Early European settlement and gold rush thumb|left|Helena, Montana in 1870 By the early 1800s, people of European descent from the United States and British Canada began arriving to work the streams of the Missouri River watershed looking for fur-bearing animals such as the beaver, undoubtedly bringing them through the area now known as the Helena Valley.
early european settlement and gold rush thumb|left|helena montana in 1870 by the early 1800s people of european descent from the united states and british canada began arriving to work the streams of the missouri river watershed looking for fur-bearing animals such as the beaver undoubtedly bringing them through the area now known as the helena valley