Montana Followed Meandering Path to Statehood

From "Montana A History of Two Centuries" by Michael P. Malone, Richard R. Roeder and William L. Lang. Reprinted by permission of the University of Washington Press

Arriving in Washington, D.C., Judge Sidney Edgerton consulted with President Lincoln and found him agreeable to the idea of a new territory in the Rockies. More important, Edgerton discovered that his friend and fellow Ohioan Congressman James M. Ashley had already begun work on a bill to form the new territory. Ashley, who chaired the House Committee on Territories, had the power to make his wishes felt. His political muscle and r...