At the intersection of Bear Gulch Road and Deep Creek Road sat Beartown, one of the earliest towns in the Bearmouth area of Montana in the Garnet Range in Granite County.

At the intersection of Bear Gulch Road and Deep Creek Road sat Beartown, one of the earliest towns in the Bearmouth area of Montana in the Garnet Range in Granite County.


The town was founded in 1865 when gold was discovered on First Chance Gulch , and Beartown yielded $1 million in gold and silver in 1866. In its heyday, the town had 17 saloons, and it was home to the notorious "Beartown Roughs." One story notes that Jimmy Ryan, a "fiery Irish saloon keeper," shot at a miner for insulting his singing, but missed and killed the miner's partner.
An early effort to make Beartown Montana's capital didn't go far; the boom only lasted until 1869.

Nothing remains of the town today, but rumors abound that a Chinese man buried a fortune in a five-pound baking can, and people are still trying to find it. Today, the site is on private property.

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