The Grizzly’s Home – 1900
The Grizzly’s Home
An Old-Timer Recalls the Day When Helena Was a Bear Camp
Duncan McDonald, of Missoula, left for home yesterday after a short visit in the capital, says the Helena Independent. Mr. McDonald is one of the well known pioneers of he state. When a boy he passed through the Prickly Pear valley in 1858 in company with his father, who was long connected with the Hudson Bay company.
“I well remember this gulch as it looked in those days,” said Mr. McDonald yesterday. “It was covered with underbrush common to all mountain gulches and out of it flowed a stream of sparkling water. I remember that it was a place where we saw several grizzly bears. From the mouth of the gulch the plain could be seen fairly swarming with deer and antelope. We had little idea then that the gulch contained millions of gold, or that it would be the site for a prosperous city.”
The above article appeared in the Missoula newspaper Daily Democrat – Messenger May 7, 1900.