Bozeman is a city in and the county seat of Gallatin County, Montana, United States,GR: 6 in the southwestern part of the state. With a population of 27,509 at the 2000 census, Bozeman is the fifth largest city in the state. The city is named after John M. Bozeman, founder of the Bozeman Trail. Located in the fastest-growing county in the state 1, Bozeman is an All-America City (awarded in 2001)2. Bozeman residents are known as Bozemanites.

Bozeman is home to Montana State University - Bozeman. The local newspaper is the Bozeman Chronicle. Gallatin Field Airport serves the city.

Early History

For thousands of years, Native Americans tribes including the Shoshone, Nez Perce, Blackfeet, Flathead, Crow Nation and Sioux made the area their home, though the Gallatin Valley was not permanently held by any particular tribe.

19th century

William Clark visited the area in July 1806 as he traveled east from Three Forks along the Gallatin River. The party camped east of what is now Bozeman, at the mouth of Kelly Canyon. The journal entries from Clark's party briefly describe the future city's location in a place the local natives called the "Valley of the Flowers" 3.

In 1863, John Bozeman, along with a partner named John Jacobs, opened the Bozeman Trail, an offshoot from the Oregon Trail leading to the mining town of Virginia City through the Gallatin Valley and the future location of the city of Bozeman.

John Bozeman, with Daniel Rouse and William Beall platted the town in 1864 stating "standing right in the gate of the mountains ready to swallow up all tenderfeet that would reach the territory from the east, with their golden fleeces to be taken care of...". The Indian Wars closed the Bozeman Trail in 1868, but the town's fertile land attracted permanent settlers.

In 1866 Nelson Story arrived with 3,000 head of longhorn cattle sneaking past angry Native Americans and the U.S. Army who tried to turn Story back for safety reasons. Those first cattle formed the first herd in Montana's cattle industry.

Fort Ellis was established in 1867 by Captain R. S. LaMotte and two companies of the 2nd Cavalry, after the mysterious death of John Bozeman near Yellowstone and considerable political disturbance in the area led local settlers and miners to feel a need for added protection. The fort, named for Gettysburg casualty Colonel Augustus Van Horne Ellis, was decommissioned in 1886 and very few remains are left at the actual site, now occupied by the Fort Ellis Experimental Station of Montana State University 4. In addition to Fort Ellis, a short-lived fort, Fort Elizabeth Meahger (also simply known as Fort Meagher), was established in 1867 by volunteer militiamen. This fort was located eight miles (13 km) east of town on Rock Creek.