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 22
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 22
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 22
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 22
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 22
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 22
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 22
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HISTORY OF PARK COUNTY.
ing Bridger at his word, we arrived at the con- clusion that Bridger was the first white man to reside in this gulch and this part of the Yellow- stone valley. Likely his party were trapping for beaver along the river and this gulch af- forded them a safe place to encamp from hos- tile Indians."
By the terms of the treaty signed Septem- ber 17, 1851, a part of the Yellowstone valley was set aside as a reservation for .the Crow In- dians. The boundary line of this reservation commenced at the mouth of the Powder river and followed that river to its source, thence along the main range of the Black Hill and Wind River mountains to the headwaters of the Yellowstone river then down the Yel- lowstone river to the mouth of Twenty- five Yard creek, or Shields river, and across to the headwaters of the Musselshell, thence down the Musselshell to its mouth, thence to the headwaters of Dry creek and down that creek to its mouth. In this reserve was all that part of the present Park county east of the Yellowstone river, and Shields river. As there were no settlers in this part of the coun- try it made no difference whether Park county was included in an Indian reservation' or not at this time, but before the boundaries were finally moved to the eastward, by the treaty of 1880, there had been many prospectors over the country to the east of the Yellowstone, who had found rich prospects.
Fifty-three years after the expedition under Clark had crossed Park county on its way to the east another government expedition crossed the county. It was in the spring of 1859 that Lieutenant Maynadier, of the expedi- tion under Capt. W. F. Raynolds, of the corps of topographical engineers, U. S. A., passed through the southern part of the county, going from east to west. He kept close to the flank of the mountains until he reached the valley of the Yellowstone; then he hastened to join his commanding officer at the three forks of the Missouri, the appointed rendezvous, which
place he reached on the third day of July. One of the objects of this expedition was the ex- ploration of the upper Yellowstone, but its primary object was to observe an eclipse of the sun at some point further west and north. Owing to the fact that there was only a little time to reach the appointed place of observa- tion, the further exploration of the Yellow- stone was abandoned.
Prior to the year 1860 Montana was prac- tically unknown except to the fur traders and a few Catholic missionaries, who had taken up their place of abode west of the mountains. During the next year or two rumors of gold in the Rocky mountain country brought a few prospectors into the country. It was not until the discovery of the Bannack mines in 1862, however, that there was any attempt made at permanent settlement. Then came the discov- ery of the rich placers at Alder gulch the fol- lowing year, and the rush to the land of gold was on. No part of the mountain country was overlooked by the prospectors, who swarmed over the hills and gulches looking for the pre- cious metal. It was the work of these gold seekers that led to the settlement of Park county.
We find that in 1863 several such parties penetrated the country which is now within the limits of Park county. In April of that year a party of prospectors and prospective town builders, who had elected James Stuart as their captain, set out for Bannack with the inten- tion of prospecting in the Yellowstone valley and of laying out a townsite at some point in that unknown country. The members of the party were James Stuart, Cyrus D. Watkins, John Vanderbilt, James N. York, Richard Mc- Cafferty, Jas. Hauxhurst, D. Underwood, S. T. Hauser, H. A. Bell, Wm. Roach, A. S. Blake, Geo. H. Smith, H. T. Gerry, E. Bost- wick and Geo. Ives. The party left Bannack on April 9th and proceeded to the Gallatin river. Thence they crossed to Shields river, down that stream to the Yellowstone, and then
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EMIGRANT PEAK
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HISTORY OF PARK COUNTY.
on their search to the east. Concerning the trip through Park county, Mr. Stuart in his journal said: "From Bannack City to a point between the Madison and Gallatin rivers we traveled to suit ourselves, in regard to course, etc .; then we were suckers enough to try to travel by Lewis and Clark's notes and maps, and the consequences were that from there to the mouth of Shields river we traveled 75 miles without getting any nearer our destination. After that we laid Lewis and Clark aside and traveled to suit the lay of the country."
In the preceding chapter of this work we have told of the many hardships encountered by this party during the subsequent part of the journey.
That year another prospecting party, num- bering thirty or forty men, traversed the county from north to south, ascending the Yellowstone river into what is now the National Park. There all their horses were stolen by Indians. The party then divided into two parts and both prospected the country in the vicinity of Clark's fork for several days. They finally returned and descended the Yellowstone, and found good prospects near the southern boundary of the present Park county, but did not follow up their discoveries.
