An illustrated history of the Yellowstone Valley : embracing the counties of Park, Sweet Grass, Carbon, Yellowstone, Rosebud, Custer and Dawson, state of Montana, Part 16

Author: Western Historical Publishing Co. (Spokane, Wash.)
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Spokane, Wash. : Western Historical Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 760

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 16
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 16
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 16
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 16
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 16
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 16
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 16

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The great stampede with its numerous pack animals penetrated the dense alder thicket which filled the gulch a distance of eight miles.

A fire accidentally started, swept away the al- ders for the entire distance in a single night. Within a week from the arrival of the first miners hundreds of tents, bush wakiups and rude log cabins, extemporized for immediate occupancy, were scattered at random over the gulch, now for the first time trodden by white men. For a distance of twelve miles, from the mouth of the gulch to its source in Bald moun- tain, claims were staked and occupied by the men fortunate enough to assert an ownership. At once the community became busy in up- heaving, sluicing, drifting and cradling the seemingly inexhaustible bed of auriferous gravel. The extent of the pay streak being un- known, the object of every person was to se- cure mining ground in the neighborhood of that which had been prospected by the discov- erers. It was generally believed that the bars were the golden safes of nature, and many parties neglected and walked over as worth- less the richest deposits in the creek in their eager search for what they considered the val- uable claims. Before the bed rock of the creek had been disturbed by the pick the camp was deserted by a number of old time miners, who informed their friends with confidence that there were no paying diggings in the gulch. But within thirty days tests were applied by hundreds of industrious hands to every place that was accessible, and there was revealed the auriferous bed of an ancient river which sur- passed in magnitude and uniform distribution of its golden treasures any placer which has been recorded upon this planet. The placer mines there were so extensiive, so easy of de- velopment and so prolific that many of the miners who commenced work in the gulch in the early days of the discovery, fortunate in their acquisitions and disgusted with the asso- ciations, were ready to return to the states in the fall, only a few months after the discovery. The hegira at first small, increased in numbers, so that by the first of November hundreds were

HISTORY OF MONTANA.

on their way to their old homes in the east, most of whom carried with them a small for- tune.

It was only a matter of a few days for a town to spring up at this point-a town which grew so rapidly that within ninety days a city of ten thousand people occupied the spot where in the spring the foot of white man had not trod. The town which first sprung up was calle Varina, in honor of the wife of President Jefferson Davis of the Confederate States of America, the southern sympathizers being very numerous in the new camp. Very interesting and typical was the incident which brought about the change in the name of the town to Virginia City. Dr. Bissel, one of the mining judges of the gulch, was an ardent unionist. Being called upon to draw up some legal papers before the new name had been generally adop- ted, and being requested to date them Varina City, he with a very emphatic expletive de- clared he would not do it, and wrote instead the name Virginia City, by which name the town has ever since been known. Nathaniel P. Langford has written as follows concerning the conditions in Alder gulch as they were dur- ing the early period of the camp's history :

Almost simultaneously with the settlement of Vir- ginia City, other settlements lower down and farther up the gulch were commenced. Those below were known by the respective names of Junction, Nevada and Central; those above, Pine Grove, Highland and Summit. As the entire gulch for a distance of twelve miles was appropriated, the intervals of two or three miles between the several nuclei were occupied by the cabins of miners, who owned and were developing the claims opposite to them, so that in less than three months after the discovery, the gulch was really one entire settlement. One long stream of active life filled the little creek on its auriferous course from Bald moun- tain, through a canyon of wild and picturesque char- acter, until it emerged into the large and fertile valley of the Pas-sam-a-ri. Pas-sam-a-ri is a Shoshone word for stinking water, and the latter is the name commonly given in Montana to the beautiful mountain stream which was called by Lewis and Clark in their journal "Philantrophy river." Lateral streams of great beauty pour down the sides of the mountain chain bounding the valley, across which they run to their union with

the Pas-sam-a-ri, win, twenty milc- beyond, unites with the Beaver Head. one of the forming streams of the Jefferson. Gold placers were found upon these tre.m-, and occupied soon after by the settlement at Virginia City, though limited in extent was sufficiently productive to afford profitable employment to a little community of twenty or more miners. *

