Helena owes its existence to gold-bearing quartz lodes in the hills south of town. The gold washed out of the hills into Last Chance Gulch where the “Four Georgians” discovered it in 1864. The fabulously rich strike drew hundreds of men and women to this area, including James Whitlatch, the discoverer of Helena’s “mother lode.” His Whitlatch-Union Mine spawned Unionville. The camp included stores, saloons, a Chinese laundry, boarding houses, and school as well as an extensive complex of stamp mills and warehouses. The largest producer of gold bullion in the United States by the early 1870s, the Unionville district was well on its way to prominence when several events reversed its fortunes. In 1897, the gold-bearing lode in the Whitlatch-Union Mine disappeared under a fault. Efforts to relocate it failed and the company abandoned the mine. Other mines in the district survived for a time before they also closed down. By the early 20th century, fewer than a hundred people remained in Unionville. Although it never regained prominence as a mining camp, Unionville’s proximity to Helena saved it from obscurity. Today, it thrives as a bedroom community with its mining heritage still everywhere evident.
Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.