Gold was found in Emigrant gulch in 1863 by Thos. Curry, who remained in the vicinity for some time, living with the Indians and put- ting in his time hunting and prospecting. Curry was an Irishman and by trade, a tailor. He left Emigrant gulch for the diggings further east, and early in the summer of 1864 we find him starting out with two companions from Virginia City to return to his prospects. Soon after they commenced work in the gulch the Crow's came upon them and robbed them of all their provisions and nearly all the rest of their equipment. Nothing daunted by this treatment, the men returned to Virginia City, where they laid in a new supply of provisions and such other articles as was necessary to carry on their work, and returned to the gulch.
Now, during the summer of 1864 there was a great rush to the gold fields of Mon- tana at Bannack, Virginia City and other points where the precious metal had been found. Much of this travel was by boat up the Missouri to Fort Benton, but John Boze- man successfully opened up a new overland route, and on July 30 reached the present site of the city of Livingston with a large emigrant train. From here the train proceeded west- ward, via the Bozeman pass, and the present site of the city of Bozeman, to the mining camps further west. Another large train was brought over the Bozeman route that summer as far as the mouth of Shields river, piloted by Jim Bridger, the famous trapper and hunter. From that point Bridger took his train up Shields river and thence to the western mining camps. Other parties not connected with either of these trains and traveling in smaller compan- ies, came over the Bozeman route, all bound for the renowned gold fields of the Rockies.
Curry and his companions having found gold in Emigrant gulch some 25 miles above the point where the Bozeman trail left the Yel- lowstone, and desiring to share their good for- tune with the emigrants from the east, met some of the first parties at that point and in- duced some few of the gold seekers to abandon the trip to Virginia City and to try the new diggings up the Yellowstone. These found good prospects and at once went to work. A meeting was called and Curry mining district, in honor of the discoverer of the mines, was formed about the middle of August, of which Dr. Hull, of Iowa, was the recorder. It was not long before there were two or three hun- dred people digging up the ground in Enii- grant gulch. Each party that passed over the Bozeman route would lose a few members. who would decide to try their luck in the newly discovered mines up the Yellowstone.
David R. Shorthill, D. B. Weaver and Alexander Norris arrived at Emigrant gulch August 27. Weaver has written as follows of
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HISTORY OF PARK COUNTY.
the camp as it appeared to him that day in August, 1864:
"Here for the first time I saw men washing dirt or ground for gold. The bank or bar of this gulch had stakes set in the ground every 200 feet with the owner's name written on it. I estimate that there must have been two miles of ground staked off. The owners of these claims had formed a company, sawed out lum- ber and made a long string of sluice boxes, into which they were shovelling the gravel and dirt. They were trying to get to bed rock in the ex- pectation of finding 'pay dirt.' "
Although the prospectors were busily en- gaged in turning over the ground in great quantities at this point the yields were not rich. Mr. Shorthill, who was an experienced Colo- rado miner, concluded that the source of the gold was higher up the gulch and at once be- gan prospecting. On Tuesday, August 30, he struck coarse gold in paying quantities, and the camp became quite famous in a small way.
By-laws in Emigrant Gulch, Shorthill's District.
Resolved, By the miners of said district that the limits of said district shall be from the second falls of the main stream up said gulch to the forks of said stream and extending in width from summit to sum- mit along said gulch.
Resolved, That no mining claim in said district shall exceed in length along said gulch one hundred feet, but all claims shall extend in width from summit to summit across said gulch.
Resolved, That no person shall hold more than one claim as above specified by pre-emption, and but one by purchase except discovery claim.
Resolved, That any preempted claim upon which the owner thereof shall not have performed; or cause to be performed, actual mining labor within ten days, next after his preemption thereof, shall be liable to be preempted by any person entitled to preempt the same and that after labor shall have been performed upon claim if an interval of five days shall elapse without additional labor being performed thereon said claim shall be liable to be preempted by any other person en- titled to preempt the same, provided that if any com- pany or copartnership for the purpose of mining who shall own claims in said district shall labor upon any one claim owned by said company or copartnership said labor shall be deemed to he performed upon the several claims owned by them.