Of the settlements in Alder gulch, Virginia City was the principal one, though Nevada, two miles be- low, at one time was of nearly equal size and popula- tion. A stranger from the eastern states entering the gulch for the first time, two or three months after its discovery, would be inspired by the scene and its asso- ciations with reflections of the most strange and novel character. This human hive, numbering at least ten thousand people, was the product of ninety days. Into it were crowded all the elements of a rough and active civilization. Thousands of cabins and tents and brush wakiups, thrown together in the roughest form, and scattered at random along the banks, and in the nooks of the hills, were seen on every hand. Every foot of the gulch, under the active manipulations of the miners, was undergoing displacement, and it was already dis- figured hy huge heaps of gravel, which had been passed through the sluices and rifled of their glittering con- tents. In the gulch itself all was activity. Some were removing the superincumbent earth to reach the pay dirt; others who had accomplished that were gather- ing up the clay and gravel upon the surface of the bed rock, while by others still it was thrown into the sluice boxes. This exhibition of mining activity was twelve miles long.

While there were a thousand claims lo- cated in Alder gulch, that was not the only rich mining locality. A spur of the mountains which runs down between the Stinkingwater and the Madison rivers contained highly pro- ductive mines. Wisconsin gulch, so named be- cause a Wisconsin company first worked it; Biven's gulch, named after its discoverer, cel- abrated for coarse gold nuggets weighing over three hundred dollars, Harris and California gulches, all paid largely.

The next important placer discovery after Alder gulch was Last Chance gulch, where now stands the capital city of Montana --- Helena. The discovery was made on or about the 15th day of July, 1864. The discovery was made by four prospectors from Alder gulch, who had been unable to secure claims there. They were John Cowan, a tall, dark eyed, gray haired man from Ackworth, Georgia; R. Stan-

HISTORY OF MONTANA.

ley, who claimed as his residence the city of Attleborough, Nuneaton, England; J. D. Mil- ler, an early California miner ; and John Crab, who shortly after the discovery returned east. From this discovery place $16,000,000 was taken, and Last Chance became one of the best known mining camps of the country.

The following interesting story of the dis- covery of Last Chance was written by R. Stan- ley, one of the discoverers, in 1882 :

It was in the spring of 1864 that the Kootenai stampede from Alder gulch took place. During the winter extraordinary reports of the "big thing at Krotenai" reached the camps, and each particular miner not the happy possessor of ground in Alder gulch, was in a fever of excitement to reach the new Eldorado, the land of rushing torrents and large nuggets. Among these, allured by the northern will-o'-the-wisp, were four miners-Cowan, Crab, Miller and Stanley-after- ward known as the discoverers of Last Chance dig- gings, and at the time our story commences they were encamped in one of the valleys of the Hell Gate river on the Kootenai trail. Encamped beside them was a certain Jim Coleman and party, whom they had that evening run against, bearing the unwelcome news that "Kootenai was played out." and that they were on their way back to Alder gulch. Still the idea of returning to Alder gulch with three months' flour and bacon in their pan-fleshes could not be entertained, and the ad- vice of one of the party, who had crossed the range with Captain Fiske's party the previous summer, to try on the Little Blackfoot (where they had found gold in small quantities), and failing there, to cross the range and prospect the gulches on the eastern slope r w _ t ward the Missouri river, was readily accepted. Next morning, bidding Coleman's party farewell, they took their course eastward up the Hell Gate River. They were accompanied on the start by an individual named Moore, who left the party to join some friends prospecting on Silver creek before the discovery of Last Chance was made. They tried the Little Black- foot well, but could find nothing better than a good color. Following up the stream through an amphithea- tre of circling mountains, they turned southward up the stream, and as they began to rise rapidly into the mountains, each vista that opened before them was a scene of loveliness, the river for some distance being a succession of magnificent cascades. Nearing the sum- mit of the gulch the trail which they had found so useful became more and more indistinct, and eventu- ally faded out altogether. The second day not bringing relief found the party rather demoralized, but still pegging away: but a few yards before them was all they could see. and the advisability of returning on

their trail before they became further involved was more than once mooted. Fortunately toward evening the weather cleared up, and above the tops of the small pines by which they were enveloped, a rocky point was seen to tower, and toward this, when the camp was made, one of the travelers proceeded to climb. The view that met his gaze from the rocky summit was one long to be remembered and well re- paid the exertions he had used to obtain it. It was like a pass into fairy land. Across the intervening mountain tops lay stretched a lovely valley through which several streams were seen to wind, and away in the distance the blue mountains of another range were plainly visible, while between the course of an important river could he traced, which he rightly con- cluded was none other than the mighty Missouri itself. The good news greatly revived the spirits of the party and banished the inclination to take the back trail through the detestable pine thickets; though some skep- ticism as to the whereabouts of the Missouri was still expressed, which the offer to bet a pony he could reach it in a day's journey from where they stood, soon put a stop to.

