Historical placer gold mining had profound impacts on stream ecosystems, leaving straightened streams that were moved to the margins of their valleys and channelized between 10m tall banks. These physical changes transformed these ecosystems’ hydrology, sediment transport, and ecology. Channel reconfiguration may be necessary to restore stream geomorphology and hydrology, and replanting vegetation can help start the process of revegetating riparian zones. However, revegetation can be slow, taking decades to restore stream reaches to the point where they begin to resemble a reference condition. In North America, American Beavers are increasingly recognized for the beneficial effects of their dam-building in some settings, which can accelerate the recovery of floodplain soils and vegetation. To examine the combined effects of time since restoration and colonization by beavers on soil properties and vegetation cover following channel reconfiguration, we studied Ninemile Creek in western Montana, USA. The river was placer-mined from the late 1800s into the early 1900s, and we studied three reaches that were restored in 2014, 2016, and 2018. We examined vegetation cover, soil characteristics, and the number of beaver structures across all restored reaches in both 2019 and 2021. In 2019, beaver had started recolonizing the 2014 reach, which is also the most upstream reach, and had built seven dams and one lodge. By 2021, they had expanded their dams to 36 and built an additional lodge. By 2021, soil moisture and organic matter were both three-fold higher in the 2014-restored reach than in the downstream reaches, overlapping with values from the reference. Additionally, the mean woody vegetation cover was ~5-fold higher in the 2014 reach than in the 2016 or 2018 reaches. These results build on literature suggesting that partnering with beavers either intentionally or through happenstance can greatly accelerate the pace of recovery of restored streams in North America.