Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Settlers flocked to the region for their 320 acres of “Poor Man's Paradise,” a term made
famous by Hill's promotional campaign. The campaign—piggybacking on the Homestead
Act of 1891, which gave every U.S. citizen the chance to claim 320 acres of unoccupied
land—touted that land was abundant and fortunes could be made easily. Generous rain-
fall prompted enormous harvests of wheat and kept population growth steady until 1917,
when a cyclical drought wreaked havoc on the land and broke the spirits of newcomers.
Between 1909 and 1916, some 80,000 people had moved into the region; 60,000 of them
were gone by 1922. North-central Montana is still subject to harsh weather and the unpre-
dictable boom-and-bust cycle.
The city of Great Falls was built upon waterfalls.
When Meriwether Lewis stood atop the rocks beneath the Great Falls of the Missouri
River in June 1805, he pronounced the scene as “the grandest sight I ever beheld,” a sen-
timent shared by Fort Benton businessman Paris Gibson some 75 years later. Gibson, who
had made a fortune in Minnesota as a flour and wool merchant before finding success as a
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