Next morning the descent began; at first rather steep, but they soon found a game trail in a small gulch, which made traveling easy. The difficulties of crossing the range were over, and as fresh scenes of enchantment opened before them, they fully experienced the joy of those who tread the unknown and unex- plored. Though the range had been crossed for years at other points not far distant, as far as white men were concerned, they claimed to have been the first to cross it from the Little Blackfoot gulch. Game abounded on every hand and was so unreasonably tame as scarcely to offer decent sport in killing when required for food. Proceeding down the gulch, a stately elk bounded out, and stood at short range surveying the strange party who had thus been the first to invade his domain, necessitating a camp, in what the writer believes was called Seven-Mile gulch; at any rate it was the first gulch north of what was afterward known as the Last Chance gulch. Here they remained prospecting for some time, but, like on the Little Blackfoot. they could find nothing more than a good color. Following down the gulch they descended into the valley of the Prickly Pear, and turning to the right they camped for dinner on the banks of Last Chance creek. The valley seemed lit- erally a hunter's paradise; immense droves of antelope were feeding on the plain, and along the margin of the stream the white-tail deer were seen to be plentiful. On their first appearance in the valley, between Seven- Mile and Last Chance, they were reconnoitered by a small band of the former animals, which careered around them until their curiosity was cruelly satisfied by the crack of a rifle, which laid one of their number low. . Dinner over, the travelers reclined under the shade of some small trees and discussed the situation,

HISTORY OF MONTANA.

with the result that they would take their course north- ward along the range and prospect the gulch, at the mouth of which they were encamped on their return, if nothing better turned up in the mountains. How- ever, before saddling up, two of the party strolled to the creek side, just to try a superficial pan of dirt. Scratching a hole to the rimrock of a small bar, to their surprise a first rate color was obtained, which induced them to make further and more systematic trials, but all ended in the same result-colors contin- ually-until they began to think the whole country was nothing but colors, and, almost in vexation at their tan- talizing luck, they decided to pack up and go. No dis- covery had yet been made in Last Chance gulch.

Northward they went digging holes innumerable -here, there and everywhere-hut finding nothing to stick to. Up the Dearborn to the headwaters of the Teton and Marias rivers, where they found an excel- lent prospect of grizzlies, but none of gold. The further north they went the more unlikely it looked-flat table-topped mountains, showing the action of water more than fire, took the place of the volcanic range they had lately crossed. Their stock of provisions was fast diminishing. With the exception of grizzlies game was very scarce, and the former they were not in search of. * * * Turning southward as they took their course for Alder gulch, their daily remark was, "That little gulch on the Prickly Pear is our last chance ; if we don't find pay there we streak it straight for camp." And so it became known as Last Chance gulch before the discov- ery was made. They reached the spot again one after- noon on or about the 15th of July and made their camp a short distance up the gulch, near to where the First National bank was built in 1866. That evening they put two good holes down to bed-rock, one on each side of the creek. When the rock was reached the hole on the north side was found to prospect well. Several flat pieces of gold that would weigh quite half a dollar were taken out: there was no mistake about it-the little nuggets fell into the ringing pan with a music particularly their own, a sound grateful to the ears of our four wanderers. The gravel prospected to the top of the ground, and they were experienced enough to know that at last Dame Fortune had kindly smiled upon them. Long into the night they sat around the fire, too pleased to turn in. Within each bosom had bloomed the hope of making the home-stake and seeing friends and kindred once again; and when they slept it was to dream of civilization and of enjoying a good square meal.

Hundreds of miners swarmed into Last Chance gulch as soon as the news of the dis- covery was made known, and only a few days after the discovery mining was commenced. A miners' meeting was held on Last Chance creek on July 20, when the following laws and

regulations were adopted for the government of the camp :

That the gulch be named Last Chance gulch, and the district in which the discovery is made be named Rattlesnake district, to extend down three miles, and up to the mouth of the canyon, and across from sum- mit to summit. That mining claims in this district ex- tend for two hundred feet up and down the gulch, and ·from summit to summit. That no person be allowed to hold more than one claim by preemption, and one by purchase, except as regards the discovery claims. That each member of the discovery party be entitled to hold, in addition to 200 feet by preemption, 100 feet for a discovery claim. That the discovery party shall have the prior right to the use of the gulch water. That claims when pre-empted shall be staked and re- corded.

