USA > Montana > Yellowstone County > An illustrated history of the Yellowstone Valley : embracing the counties of Park, Sweet Grass, Carbon, Yellowstone, Rosebud, Custer and Dawson, state of Montana > Part 14
USA > Montana > Park County > An illustrated history of the Yellowstone Valley : embracing the counties of Park, Sweet Grass, Carbon, Yellowstone, Rosebud, Custer and Dawson, state of Montana > Part 14
USA > Montana > Dawson County > An illustrated history of the Yellowstone Valley : embracing the counties of Park, Sweet Grass, Carbon, Yellowstone, Rosebud, Custer and Dawson, state of Montana > Part 14
USA > Montana > Rosebud County > An illustrated history of the Yellowstone Valley : embracing the counties of Park, Sweet Grass, Carbon, Yellowstone, Rosebud, Custer and Dawson, state of Montana > Part 14
USA > Montana > Custer County > An illustrated history of the Yellowstone Valley : embracing the counties of Park, Sweet Grass, Carbon, Yellowstone, Rosebud, Custer and Dawson, state of Montana > Part 14
USA > Montana > Sweet Grass County > An illustrated history of the Yellowstone Valley : embracing the counties of Park, Sweet Grass, Carbon, Yellowstone, Rosebud, Custer and Dawson, state of Montana > Part 14
USA > Montana > Carbon County > An illustrated history of the Yellowstone Valley : embracing the counties of Park, Sweet Grass, Carbon, Yellowstone, Rosebud, Custer and Dawson, state of Montana > Part 14
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102
Silver Bow county was created February 16, 1881, from a portion of Deer Lodge county.
By a legislative act approved March 7. 1883, the boundaries of the new Silver Bow county were changed, the change slightly af- fecting the county of Jefferson.
Yellowstone county was erected from Cus- ter and Gallatin counties in 1883, the boundar- ies being described as follows :
Beginning at a point at the confluence of the Yel- lowstone and Big Horn rivers; thence following the center of the channel of said Yellowstone river to a point opposite the first divide east of White Beaver creek, in Gallatin county; thence following said divide to the summit of the dividing ridge between the Mus- selshell and Yellowstone rivers; thence on a straight line north to the southern boundary of Meagher coun- ty; thence east along said boundary to the 109th meri- dian of longitude; thence following said meridian to the Musselshell river; thence down the center of the channel of said river to what is known as the Big Bend to a point where the old Stanley road crosses the Musselshell river; thence on a direct line to the place of beginning. Act approved Feb. 26, 1883. Billings, county seat.
The only other alteration of county bound- aries by the legislature of 1883 was an act ex-
tending the southern boundary of Dawson county a few miles, the territory thus added being taken from Custer county .. A synopsis of the act, which was approved March 8th, is as follows :
The southern boundary of Dawson county shall be : Commencing ten miles south of the intersecting point of the 27th degree of longitude west from Washington (104th west from Greenwich) with the 47th degree of north latitude; thence due west and parallel with said parallel of 47 degrees to the Musselshell river; thence following the line of said river to the northern bound- ary line of Meagher county; thence west along said line to the 108th meridian of longitude. And the north- ern boundary line of Custer county shall be made to conform with the southern boundary line of Dawson county, so far as said Dawson county extends.
Fergus county was created from Meagher county by an act approved March 12, 1885, with slightly smaller boundaries than the county has at present. Lewiston was named as the county seat.
Provision was also made by the 1883 legis- lature that all that portion of the Crow Indian reservation lying between the Wyoming line and the Yellowstone river and west of the Big Horn river, in Montana territory, that might thereafter be segregated and thrown open for settlement, should form, a part of Yellowstone county.
