CLANCY, Montana Community Information

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  Clancy Church

  Photo courtesy: Bill Kuney

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  Clancy Homestead

  Photo courtesy: Bill Kuney

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  Jefferson County Museum

  Photo courtesy: Jefferson County Museum

The town of Clancy was founded in 1873 as a gold camp along Clancy Creek and named for prospector William Clancey. That year, Clancey bragged that the town was draining the once-prosperous community of Prickly Pear City - former county seat of Jefferson County - of its population and buildings. Continued silver mining near Clancy Creek accelerated the population shift. In 1879, resident Henry Hill helped establish Montana's first woolen mill near Clancy, as well as a brick plant. The town, however, began to decline in 1890 when placer deposits along the creek played out. Hill would not let the community die. He established a railroad yard on his ranch, which he sold to the Montana Central Railway 1896. The railroad built shops, a depot and a roundhouse at Clancy. In 1902 a winter fire destroyed most of the town's buildings. Over the years, the mines of the Clancy area produced over $3 million in ore.(Copyright 2009, Montana Historical Society: Montana Place Names from Alzada to Zortman, Montana Historical Society Research Center Staff)

Today you can visit Clancy's silver camps. The area silver was found uncovered in an area eight miles long and four miles wide, which included Lump Gulch, Clancy Gulch, Strawberry Gulch, Shingle Gulch and Warm Springs Gulch. Lump Gulch was prospected for placer gold, exaggerated reports brought a stampede to the diggings. In 1864 the area was named by William Sprague and Fred Jones because of a single lump of gold they found on a prospecting adventure in the gulch. Heavy lodes weren't found, so it was quickly deserted. Years later quartz lodes were discovered in the coarse-grained micaceous granite and was worked with success. The mineral ledges of Lump Gulch were inverted, meaning that findings were small near the surface and widened with depth. A few months later it paid $200,000 in dividends.

The Jefferson County Museum in Clancy comprises of two large galleries. One gallery focuses on Jefferson County history. Exhibits on mining, ranching and railroading tell the story of life in Jefferson County and in the nineteenth century. The second gallery hosts traveling exhibits. Past exhibits have been from the Montana Outfitters and Guides Association, Smithsonian Institution, National Architectural Museum and local artists.