Resolved, That there shall be one recorder elected from the mines of said district, whose duty it shall be to record the claims of said district and for which he shall receive for each claim fifty cents.
Resolved, That all disputes arising concerning claims in this district shall be settled by the miners of said district.
Resolved, That the time for quitting labor in this district during the coming winter shall be the first day of October, and further that the time of resuming labor the ensuing summer shall be the first day of June, 1865-provided that claim holders may resume work upon their own claims if by them deemed expedient.
Resolved, That the recorder shall call a meeting of the miners upon request of three miners of said district.
September 12, '64.
The original copy of these laws is in the possession of Mr. Hackney, the secretary, who lives at the national soldiers' home at Los An- geles, California. The laws were not signed by the secretary at the time of their adoption, but the following addition to the records will show that they are now in the proper legal form :
National Soldiers' Home, Los Angeles, Cal., 9-12-1906.
This is to certify that at a miners' meeting held in the Shorthill district in Emigrant Gulch, Montana, Sept. 12, 1864. I was elected secretary of said meeting and wrote the above by-laws; but as there was some unfinished business when the meeting adjourned I did not sign them, but do now, 42 years later.
W. H. HACKNEY.
Preparations for founding a town were be- gun before mining ceased, in the fall of 1864. A site was surveyed at the mouth of Emigrant gulch and named Yellowstone City. The first building erected was a house put up by Thos. McGronagle. At the time, the house was con- sidered a commodious one, put up with a view to architectual beauty, but in this latter day civilization it would in all probability be prop- erly termed a "shack." The town was built up rapidly, and practically the whole popula- tion of Emigrant gulch passed the winter "in town." The cabins up the gulch were deserte 1 and everything was "packed" down to Yellow-
I21
HISTORY OF PARK COUNTY.
stone City. In a letter to a friend in the east, dated Yellowstone City, March 15, 1865, Mr. D. B. Weaver said: "Yellowstone City is sit- uated at the mouth of Emigrant gulch. It has about 75 log houses and a couple hundred inhabitants, 15 being women. It was com- menced last fall. It is the only settlement in this valley and the most eastern town in this territory, except Fort Laramie. This promises to be quite a place the coming summer."
Yellowstone City consisted not alone of miners' cabins. In the fall there arrived in Emigrant gulch four or five freight wagons, loaded with merchandise and articles for trade with the Indians. These goods were the prop- erty of Aguste Archambeau and Frank Cin Cin, two French explorers and trappers, botlı described as estimable gentlemen. They erected a large log building for their store, and carried on the largest establishment in the town. The camp was a comparatively orderly one, composed of the best class of miners. Al- though outside the jurisdiction of peace of- ficers and courts, the people banded to- gether and formed laws of their own. A meeting was held in the fall when a justice of the peace was elected and penalties prescribed for different offenses. Hanging was to be the penalty for murder, thieving or for insulting women. In the fall of 1864 a baby boy was born to the wife of Mr. Miller, and was named Montana. This was probably the first white child born in what is now Park county, or for that matter in the Yellowstone valley. Another child born at a very early date was the son of Mr. and Mrs. John J. Tom- linson, the sawmill man. This child was named Philo.
The winter of 1864-65 will never be for- gotten by any who passed that season in Yel- lowstone City. They were the vanguard of civilization. For hundreds of miles to the east there was nothing but the wild animals and wilder savages: to the north and south it was no better; to the west the nearest mining camp
was Virginia City, 120 miles distant. Con- cerning the state of society here that winter, Mr. C. R. Glidden has written :
"Notwithstanding their perilous position the residents enjoyed life to the utmost. Balls and parties were frequent and well attended, the most cordial good fellowship prevailing. The gentlemen were soon dressed in true frontier style-that is in buckskin suits with long fringes attached to the seams of their gar- ments, a la Buffalo Bill. The ladies were com- pelled to replenish their wardrobes with gar- ments made from empty flour sacks, and, as it was impossible to erase the original brands, their clothes lines presented an amusing specta- cle, seldom seen except in the far west."
