Augusta, named for the daughter of a local rancher, was established on Fred Walrath's homestead in 1884 and prospered as a trade center for a vast cattle and sheep ranching area. By the 1890s, its main street included dwellings, hotels, saloons, mercantiles, and Manix & Vaughn's famed general store, and many of those buildings and homes still stand today. In 1912, when the Great Northern Railway announced plans to build a branch line westward from Great Falls into this area, it established a station and community near here called Gilman instead of extending the line to Augusta. Many people and businesses, including the bank, moved from Augusta to Gilman, touching off a decade-long feud between the two communities. Although Gilman flourished for a time, Augusta endured, and by 1923 drought, hard times, and the extension of the railroad to Augusta caused the Gilman State Bank to close and the town to fade away. Many of Gilman's buildings were moved to Augusta, and all that remains of Gilman are concrete sidewalks and the bank building, which is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.