Early Women in Hamilton History

The Hamilton area was a cold and inhospitable place in the early years, but several pioneering women made the valley their home.

The first white woman to settle in the valley was Mrs. George Dobbins who arrived in 1861. A daughter, Lauretta, was born to the Dobbins in 1862.The Dobbins ranch was located in present day Stevensville.

In 1864 the R.W Nichols family came over the Gibbons Pass trail from the Big Hole country. This family was late in leaving Bannock because of a delayed wage payment, and they were caught by a snow storm which turned the four day trip into 16 grueling days of snowcovered steep trails. The Nichols pitched their tent at the south edge of present day Hamilton. They were in rough shape and low on supplies. James Tolton, was the first settler they encountered. He told them about the John Owen's grist mill in Stevensville. Two of the Nichols party undertook the journey to Stevensville for supplies, which took eight more days. They returned with 23 pounds of flour and 15 pounds of bran at a price of 15 cents a pound.

The family built a cozy dirt-roof log cabin and settled in for the winter. Game was plentiful, and there was plenty of grass for their livestock. This seems to be the first record of an settler in what we now know as Hamilton Montana.

Calamity Jane was Here!

Calamity Jane was once a "Bitterrooter". Calamity Jane was Jane Burke, born Mary Jane Canary in Missouri in 1852. An article from the Bitter Root Times of 1896 recounts that Jane Burke and her husband ran a cafe on Main Street. A few days before leaving town Calamity had a good fill of whiskey and got involved in a big fight where she broke windows, kicked over tables and blackened both eyes of her cook. She boasted that she wanted to take on the strongest and biggest "Bitter Rooter!"