Helena travel guide — Helena tourism and travel information

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Helena travel guide

about Helena

Helena is the capital of Montana, a state of the United States of America. As of the 2000 census, its population is 25,780, but with the surrounding area the population reaches 40,000. It is the county seat of Lewis and Clark County.

Helena geography

Helena is located at 46°35'45" North, 112°1'37" West (46.595805, -112.027031).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 36.3 km² (14.0 mi²). 36.3 km² (14.0 mi²) of it is land and none of the area is covered with water.

Helena history

The town was established on October 30, 1864, following the discovery of gold along Last Chance Creek by the "Four Georgians". Helena's main street is named Last Chance Gulch and follows the winding path of the original creek through the historic downtown district.

The town was originally named "Crabtown", after John Crab, one of the "Four Georgians". As other miners arrived and the town expanded it was decided to change the name. After many suggestions, John Sommerville suggested the name of his home town, Saint Helena, Minnesota, but the pronunciation (Hel-E-na) did not suit the miners, who preferred HELL-en-a (emphasis on hell). Dropping "Saint" from the name as unnecessary, the new name Helena was adopted (defeating the name "Tomah" by only two votes).

The townsite was first surveyed in 1865 by Captain John Wood. However, most streets follow the chaotic paths of the miners, going around claims and following the winding streambed. As a result, few city blocks match the ideal of 30 x 60, rather they have an irregular variety of shapes and sizes. Many major streets deadend abruptly.

By 1888, about 50 millionaires lived in Helena, more millionares per capita than any city in the world. About $3.6 billion (in today's dollars) of gold was taken from Last Chance Gulch, over a 20-year period. The Last Chance Placer is one of the most famous placers in the western United States. Most of the production occurred before 1868. Much of the placer is now under the streets and buildings of Helena (but even as late as the 1970s, when repairs were being made to a Bank, a vein of placer gold was found under the Bank's foundation).

The official symbol of Helena is a drawing of "The Guardian of the Gulch", a wooden fire watch tower built in 1886, that still stands on "Tower Hill" overlooking the historic downtown district. This fire tower replaced a series of observation buildings, the original being a flimsy lookout stand built in 1870 on the same site, built in response to a series of devastating fires: April 1869, November 1869, October 1871, August 1872 and January 1874 that swept through the early mining camp.

The Civic Center and the Cathedral are two of many unique historic buildings in Helena.

Helena was the site of an interesting natural experiment when a smoking ban was in effect from June, 2002 to December, 2002 and the rate of hospital admissions for heart attack fell by 60% This study has recently been criticized for using a sample size so small that the results are statistically meaningless.

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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Helena, Montana".

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