Two new counties-Park and Cascade- were created by the legislature of 1887. Park was erected from Gallatin and included all of the present Park and the greater portion of the present Sweetgrass counties. Cascade was taken from Choteau and Meagher and was created with nearly the same boundaries it now has. Following is the boundary of Park county, as officially described in the act :
Park: Beginning at the northwest corner of Yel- lowstone National Park and running thence one mile west; thence north to the northwest corner of town- ship 7, south of range 6, east of the principal meridian ; thence northeasterly along the watershed or summit of the Belt range of mountains to the southwest corner of township 2, south of range 8, east of the principal meridian ; thence due north to the south boundary line
69
HISTORY OF MONTANA.
of Meagher county: thence east along the south boundary line of Meagher county to the west bound- ary line of Yellowstone county; thence south along the west boundary line of Yellowstone county to the Yellowstone river; thence westerly along the Yel- lowstone river to the mouth of Big Boulder river ; thence southerly and easterly along the west and south boundaries of the Crow Indian reservation to the north- ern boundary of Wyoming territory and the Yellow- stone National Park to the place of beginning. Act approved February 23. 1887. Livingston, county seat.
The county of Deer Lodge, when first cre- ated, one of the largest of Montana's political divisions, had a slice of its territory taken from it by nearly every legislature that had con- vened. In 1891 the boundaries were again changed, the change affecting Jefferson coun- ty, as well.
The legislature of 1893 changed the map of Montana considerably by the creation of five new counties. These were Flathead, Valley, Teton, Ravalli and Granite. Flathead was taken from Missoula county as created at this time, but a few years later a portion of Deer Lodge county was added to it, giving the boundaries as they are at the present day. The boundaries of Valley county, taken from Dawson, remain the same as created in 1893. Teton was taken from the western part of Choteau county, the northwestern corner of the new county being previously a part of Missoula county. The boundaries of Teton county have not since been changed. Ravalli was severed from the mother county, Missoula. As originally created the county included that part of the present Mis- soula county south of Lou Lou fork, but before the legislature adjourned the boundaries were defined as they exist at present. Granite county was formed from portions of Deer Lodge and Missoula counties with boundaries as we now know them.
In 1895 Carbon and Sweet Grass were added to the list of Montana counties. Carbon was taken from the counties of Park and Yel- lowstone, while the counties of Yellowstone, Park and Meagher yielded each a portion of territory for the formation of Sweet Grass. The
last named county was created with the same boundaries which it now has. Following are the boundaries of the two new counties as .de- scribed in the acts :
Carbon: Beginning at a point in the midchannel of the Yellowstone river opposite to the mouth of the Stillwater river ; following thence down the midchannel of said Yellowstone river to the intersection of said channel of said Yellowstone river with township line run- ning between ranges 24 east and 25 east; thence follow- ing said township line due south to its intersection with the west boundary of the Crow Indian reservation; fol- lowing thence in a southwesterly direction the west line of said Crow Indian reservation to the terminus of the said southwest direction of said line; thence running due east to the intersection of the midchannel of the Big Horn river; thence following the said channel of the said Big Horn river up in a southwest- erly direction to its intersection with the north line of the state of Wyoming, all of said boundary from the said northwest corner of the Crow Indian reserva- tion to the Wyoming line being a part of the boundary line of the Crow Indian reservation as established by law; proceeding thence from the intersection of the midchannel of the Big Horn river with the south boundary line of the state of Montana due west to the intersection of the south line of the state of Montana with the township line separating range 15 east from range 16 east ; thence following along the line between said ranges 15 and 16 to a point in the midchannel of Stillwater river; thence following midchannel of the said Stillwater river to place of beginning. Act ap- proved March 4. 1895. Red Lodge, temporary county seat.
