Data Information Service (NESDIS)

"Making and recording weather observations were new to the Helena area in 1866 but almost everything else in the area was new too. President Abraham Lincoln signed the act that established the Montana Territory on 26 May 1864. Gold was discovered on 14 July 1864 and, soon afterward, Helena was first established as a settlement in the gulch where the discovery was made. Only one and a half years later, the first weather observations were submitted from the Helena area. The city grew rapidly and by 1870 was well on its way to becoming a major city in the Territory. Statehood was still years away, Montana did not become a state until 8 November 1889"--Introduction.