Helena began as a group of placer miners' cabins, and Main Street follows the bottom of Last Chance Gulch, which was formed by the convergence of Oro Fino and Grizzley Gulches. Its colorful history began when gold was discovered on July 14, 1864, by a party returning to Alder Gulch from an unsuccessful prospecting trip. They agreed to camp and try the locality as their last chance, and it proved to be a bonanza. The gulch is estimated to have produced thirty millions in pay dirt, with plenty still left beneath the present business district. After a cloudburst, colors and nuggets have been found in the gutters. Main Street is very irregular in width and alignment, and some held that it was laid out that way to restrict the shooting range of impetuous hot-blooded gents in the roaring days gone by.