When the emigrants came to the gulch in the summer they were generally well supplied with groceries of all kinds, but in most cases these ran out long before the winter was over. The deep snows on the ranges to the west pre- vented an easy replenishment of their stock, and many were reduced to the necessity of liv- ing on "meat straight" during the latter part of the winter. Some also had been unable to secure profitable claims, and their diet of "meat straight" was due, in some cases, to lack of funds, as well as the inability to reach markets. But game of all kinds was abundant and none was so poor that he could not have plenty. The snow in the mountains drove the wild game down into the valley and on the foothills. An- telope, black tailed deer, common deer, Rocky mountain sheep, elk and bear were the most common varieties, and often such game wan- dered down within plain sight of the town Because of the heavy snows on the mountains, making it very difficult to bring in stocks of goods, and the steady diminishing of the food supplies of Yellowstone City, it was but natural that prices for such goods went soaring. Con- cerning the prices of merchandise during this winter, we quote again from the letter already referred to, written March 15, 1865, by Mr. Weaver :
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HISTORY OF PARK COUNTY.
I shall now give you the dust, or gold, prices of articles (you must double the sum to get it in green- backs) : Flour, $20 to $25 per sack or 100 pounds; bacon, 60 cents per pound ; coffee, 75 cents ; sugar 75 cents per pound ; dried apples, 50 cents per pound ; po- tatoes, 12 to 16 cents per pound; turnips, 5 cents per pound; onions, 10 cents ; butter, $1.00 to $1.25 per pound ; canned fruit, $1.50 per can ; ax and pick handles $1.00 a handle; writing paper. 5 cents per sheet. The largest profit last summer was on flour. It could be purchased in Omaha for three dollars per hundred in greenbacks and sold here for $20 to $25 in gold. Flour is now selling here at $40 per hundred in gold, or $80 in U. S. currency. Virginia City is our nearest post- office. It costs 371/2 cents to send a letter and 75 cents to get one here in gold by private conveyance.
Now, as the mining season lasts but six months. to pay the above prices a man is bound to make big wages. Last summer my average wages at mining was thirteen dollars a day in gold, and I expect the coming summer equally as good.
But not all the events of the year were centered in Emigrant gulch. As stated before, the whole of the mountain country of Mon- tana was prospected that year, and several of these parties found their way into other parts of Park county. G. J. Batcheldor and a party of prospectors who were coming up the Yel- lowstone valley stopped at the mouth of Shield's river, and near there washed some dirt, which showed what in later years would have been called good prospects, but the find- ings were not rich enough to satisfy the eager gold hunters of that day. John T. Lilly was a member of the party and took out a small nugget that weighed six cents. Some years thereafter considerable excitement was aroused among the upper Yellowstone miners over re- ported gold discoveries in the Shields river val- ley, some distance up the stream, but no dis- coveries of value were found. As late as the spring of 1884 there was another excitement of the same nature in the same place, but it resulted in nothing but excitement, and there has never been any mining in that valley.
Another party of 73 men, commanded by Jas. Stuart, prospected and hunted Indians across Park county in the summer of 1864. One of the objects of the trip was to punish the
Indians for the outrages committed upon the Stuart party of the year before. They came from Deer Lodge to the Yellowstone valley and thence around the east base of the Absa- roka range into the valley of the Shoshone river. At the latter place the party was con- pelled to separate into groups. One small party went as far south as the Sweetwater, and recrossed the continental divide at Two Ocean pass. They descended the Yellowstone, passed the Yellowstone lake and the Grand canyon, and crossed Park county on their way home.
Another event of the year 1864 was the dis- covery of Hunter's hot springs by Dr. A. J. Hunter. That gentleman, accompanied by his wife and three children, the youngest a baby in its mother's arms, left their home in Mis- souri on the 2nd of April, 1864, and started westward by wagon for California. On the Platte river below Denver, they met about 500 wagons, loaded with excited emigrants and gold seekers. They had just heard of the new "diggings" in Montana, and many decided to abandon the California trip and come to Mon- tana, Dr. Hunter and his wife among the others.
John Bozeman had started for the new gold field with his big party just a day ahead of the Hunter party, and the latter followed him all the way into the territory. Besides Mrs. Hun- ter there was but one woman in the party, which included sixteen men, two women and three children. This little band of pioneers crossed Wind river on the fourth of July by swimming and converting the wagon beds into boats, and on the twentieth they crossed the Yellowstone in the same manner, and reached the site of the present city of Livingston on July 30.