Sweet Grass : Beginning at a point which when sur- veyed will be the southwest corner of section 35. town- ship 7, south, range 12 east ; and running thence north along the west boundaries of sections 35. 26, 23, 14, II and 2, of said township 7. south, range 12 east, con- tinuing north along the west boundaries of sections 35. 2(, 23. 14, 11 and 2 of township 6, south. range 12 east, to the first standard parallel south; thence east along said first standard parallel to a point which when sur- veyed will be the southwest corner section 35. township 5 south, range 12 east: thence north along the west boundaries of sections 35, 26, 23, 14, II and 2 in each of townships 5, 4, 3. 2 and I respectively, all in south range 12 east, to the intersection of base line at the northwest corner of section 2 of said township 1 : thence west along said base line to the point of intersection of range line hetween ranges If and 12 east to a point of intersection with the line between townships 6 and 7. north of range 12 east : thence east along said town- ship line to the point of intersection with division lines between 18 and 19 east ; thence south along the line between ranges 18 and 19 east to the point of inter-
70
HISTORY OF MONTANA.
.cction with the township line between townships 2 and 3 north; thence east along said township line to the point of intersection with the line between ranges 19 and 20 east; thence south along the line between ranges 19 and 20 east to the midchannel of the Yellow- stone river : thence down the midchannel of the Yellow- stone river to a point opposite the mouth of the Still- water river or creek; thence up the midchannel of the Stillwater river to a point of intersection with the line between ranges 15 and 16 east ; thence south along the line between ranges 15 and 16 east to the point of inter- section with the first standard parallel south ; thence west along said parallel to the northeast corner of township 6, south of range 15 east ; thence south along the line between ranges 15 and 16 east to the south- east corner of township 7 south of range 15 east ; thence west along the line between townships 7 and 8 south to the place of beginning. Act approved March 5, 1895. Big Timber, temporary county seat.
The forming of Sweet Grass county left a small section of Meagher county territory on its southeast corner attached only by a narrow strip of land, and by an act approved March 5, 1895, the land in question was given to Yellow- stone county.
The county of Broadwater was created in 1897. Jefferson and Meagher being the coun- ties that furnished the territory for the new political division. As originally created the county contained in addition to the territory now embraced within its boundaries a small portion of the southeastern corner of the pre- sent Lewis and Clark county, but later in the session of the same legislature the boundaries of Lewis and Clark county were so changed as to give Broadwater county the boundaries it now has.
The boundaries of other counties were also altered by the legislature of 1897. The boun- daries of Cascade were defined anew, which left the county with practically the same boun- daries it has at the present time, except that it then included a small corner of the present Lewis and Clark county which lies to the east of the Missouri river. The changes made in the boundaries of Cascade county affected the county of Meagher. A portion of the Crow reservation which had heretofore belonged to
Custer county was made a part of Yellowstone. The boundaries of Lewis and Clark were de- fined anew, the change affecting the counties of Meagher, Broadwater and Cascade.
Yellowstone: All that portion of the Crow Indian reservation in the state of Montana lying between the south boundary line of said reservation and the Yellow- stone river and west of the midchannel of the Big Horn river is hereby bestowed upon and made a part of Yellowstone county. Act approved March 5, 1897.
The last legislation concerning the boun- daries of Lewis and Clark county was ap- proved on February 28. 1899, and the boun- daries then fixed have remained unchanged up to the present writing. The change made at that time was the addition of quite a tract of mountainous country west of the main range of the Rocky mountains which formerly had been a part of Deer Lodge county. Other acts of 1899 gave two small tracts to Cascade county from Meagher, and enlarged Flathead county by the addition of a small tract from the northern end of Deer Lodge county.
Two new counties came into existence in 1901. Powell was created from the northern part of Deer Lodge county and a large portion of Custer county was given up for the forma- tion of the county of Rosebud. The same leg- islature which brought into existence these two counties, before the session adjourned, sought to change the name of the newly created Powell county and also that of Deer Lodge county. Bills were passed and approved on March 8th to change the name of Powell coun- ty to Deer Lodge county and to change the name of the old Deed Lodge county to Daly county. These acts were held to be unconsti- tutional by the courts and the counties are now known by the original names. Following are the boundary lines of Rosebud county as cre- ated in 1901 :
Rosebud: Beginning at a point where the town- ship line running between ranges 44 and 45 east in the county of Custer, state of Montana, when surveyed and extended will intersect the north boundary line of the
71
HISTORY OF MONTANA.