A supplementary regulation was adopted on August 3rd, as follows :

That any person, besides his own claim, be allowed to record one for his actual partner, and one only, and that he can represent both; but if a partner be so recorded for, it must be specified, and the name given in full. That all claims must be recorded within three days of location.

It was not long before preparations were made for the laying out of a town in the new camp, and on the 30th day of October a meet- ing was held to select a name and provide for a town government. The meeting was held in the cabin of George J. Wood, and there were present, among others, Geo. J. Wood, Orison Miles, Abraham Mast, A. Peck, John Cowan, Robert Stanley, T. E. Cooper, C. L. Cutler, John Clore, Dr. Sales, John Somer- ville, H. Bruce, Folsom, Wilder, O. D. Keep, Murray, Marshall, Burke, Henry Sellick, P. B. Anthony, John Scannell and others. The naming of the town was the all important sub- ject, and the name Helena was selected only after many ballots had been taken and the sub- ject had been discussed at some length. Some desired the place to be named after John Cow- an, one of the discoverers, Robert Stanley, an- other of the discoverers, or G. J. Wood, a man who took a very active interest in the camp's affairs. These propositions were all voted

HISTORY OF MONTANA.

down. The light hearted disposition of the meeting is evidenced by the fact that among the other names proposed were Pumpkinville, Squashtown, Tomahawk, Tomah and other ti- tles of like nature. Finally the name St. Hel- ena was proposed by John Somerville, a jovial frontiersman from Minnesota. The name was finally shortened to Helena, and as such was adopted by one or two votes over Tomah, which was the only other name that was seri- ously considered. Mr. Somerville was very emphatic in his efforts to have the town named Helena, and among other arguments put forth was that Helena meant "a place far in the in- terior of the country." In a letter to J. H. Mills written in 1885, Mr. Thos. E. Cooper told of the selection of the name as follows : "The question of naming the town came up, and there being a great diversity of opinion as to the name the town should bear, and not be- ing able to agree, the chairman, Somerville, got up and stated as follows: 'That he be- longed to the best country in the world, and lived in the best state (Minnesota) in that country, and in the best county (Scott) of that state, and in the best town (Helena) in that county, and by the eternal this town shall bear that name.'"

During the winter and spring succeeding the discovery of Last Chance other rich plac- ers were found in the vicinity. The town of Helena was located upon what was called Dry gulch, which could not be worked until water ditches were constructed. Oro Fino and Grizzly gulches united half a mile above the town, forming the celebrated Last Chance gulch. Nelson's gulch headed in the moun- tains and ran into Ten-Mile creek. South from these were a number of rich gulches run- ning into Prickly Pear river. Confederate gulch, east of the Missouri river and southeast from Helena; Ophir gulch, west of the range and thirty miles from Helena; Mcclellan gulch, in the same neighborhood as the Ophir, and others all proved to be rich finds. John L.

McClellan was the discoverer of Mcclellan gulch, and the Ophir was found by Bratton, Pemberton and others. For 150 miles north and south of Helena and 100 east of and west of the same point, mines of exceeding richness were discovered in 1865 and 1866. First Chance gulch, a tributary of Bear gulch, in Deer Lodge county, yielded nearly $1,000 a day with one sluice and one set of hands. New York gulch and Montana bar, in Meagher county, were fabulously productive.

In the fall of 1864 rich placer discoveries were made in the vicinity of Butte, and the first mining district there was formed with William Allison as president and G. O. Hum- phreys as recorder. The old town of Butte came into existence in the fall of that year. It was located on what was known as Town gulch, adjoining the present townsite of Butte. Among the discoveries of 1864 was the Silver Bow or Summit Mountain district, at the head- waters of Deer Lodge river, on Silver Bow creek. The discovery was made in July by Bud Baker, Frank Ruff, Joseph Ester, James Ester, Peter Slater and others. The initial discovery was below the point where Silver Bow City now stands. The name of Silver Bow was given by these discoverers because of the shining and beautiful appearance of the creek, which here sweeps in a crescent among the hills. As was always the case when a new strike was made people began to pour in. A new district was formed at the lower end of the gulch, and named Summit Mountain Min- ing district, of which W. R. Coggswell was recorder. The district was twelve miles in length, and besides the discovery gulch, there were twenty-one discovered and worked in the following five years and about as many more were worked after the introduction of water ditches in 1869. During the winter of 1864-65 there were probably 150 men in Silver Bow and vicinity, and many claims were re- corded. In the spring of 1865 Summit Moun- tain district was divided, claims No. 75 to 310,

