, 1866-04-20
,-o~r.r. coRREsPoNDENcE.
HELENA, N. T., March 20 I0OO'
rrtn MINIS. a

HELENA, NJ. Ii ne - -
THE MINIS. Ell
E,,-o, sr.TRsNAS Having emfgrated iroui
,hs !, other side and being one Of The pro-
.er,bed ones in Montana it is but natural n. tnA1
~ svmnathies should remain. with those WIN
wbsn nave been formerly rather pleasantly
.s.ocia.ed. our enterprising exPressman' WAL
drou. has arrived all safeand sound over tue
:. impas.able barriers" that divide Montana
from the rest of the world. By him send you
:. b;,d,s eve view a. Of Montana, and glimpse
90 her snpareut resources. But two years ago.
tho yaiIey of Alder Creek 40 miles long) was
AZ. ,o,,lv EIdorado of the country. To-day they
~ s,iii aiming there, Further north we come
a. ~ irIIapider.' UPrickly Pear,e and arrive
" ~ ,sI,s, Chance" tGrizzy," " Nelson's,
SsT,cLern uOro Fino," and Dry sGulch, or
q t5sngman's Gulch," :" in this immediate vlcln-
itv Alder Gdlch, upon which hes virginia
Citv. islI3o miles southeast from here. North,
,ys nave /" Confederate, Moutana," " Ore
,or y I. whites" and several bars of more or
less note-some Of them paying very well. To
the north least is aRy number of unprospeeted
qulehes that bear evidences Of gold deposits.
gefore leaving " this side, " Iwould remark that
there is a complete network of quartz through
the whole Territory, but how rich; except 10 a
few instances, no one can safely say POCKETS
have been frequently found in ledges that would
pay as high as ten and fifteen dollars TO the
pound. But this would not do to Judge the
ledge by. While there are perhaps dozen
yery rich ones, there are at least $50 very poor
ones The small amount of labor expended
upon leads SO far; has only developed their ex-
istence--nol tested theirtwealth or resources.
The Rattlesnake " district, near the " Big
Hole, :" and Situated between Virginia City and
hHna Ilrak he
district around Helena is equally rich in is6t,
has exhibited the richest quartz so far fOand,
although all the mountains contain quart with
scarce an exception. Passing over the diVidei
we emerge into
THE VALLEY OF THE BLAcEFcOT.
Here, in nearly every gdlch, gold in Paying
quantities exists, In some, want Of water pre-
vents their being worked successfully in others,
the usltal difficulty of hurting pay streaks has
impeded The prosperity OF the miner thus far
" Mcclellan" )" " Jefferson" and several others,
are claimed to bF rich-new discoveries having
been made in each during the Fall and Winter
The great center of attraction at present is a
eIuster of gulcbes located between the He'll Gate
and Rig Blackfoot rivers Elk Greek and Bear
Greek, the former emptying into Big Blackfoot
ard the latter into He'll Gate river, each rise IN
a range Of mountains having the appearance Of
a detached portion Of the same range that feeds
the Mcclellan ane other rich gulches. The Big
Blackfoot evidently at some former period had a
different channel or outlet, but through the
agency of some eruption the waters have burst
through the walls of this mountain and formed
its present channel. Some eighteen guches,
tributaries to Elk ard Bear Clutches, have been
prospecled most satisfactorily. Ose thousand
dollars is about the lowest figure asked for a
claim in the district and from this sum to five
thousand Prospectors are confident that equal
IL good dggings will be discovered so soon as
the SNOW will admit Of travelling about the
mountains.