state of Wyoming; thence north along said township line, observing the jogs and offsets in said line, to its intersection, when surveyed and extended north, with the county line running east and west along between Custer county and the county of Dawson, in said state of Montana ; thence west along said county line to the middle of the main channel of the Musselshell river and the east boundary line of Fergus county ; thence up the middle of said main channel of said river and along the meanderings thereof in a southerly direction to a point where the same is intersected by the county line run- ning between the counties of Yellowstone and Custer ; thence in a southeasterly direction along said county
line to the junction of the Yellowstone and Big Horn rivers; thence up the middle of the main channel of said Big Horn river and along the meanderings thereof in a southeasterly direction to the intersection with the aforesaid north boundary of the state of Wyoming; thence east along the boundary line to the point of be- ginning. Act approved February 11, 1901. Forsyth, county seat.
The legislative assembly of 1905 created the county of Sanders, named in honor of the late Wilbur F. Sanders, from Missoula county.
CHAPTER VII
HISTORY OF MONTANA'S MINES.
Gold and grasses have been the primary elements of Montana's greatness. So rough and barren was the country when the first pio- neers came that the idea suggested itself that the deposits of gold had been placed in the heart of this mountainous country by an inscrutable power as the only kind of a bribe that would induce people to make a home in the Rocky mountain country. But in later years, when the people had become better acquainted with the conditions that prevailed in this supposed barren country, it was found that other indus- tries besides that of digging the precious metal from the ground could be profitably carried on. Stock raising was the second industry to claim the attention of the inhabitants ; after that came agricultural pursuits. Today Montana-the country which required a bribe to induce peo- ple to settle there-is one of the grandest states in the union.
It is our purpose to deal in this chapter with the mining history of Montana. From the time of the discovery of gold within the boundaries of the present state of Montana until many years later the mining history is practically the
entire history of the state. With the exception of the fur traders every inhabitant of the ter- ritory was engaged in mining or carrying on pursuits which depended directly upon the mines, and therefore much of the early history of the state will be found in this chapter.
As it is our intention to treat of the history of mining in Montana rather than to give a "write-up" of mines, which would require a volume in itself, we shall pass over with a very brief description the telling of the general char- acter of the mines and the deposits of precious metals and stones. Montana is today the great- est mining state in the Union. Of the many marvels of its mineral wealth, perhaps the greatest is the wonderful extent of the de- posits. After this comes the diversity of metals, which covers a large portion of the known cat- alogue, and lastly comes the fabulously rich- ness of the deposits of quartz and placer dig- gings. The ores of Montana are easily worked. The rocks in which auriferous and argentifer- ons veins occur is limestone or granite-often granite capped with slate. The presence of lead and copper simplifies the reduction of
72
HISTORY OF MONTANA.
silver. In general the character of Montana galena ores does not greatly differ from those of Utah, Colorado, Nevada and Idaho. There are lead mines in Montana, but they have not been extensively worked. The lead obtained from the silver ores, however, is considerable. Copper lodes are abundant and large, and are found near Butte, at White Sulphur Springs, and in the Musselshell country. Iron is found in a great number of places. Marble, building stone, fire clay, zinc, and all of the materials of which men build the substantial monuments of civilization are grouped together in Mon- tana in a remarkable manner.
One of the latest developed resources of the state is coal. The presence of this product was known from the early days, but before the country had been pierced by railroads it could not be profitably mined and consequently there was no development of the coal fields. Now coal mining is one of the permanent in- dustries of the state. Along the eastern bases of the Rocky mountains coal is found in almost inexhaustible quantities. Park, Cascade, Cho- teau, Beaver Head and Gallatin counties all have mines within their boundaries.