HISTORY OF MONTANA.

above discovery on Silver Bow creek, were organized into Independence district. From 1864 to 1869 there were taken from these gulches $1,894.300 in gold dust. In the fall of 1864 German gulch was discovered by Ed Alfield and others. In the spring of 1865 a big stampede took place for the new discovery, and on the first of April there were nearly 1,000 men in German gulch.

While the discovery of the most noted placer gulches had been made in 1863 and 1864, the year 1865 witnessed the discovery of more mines of great richness and immigration to Montana continued at a rapid rate. During that year Elk creek, Bear, Lincoln and High- land gulches, in Deer Lodge county, and New York gulch and Montana bar, in Meagher county (already referred to) began their con- tributions to the mint. In 1869 another rich placer discovery was made on Cedar creek, in Missoula county.

While these rich discoveries were being made in different parts of the territory and many were making their fortunes by a few months' work, there were always many in each camp who were unable to secure claims, but who were always on the lookout for new strikes, ready at a moment's notice to pack up and set out for new diggings. One of the most noted stampedes of the early days which re- sulted in disaster was made for the Sun river country in 1866. One. McClellan, left Helena between two days looking wise and intimating that he had as good a thing as he wanted. Sev- eral hundred set out with all speed through deepest snow and coldest weather, scarcely tak- ing time to cook a meal or to rest at night, fearing some other party would get in ahead. No gold was found at the end of the trip, and many deaths resulted from exposure.

The first arrival of hydraulic machinery in Montana was in November, 1865, when the Nelson Hydraulic Mining Co. imported four engines of ten horse power, throwing water eighty feet high, with iron piping and India

rubber: hose extensions. Another powerful hy- draulic machine was imported by N. G. Mc- Comb in September, 1866, and put up on Zol- ler's bar, near Bannack. The construction of bed rock flumes and extensive ditches was only just begun. There were five hundred or more gulches in Montana which produced well and about twenty that were remarkably rich. Some were soon exhausted, but a good number paid well for the introduction of improved means of mining. As early as 1867 there were over 32 miles of ditching at French bar, near Can- yon ferry, east of Helena, and 96 flumes, the cost of which was $75,000, and was at that period the largest improvement of that kind in Montana. The Boulder ditch, owned by Mc- Gregor, Metcalf & Speigle, of California, which supplied the mines around Diamond City, was five miles long and cost $60,000. The excessive cost of work was occasioned by hav- ing to use 1.716 feet of pipe in crossing Con- federate gulch. The Eldorado bar ditch, north of French bar, was four and one-half miles long and cost $50,000; and many smaller ditches had been constructed east of the Mis- souri, whose aggregate cost was about a quar- ter of a million. The ten mile ditch at Helena was completed in June, 1867. It was built by Henry B. Truett, who came to Montana in 1866. Deer Lodge county had in 1869 nearly three hundred miles of ditches, costing $498,- 000, and carrying an aggregate of 20,350 inches of water. A nine mile ditch, carrying 2,500 inches of water, was completed to Nor- wegian gulch, in Madison county, in 1876. A flume was completed to Confederate gulch in 1879. There had been one built in 1876. which a flood destroyed. It was rebuilt by the owner, James King. It was but one mile in length, but it was estimated that it would re- quire twenty-five years of constant work to exhaust the ground controlled by it.

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An illustrated history of the Yellowstone Valley : embracing the counties of Park, Sweet Grass, Carbon, Yellowstone, Rosebud, Custer and Dawson, state of Montana, Part 16

Author: Western Historical Publishing Co. (Spokane, Wash.) Publication date: 1907 Publisher: Spokane, Wash. : Western Historical Publishing Company Number of Pages: 760

Author: Western Historical Publishing Co. (Spokane, Wash.)
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Spokane, Wash. : Western Historical Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 760