Envisioned as a city to rival Fort Benton, Ophir was planned with ferries across the Missouri River, warehouses, docks, wharves, wagon routes, and a few associated businesses. Construction began in 1865, and soon four hundred lots had been surveyed and several cabins had been built in the field below. Then, on May 25, 1865, a ten-man work party was attacked and killed a few miles from here while cutting logs along the Marias River. Most people blamed the Blood Indians, a branch of the Blackfeet, while others rumored that jealous Fort Benton merchants were responsible for the massacre. In any case, all building efforts ceased, the cabins were eventually taken down and used as fuel for steamboats, and Ophir became the "City That Never Was."