In addition to the precious metals and other products mentioned above, there have been found in Montana from time to time a great many precious stones and gems. Sapphires were discovered in a number of localities by the early placer miners. They were collected in great numbers in the sluice boxes with the gold and black sand. They were found on the bars of the Missouri in Lewis and Clark coun- ty, at Montana City and Jefferson City on the Prickly Pear, and in other localities. These gems were sent east and found their way into many cabinets. A few were cut and worn by Montana miners. After many years they at- tracted the attention of English experts and capitalists, and a company was formed to work these old placers for the sapphires they con- tained. Some of these gems are of the largest size and purest water, and the colors are
very brilliant. The variety most common are the oriental emerald, the oriental topaz, the oriental amethyst and the oriental ruby. No gem except the diamond excels them in hard- ness and brilliancy. Nearly all varieties of garnets are also found in the placers and the rocks of the mountains ; many very fine varie- ties have been taken from the placers in vari- ous parts of the state. The precious garnet, the topazolite, the melanite, pyrenite and others of yellow, brown, green and red have all been found in the placers and rocks. Small emer- alds of medium quality have been discovered in the gravel and rocks of the mountains. Tourmalines have also appeared in the sluice boxes of the placer mines, as well as in the metamorphic rocks of the Rockies.
That precious metals existed in the moun- tains now within the confines of the present state of Montana was believed by the first white men that ever set foot in the state. Way back in the first half of the eighteenth century when Verandyer pushed his way westward to the "Shining Mountains," he believed the country to be rich with mineral, and he so re- ported to the French government. Whether this was simply his belief because of the ap- pearance of the country, or whether he actu- ally discovered precious metals, is not known. Then came a period of half a century before the country was again visited by white men. Lewis and Clark made no mention of having discovered the precious metal, and the oper- ations of the fur traders, who penetrated near- ly every portion of Montana during the first half of the nineteenth century, did not bring to light the fact that the country was rich in minerals.
It is said that the existence of gold in Mon- tana was not unknown to the Jesuit fathers, who came to the country in the early forties, but they had other motives for making their homes in this wild country than the acquiring of riches, and glittering gold did not tempt them from their ministrations to the Indians.
73
HISTORY OF MONTANA.
The credit for being the discoverer of gold in Montana is given to a Scotch half breed whose name was Francois Finlay, but who was known among his associates as "Benetsee." Benetsee came originally from the Red River of the North and previous to his advent into the Rocky mountain country he had been min- ing in California, having gone to that land of gold shortly after Marshall's discovery. In 1852 he was engaged in trapping for furs and trading with the Indians in that part of the Rocky mountain country which is now Powell county, Montana. While traveling along the border of what is now known as Gold creek, near the present day town of Pioneer, Benetsee was induced by certain indications to search for gold. His prospecting was necessarily of a very superficial character, but he found some light float gold, but not of sufficient quanity to pay for mining. The creek from which the half breed took the gold was for a short time known as Benetsee creek.
The next year, 1853, members of the rail- road exploring party, being ignorant of Fin- lay's discovery took out specimens of gold from this same stream. From this circumstance the stream was christened Gold creek, which name it has ever since retained. These men were in the employ of the government, and not professional prospectors, otherwise the rich- ness of Montana's mountains would doubt- less have been heralded to the world a decade earlier than was the case. The fact that gold was found in this branch of the Hell Gate river was passed over with brief comment.
That gold had been discovered on this little creek soon became known to the few moun- taineers still in the country and in the spring of 1856 a party paid a visit to the spot which had been prospected by Benetsee. In the party were Robert Hereford, John Saunders, known among his intimates as "Long John;" Bill Madison and one or two others. They were on their way from the Bitter Root valley to Salt Lake, after a winter spent trading with the In-
dians and doing a little prospecting. This party found a little more gold than had the half breed, and it is said that one piece was found which weighed about ten cents. This was given to old Captain Grant, who used to show it, up to the time of his death in 1862, as the first piece of gold found in the country. Con- cerning this story Granville Stuart, who was one of the party to prospect Gold creek in 1858 has written :
My own experience of some years mining in that vicinity leads me to doubt that party's finding that ten cent piece of gold on Benetsee creek, for in all our pros- pecting in that vicinity we did not find a piece of that size until we went to work sluicing, and although we carefully searched that vicinity and the country round- about, yet we never found where anyone had dug a hole or the slightest evidence of any prospecting or mining work having been done. Where we found ten cents to a pan of gravel in 1858, we dug a hole about five feet deep and the ten cents was made up of some fifteen or twenty small particles of gold.
