When the Union Pacific Railroad (UPRR) decided to build the Utah & Northern to the Montana mines, Richard Deacon named a kingly sum for his prized grazing land. UPRR, unwilling to pay the $8,000, sought businessmen willing to invest along the route. To sweeten the deal, UPRR offered to stop construction at a new town site--named for UPRR president Sydney Dillon--for the winter, thus bringing traffic and goods.[1] 

     Shrewdly, Deacon raised his price to $12,000, and by September 16, 1880, the deal was complete. The UPRR built the line to Dillon, and developers made a handsome profit by platting the town and auctioning off lots to enterprising new residents. Within a year, Dillon was named the seat of Beaverhead County.[2] Dillon prospered, growing into the world's largest shipping point for wool, and the nation's second largest exporter of horses, "supplying cavalries throughout the world."[3]

     By 1907, Dillon outgrew its small wood depot. A new Arts & Crafts style building was planned, clad in brick with cast concrete quoins, elaborately carved brackets under the eaves, bands of tall, wood-framed windows, and dormers. On New Year’s Eve, 1908, the new depot formally opened. Over 1,000 people attended the grand reception, where they danced and dined all night.[4] The grand depot still stands, serving as the Beaverhead County Museum.

Related Sites along the Union Pacific Railroad: 

Humphrey, Idaho on the Union Pacific Railroad's Montana Division

Idaho Falls, on the Union Pacific Railroad's Montana Subdivision 

Southern Terminus of the Union Pacific Railroad's Montana Subdivision, Pocatello, Idaho

Northern Terminus of the Union Pacific Railroad's Montana Subdivision, Silver Bow, MT

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