History Of Sun River

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About 20 miles from Great Falls lies the small town of Sun River. The population is about 200 people. The town only consists of a bar, café, store, middle school and post office. The town of Sun River is located on Highway 89, which is the fastest way to get to Missoula from Great Falls. Most people think that Sun River was once a large town because of the railroad that used to run through it but actually this town grew for several other reasons and the railroad began to cause its population decrease.
There were settlers in Sun River even when Lewis and Clark made their expedition through Montana, and those were the tribes of the Blackfeet Indians. The Blackfeet used the Sun River for their wintering grounds because of the large herds of buffalo and elk that used it for wintering range. Sun River was named by the Piegan Indians, the name that they gave it was “Natoe-osucti” which means medicine river or Sun River.
John Largent was the first settler to the town of Sun River. He came in 1862 to Montana to work for the American Fur Company, which had a post in Fort Benton. He settled in Sun River in 1867 after leaving the American Fur Company. He later started the general store and lodging house in Sun River. This was set up for the travelers who were in route to either Virginia City or Fort Benton.
In 1865, there was a gold rush near Sun River, which brought hundreds of people to the area to find their riches. The winter of 1865 was very cold and many of the gold miners didn’t bring the proper supplies with them when they came, so they were forced to buy supplies in Sun River and began to settle in the area. Even though no large amount of gold was ever recorded as being found. This gold rush increased the population of Sun River and made businesses want to come there.
John J Healy was a trade post owner and operator at the Sun River Crossing and was not satisfied with the military protection from the Indian ...