But before reaching this point the party had encamped one day near the present site of Hunter's hot springs, which in those days, and probably for hundreds of years, had been known to the Indians and recognized for the medicinal and curative qualities of the waters.
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HISTORY OF PARK COUNTY.
One day while Dr. Hunter was making a hunt- ing trip some distance from the wagon train he came upon hundreds of Indians camped about the hot springs, in which they were bath- ing. There were many sick among them who were carried into the water by companions, and the instincts and training of the white doc- tor told him the value of his discovery. He believed he had found a gold mine of new char- acter, and immediately staked out a claim to the springs. Then he proceeded on his way with his companions up the Yellowstone, ar- riving in Bozeman on the 4th day of August. where he caught up with the Bozeman party and witnessed the erection of the first house in the Gallatin valley, built by Bozeman, Beal and Rouse. It was six years later when Dr. Hun- ter returned to his property.
The miners of Emigrant Gulch raised a trouble with the Indians during the year 1864. but in the spring of the following year an event took place which put them on their guard. It was in the month of May that a miner named Hughes, originally from Keokuk, Iowa, was brought into Yellowstone City, badly wounded, bringing the report that he and two compan- ions had been attacked by Indians and that his companions had been shot down.
The miners of Emigrant gulch raised a purse for him and he was started on his way home. As there were not enough rich claims for all the miners in the camp when the spring of 1865 came, quite a number left for the camps further west. This left the camp much smaller than it had been the preceding year, and those that remained put in part of their time building for better protection up in the mouth of the canyon, against a possible attack by Indians.
An important addition to the community this year was the erection of a sawmill on the Yellowstone, just below the mouth of Mill creek, nine miles down the valley from Emi- grant gulch. This was operated by John J. Tomlinson, who brought the machinery with
him across the plains. Here he sawed out lum- ber for the manufacture of boats for the use of those who desired to make the trip down the Yellowstone and home in the fall.
The year 1865 was quite a profitable one in Shorthill's district, but it proved the Curry district to be of little value.
So many had left Emigrant gulch in the fall of 1865 that by the following spring the population was so small that it was a question if it were safe to continue operations there, because of the threatened hostilities of the In- dians. And the fears of the miners were not groundless. One party which decided to seek fortunes in the camps further west consisted of Joseph Davis and family, Charles Hopkins, Isaac Dawson, Benj. Strickland, D. B. Weaver and the Hackney brothers. These departed for Helena and other camps.
At the time of departure of these men quite a large number of others were fitting up boats at the mouth of the canyon, prepatory to making the trip back to the states by way of the Yellowstone and Missouri rivers. One boat containing five men started out ahead of the rest, and at some distance down the river were attacked by Indians, who had concealed them- selves in the bushes along the river. Mr. Lawrence, one of the party, was killed. The rest then hastily paddled for the opposite shore, landed safely, and then hastened back to warn the others of the danger. About a dozen men had decided to remain in Yellowstone City during the 1866 season, but when the news of the Indian attack was brought to them, all hastily packed such articles as they could take with them, loaded them on an ox cart and set out with all possible speed for Bozeman, going over the Trail creek route. Emigrant gulch was entirely deserted, and remained so until August, when, the Indian alarm having sub- sided, miners began to return.
Concerning the events of the fall of 1866 Mr. Weaver has written :
"The Indian alarm having quieted down,
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HISTORY OF PARK COUNTY.
John S. Hackney and I each got a riding horse and a pack horse, and, leaving Helena, returned to Yellowstone City, and found the place without a living soul in it. The houses were just as they had been when the last man left the place. We went up to our old claims, and not a living person was here either. So we had the choice of claims, sluice boxes, cab- ins and tools. We were not here long before men began to come in to these mines to make a 'grub stake' for the coming winter, saying that if they could get enough gold dust to buy their flour and salt, they could kill all the wild meat they would need and would live well till next spring. Mr. Hackney and I continued digging gold until the 13th of October, when a heavy fall of snow interrupted our gold min- ing and we returned to Helena. * When I left Yellowstone City on the 13th the empty cabins were being reoccupied by men who had come here to pass the coming winter."
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