A Tribute to Sidney Edgerton

Sidney Edgerton came to Bannack from Ohio in September 1863 to begin serving as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Idaho Territory, then a vast region that included Idaho, all of Montana, and the western half of Wyoming, with its capital at Lewiston. Convinced that the gold discoveries in the region required government closer at hand, he carried two thousand dollars' worth of gold dust sewn into his clothing on a dangerous journey to Washington, D.C., while Congress considered forming a new territory. He argued that Montana's western boundary should follow the Bitterroot Mountains rather than the proposed Continental Divide, a decision that secured the Bitterroot and Flathead Valleys and the future wealth of Butte for Montana. After Congress created Montana Territory on May 26, 1864, President Abraham Lincoln appointed him its first governor, but because no territorial secretary was appointed, Edgerton used his own money to keep the territory functioning. On February 2, 1865, the territorial legislature created Edgerton County as one of Montana's original nine counties, but his strong Republican abolitionism and belief in equal rights made him unpopular with the Democratic majority. He resigned as governor and returned to Akron, Ohio, in September 1865 to practice law until his death in 1900. In December 1867, the territorial legislature voted 7-0 to rename Edgerton County as Lewis and Clark County, and partisan politics denied him the recognition of the "Father of Montana."

Montana · United States