Charles Arthur Broadwater

Charles Arthur Broadwater (September 25, 1840 – May 24, 1892) was a wealthy and influential Montana railroad, real estate, and banking magnate.

He soon extended his interests into transportation, becoming superintendent of the large Diamond R Freighting Company, which dominated shipping in the Territory of Montana before the coming of the railroads.

Broadwater was also one of the Democratic "Big Four" of early Montana politics, along with Marcus Daly, William A. Clark, and Samuel T. Hauser.

He hoped to capitalize on Montana's newfound mining elite and the wealth that came along with it but although the hotel was the last word in luxury and innovation it was never able to draw the wealthy crowds that Charles Broadwater predicted.

Broadwater died at his hotel in Helena, Montana on May 24, 1892, aged 51, of the effects of influenza contracted in New York the previous year.