Virginia City supported three brewing operations in the 1860's, but eventually only the H.S. Gilbert Brewery remained. Founded in 1863 by Henry S. Gilbert, William Smith, and Christen Richter, it became the first Montana brewery in 1864 and expanded through Gilbert's entrepreneurial drive and Richter's experience as a brewer and cooper. The complex included a bottling building, family residence, stables, and a Beer Garden filled with century-old willows. In 1872, Gilbert bought Richter's interest in the business and his house, built in 1864, and established a grain and stock farm on the Madison Valley to supply most of the barley. In 1875, he began bottling Gilbert Lager on site. The brewery preserved a 19th century brewing culture brought by German immigrants and remained a time capsule of the historic process used to produce bottom fermented lager like that of Europe. Sawdust-insulated walls kept ice cold, and the site retained oak aging barrels, a boiler, kiln, malting tower, and other artifacts that show traditional brewing methods, along with the creative use of natural water features and frontier ingenuity. Although altered as the business expanded, there had been little change since the 1880s. The operation used the latest technologies while adhering to traditional standards of purity carried over from Europe. Lager became popular after the Civil War because it depended on yeast that fermented slowly at colder temperatures for longer periods, resulting in a purer beer than traditional ale. Raw materials were deposited into the brewery's second story by wagon from the hillside behind it, and brewers used gravity to move wheat, barley, and hops downhill through chutes. Daylight Creek provided cold water crucial to production: water diverted from the creek circulated beneath brewing casks on the stone floor, cooling the beer while the lager yeast worked.