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In 1862 the first major settlement and gold deposits were found west of Helena at Grasshopper Creek. On October 30, 1864, the town of Helena was founded by four gold miners who struck it rich, at the appropriately named “Last Chance Gulch”. The four had returned to the area to take “one last chance” on finding gold. When they found signs of rich deposits of placer gold, they staked their claims and named the new mining area district Last Chance Gulch. The gulch would be the second largest placer gold deposit in Montana and would produce some $19,000,000 worth of gold in just four years. Unlike most Montana mining towns, Helena did not disappear once the gold ran out, which it inevitably did. Helena survived because of its major transportation routes, including roads and rail that helped build agriculture and other mining districts. In 1875, the city became the capitol of the Montana Territory, and in 1894 the capitol of the new state of Montana.