Timeline
This timeline is provided to give you a basic historical framework on which to hang your story. It’s intentionally sparse, since the whole point of the site is to fill in the gaps; you can see that there’s plenty of room for your creativity. If your submission includes details that would be considered historically significant in the development of the area, they’ll be added to the timeline.
| Year | Event | |
|---|---|---|
| 1768 | Jean Rigord becomes the first white man to see the Rocky Mountain Front. | |
| 1793 | Pierre-Auguste Grenois, fur trapper, first passes through the area. | |
| 1795 | Grenois founds Apekuni House to trade with the Blackfeet nation. | |
| 1806 | Meriwether Lewis traverses the area; he’s erroneously told by the Nez Perce that Apekuni House is abandoned and he does not visit. Blackfeet warriors lay siege to Apekuni House following Lewis’ skirmish, but Grenois negotiates successfully. | |
| 1813 | Grenois dies of smallpox and Apekuni House shuts down. For some years afterward, Grenois’ labrador retriever is seen wandering the area. Blackfeet travelers call the bluff and the ruins Maohk Omitaa, Blackfoot for “Yellow Dog.” | |
| 1862 | After years of sporadic visits, a small Jesuit mission is set up near the ruins of Apekuni House. The mission ultimately fails, but does become for a few years a meeting place and minor trading post. | |
| 1869 | A minor gold rush along the Rocky Mountain Front in October brings an influx of miners and camp followers into the area. | |
| 1870 | Jacob Schissler capitalizes on the miners’ need for supplies, and founds his Macohmet Trading Post on the site of Apekuni House. The miners come and go, but ranchers and farmers, emboldened by troops stationed not far away, put down roots. | |
| 1875 | Macohmet becomes an incorporated town as it establishes itself as the center of trade and agricultural supply for the farms, ranches and small towns along the Rocky Mountain Front. | |
| 1883 | The Great Northern Railway finishes a spur line to Macohmet. | |
| 1886 | The Macohmet region, home to a half-million head of cattle, suffers 50-70% losses in the great blizzard of 1886. | |
| 1894 | Central Montana College of Agriculture and Technology is founded in Macohmet. | |
| 1901 | In honor of the recently-assassinated President, the townspeople of Macohmet change its name to McKinley. | |
| 1923 | Oil and gas is struck along the Rocky Mountain Front, leading to a two-decade industrial and economic boom. | |
| 1992 | Central Montana College becomes Montana State University - Central. | |
| 2002 | 2000 Census reports McKinley’s population: 19,658. |
