Rocky Fork Coal Company of Montana

Product Details

Intricately engraved antique stock certificate from the Rocky Fork Coal Company of Montana dating back to the 1890's. This document was printed by the American Bank Note Company, and measures approximately 11" (w) by 7" (h).

Beautiful piece with a vignette of mining mill scene. Two allegorical figures adorn the upper corners of the border and another allegorical is built into the bottom corners.

Images

The images presented are representative of the piece(s) you will receive. When representative images are presented for one of our offerings, you will receive a certificate in similar condition as the one pictured; however dating, denomination, certificate number and issuance details may vary.

Historical Context

On September 17, 1851, the United States government signed a treaty with the Crow Nation, ceding the area which now contains Red Lodge to the Crow Indians. Rich coal deposits were found there in 1866, and gold was discovered nearby in 1870. An 1880 treaty between the U.S. government and the Crow allowed the area to be settled starting April 11, 1882.

The settlement of Red Lodge took off when the Rocky Fork Coal Company opened the area’s first mine in 1887, hundreds of immigrants, Finns, Scots, Irish, Italians and Slavs, arrived and mined coal. During this boom time, Red Lodge was a lively place, with 20 saloons and a burgeoning population.

That same year, the Rocky Fork Coal Company opened the first large-scale mine at Red Lodge sparking the community’s first building boom, consisting mostly of “hastily constructed shacks and log huts.” The completion of the Northern Pacific Railway (which controlled the Rocky Fork) branch line to Red Lodge in 1890 resulted in the construction of many brick and sandstone buildings that now line the city’s main street.

Bearcreek owes its existence to area coal mining that began in the 1890s to supply coal for the Northern Pacific Railroad and the Anaconda Company. The town was platted and incorporated after the arrival of the Montana, Wyoming & Southern Railroad in 1906, and it grew rapidly as American and foreign-born workers moved there, drawn by the promise of steady work. By 1917, the mines around Bearcreek were employing 1,200 men.