It was also in 1856 that a stranger ap- peared at the trading post at Fort Benton with over $1,500 worth of the precious metal which it was believed had been taken from the moun- tains of Montana, which he exchanged for goods. The story of this man, who was after- wards learned to be John Silverthorne, and his mysterious mine, was given to the world by Lieutenant James H. Bradley, a gentlemen who contributed much data to the early history of Montana. We reproduce the tale as told b; Mr. Bradley.
It is probably generally known that the American Fur company, founded by Mr. Astor and subsequently controlled by Pierre Choteau, Jr., & Co., had a trading post at or near the site of the present town of Fort Benton in 1832. Major Alexander Culbertson was for a number of years in charge of that post, and was at the time of which I have to speak, namely, the year 1856. In the month of October a stranger appeared at the fort, coming by the trail from the southwest, now the Benton and Helena stage road ; he was evidently an old mountaineer, and his object was to purchase supplies Producing a sack, he displayed a quantity of yellow dust which he claimed was gold, and for which he de- manded $1,000, offering to take it all in goods. Noth- ing was known at the fort of the existence of gold in
74
HISTORY OF MONTANA.
the adjoining country, and Major Culbertson was loth to accept the proffered dust, having doubts of its gen- uineness. Besides, even if gold, he was uncertain of its value in this crude state, and he was, therefore, about to decline it, when an employe of the fort, a young man named Ray, came to the aid of the mountaineer, and by his assurances as to the genuineness of the gold and the value of the quantity offered, induced Major Culbertson to accept it. Still doubtful, however, he made it a private transaction, charging the goods to his own account. The mountaineer was very reticent as to the locality where he obtained his gold, but in answer to numerous questions, he stated that he had been engaged in prospecting for a considerable period in the mountains to the southwest, that his wanderings were made alone, and that he had found plenty of gold. Receiving in exchange for his dust a supply of horses, ammunition, blankets, tobacco, provisions and other sup- plies, he quietly left the fort for his return to the moun- tains. Major Culbertson never saw or heard from him afterward, and was ignorant even of his name. The fol- lowing year, 1857, he sent the gold dust through the hands of Mr. Choteau to the mint, in due time receiving as the yield thereof $1,525, the dust having proved to be remarkably pure gold. Thus, as early as 1857, three years before Gold Tom hewed out his rude sluice boxes on Gold creek, Montana gold had found its way to the mint and contributed a small fortune of shining pieces to the circulating medium of the country. This much I obtained from the lips of Major Culbertson, just enough to pique curiosity; and the mysterious miner who had been the first to work the rich gulches of Montana, made the earliest contribution to the world of its mineral treasure, and whose subsequent fate and very name were unknown, often returned to my thoughts to vex me in my apparent powerlessness to lift any part of the veil of mystery that shrouded him But one day I mentioned the circumstances to Mr. Mercure, an old and respected resident of Fort Benton, who came to the territory in the interest of the Ameri- can Fur company in 1855. To my great satisfaction he remembered the old mountaineer, the event of his golden visit to the fort having created quite an endur- ing impression. When Montana's great mining rush began, Mr. Mercure quitted the service of the fur com- pany and sought the mines. There he met the moun- taineer again and immediately recognized him. His name was Silverthorne, and his habits were still of the solitary character that had distinguished him in former days. For several years he remained in the territory, occasionally appearing at the settlements with gold in abundance; but after supplying his necessities by trade. he would again disappear on his lonely rambles. He could not be induced to divulge the secret of his dig- gings, but always declared that his mine was not a rich one, yielding him only four or five dollars a day. Mr. Mercure believes, however. from the quantity of gold always in the possession of Silverthorne, that he greatly
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.