The Prickly Pear Diggings

The Prickly Pear Diggings. . The Fisk or Northern Overland Expedition camped at the future site of Montana City just east of I-15 in 1862. The outfit, consisting of 125 emigrants, left Minnesota in June, 1862, under the leadership of Capt. James Fisk for the purpose of opening a wagon route across the northern Great Plains to Fort Benton, the eastern terminus of the Mullan Road. After arriving in Montana, expedition members drifted south toward mining camps in Idaho and Grasshopper Creek in Montana. , The found "Gold Tom," one of Montana's first prospectors, holed up in a tepee near here scratching gravel for gold along Prickly Pear Creek. The few colors he panned out wouldn't have made much of a dent in the national debt, but about half of the Fisk outfit caught gold fever and wintered here. By 1864, a few hundred men mined along the creek with only marginal success. , Montana City faded away as richer gold strikes elsewhere in the territory lured its residents away. By 1870, it was little more than a memory. The Montana Central Railroad reestablished it in 1888 as a station on its line. Today, Montana City is a distinct community that is proud of its heritage.