Extremely rare large albumen cabinet photograph of Diamond City, Montana Territory circa 1870. The town was first established in 1864 when gold was found there. It almost immediately grew to 500 people. As the gold waned, it was virtually a ghost town by the 1880's. Placer gold was still being found in the area until the 1940's but people had long since moved away. This was often the case in the West where gold or silver was discovered. When the gold or silver was mined out, the towns disappeared almost overnight. In its peak this small town had everything; mining, saloons, prostitutes, you name it.
