Sitting in the heart of Lewis and Clark County, the Capital of Montana was founded by a group of gold prospectors called The Four Georgians after they were exploring the area of the Prickly Pear Valley.
On this day October 30th, in 1864, after four men discover gold at “Last Chance Gulch” and Helena is founded as the capital of Montana. The original camp name was “Last Chance” but the title was seen as too crass and unappealing to future settlers. As a result, a group of at least seven men ventured up to “Last Chance” to plan the future layout of the city and rename it. After much deliberation they had finally agreed on the name Helena.
Interestingly enough, though they agreed on the name Helena, the pronunciation was heavily disputed between “heleena” and “helina” until 1882 when the latter was adopted. Some of the other names they considered naming the town was Pumpkinville and Squashtown since the date of its founding was so close to Halloween.