Gold discoveries near Deer Lodge in 1862 and later in Bannack and Virginia City brought a rush of settlers that included both respectable people and criminals, and widespread thievery, lawlessness, and murder continued until vigilante groups organized and hanged or banished many of the worst offenders. In the winter of 1866-67, the Territorial Legislature sought money for a prison, and although the United States Congress approved the request, the funding proved inadequate. Deer Lodge was chosen as the site of the new Territorial Prison, but financial problems caused repeated delays and changes to the plans before construction finally began in the spring of 1870 and the first wing was finished that fall. The first convict arrived on July 2, 1871. When Montana became the 41st state on November 8, 1889, responsibility for operating the prison passed to the new state government. For more than 100 years, inadequate funding and overcrowding troubled the facility. In 1979, it was abandoned in favor of a new prison five miles west of Deer Lodge, and today it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and preserved and operated as a museum by the Powell County Museum and Arts Foundation under a lease agreement with the State of Montana.