Deer Lodge

Deer Lodge Valley lies among the mountains of the upper Clark Fork, a broad basin of grassland and streams. A hot spring built a mineral mound, whose salty deposits attracted deer and other animals. The formation gave the valley its name. Salish, Kootenai, Pend d'Oreille, Nez Perce and Shoshone people gathered in this part of the mountain country, where valleys and passes connected their homelands with hunting grounds on either side of the divide.