From Names on the Faces of Montana
by Roberta Carkeek Cheney
Copyright 1983 Revised 1984
6th printing, January 1996
Beaverhead County, in the Southwestern corner of the state, was organized as one of the original territorial counties on February 2, 1865. It was named for the rock which Sacajawea pointed out to Lewis and Clark explaining that her people had called it that because it resembled a beaver's head [see photo above]. It was one of the smallest of the original counties, but is now one of the largest. Beaverhead County maintained its original area throughout all the county dividing and the only change in its borders was made by an annexation of a part of Madison County in 1911. It contains Montana's oldest town, Bannack City, where a post office was established in November 1863. Dillon is the county seat.
You can read an excerpt from Bannack, Cradle of Montana By F. Lee Graves, which discusses Henry Plummer, one of Bannack's most colorful characters. Mr. F. Lee Graves has very generously allowed us to transcribe and place information from his book that pertains to Henry Plummer on this website. We would like to thank Mr. Graves for this wonderful book about Bannack and for granting us permission to use parts of his book for all to read. Enjoy!