Origin of the Montana Place Name Wallace
T12N Rl7W. Empties into the Clark Fork River from the e. near Clinton. Named for Lieutenant Wallace who captured some warring Blackfeet Indians there in 1878. (L. Custer Keim)Previous Names: Camas Trail Creek. This name existed as late as 1886, the year in which water rights were taken out on this stream. At that time this name was in concurrent usage with the name which later succeeded it, Wallace Creek. (Forest Swartz)
July 1878 Missoulians have stories of band of Nez Perce who had accompanied Chief Joseph preceding year and spent winter in Canada and were on their way back to Idaho. There were fights near Bear Mouth and again on Rock Creek during which several white miners were killed. Fort Missoula detached Lt Thomas S Walla[ce] and 12 soldiers to chase Indians; they caught up with Indians on Clearwater, killed six, killed or captured all the horses.
Aug 2, 1878 when a new mining district was being organized, the men voted to name the district "Wallace"
Wallace post office was established 1883; Wallace election precinct 1886; post office name was changed to Clinton in 1892 and election precinct name changed in 1894.
The proximity (in place and time) of Lt. Wallace's altercation with the Nez Perce and the naming of the mining district provides strong support for Keim's claim, but Omundson falls short of providing the proof.
I found the proof.
In a tidbit about the Wallace Mining District in an article titled "Round-Up Papers" in the October 17, 1878 issue of the Helena Weekly Herald (see below), it stated, "The new mining section has been christened "Wallace District," in honor of the gallant leader who so thoroughly chastised the raiding Nez Perces on the Lo-Lo trail in August."
Less than two months after the Wallace Mining District was named after him, Lt. Wallace died near Missoula.
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