Even in the 1930s, Clinton-Area Residents Were Confused About the Origin of Their Town’s Names

I came across this article from the January 7, 1932 issue of The Missoulian today and thought it was worthy of a quick share:


So, as to the origin of the name "Clinton," W.C. Peat, who was then secretary of the Missoula Chamber of Commerce, believed that Clinton was named after a surveyor on the crew that laid out the Northern Pacific Railroad. W.H. Beacom, who was Missoula's mayor at the time this article was written, recalled that Clinton was named after C.L. Clinton, an official of the Northern Pacific Railroad. Is a surveyor an official? Were Peat and Beacom in alignment, or are these two different NPRR employees named Clinton?

F.G. Bond and Andrew Logan both provide a logical reason for why the town's name was changed from Wallace that aligns with my long-held belief, which is that there was confusion with Wallace, Idaho, another small, mining town 135 miles west on the route of the NPRR. Why Wallace, Idaho was able to keep its name when the Wallace Mining District in Montana was established first is not addressed by the old timers mentioned in the article.

Bond's contention that the name "Wallace" originated from a prospector in the area and Peat's belief that Bonita was the town formerly known as Wallace do not appear to be correct, based on other information I have found, which I will share in future posts.

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