The Montana post. [volume] (Virginia City, Montana Territory [i.e. Mont.]) 1864-1869, 1867-10-05
MINING MATTERS.
TEE FLINT CREEK REGION.


EDITOR PosT: From Beartown to where i
now write from distance of forty miles inter
venes, on which the traveller finds two toll
roads. The first from the town down Bear
Gulch is nothing more than an imposition.
A rough trail, over fallen timber loose
rock, then over a mud hole and again up a
steep mountain side, is guarded by a gate
keeper. The prospector who goes &c, ,or comes
from, Beartown must either forcibly resist OF
submit to the miserable monopoly, granted
by the County Commissioners. Twenty-Five
miles by trail brings us to Emmetsburgh, on
Henderson Gulch, which latter, with very
few exceptions, is being abandoned for the
present, owing to the scarcity of the water.
During the summer months this gulch and the
bars have yielded handsomely, and may be
considered merely opened for more energetic
and remunerative operations next spring.
few companies are still at work under disad-
vantages, but making from $S to SO per day
to the hand. Emmettsburgh of course pre-
sents dull appearance now. Sixteen miles
further, following the course of the hmpid
waters of Flint Creek, and the Montana
Washoe,
PHILLIPsBURGH,
is reached. This town is laid out on grand
scale, with main streets running east and west,
100 feet wide, and intersecting thoroughfares
of GO feet width. Some fifty or sixty build
ings in all stages of construction, and built
principally of heWn logs, a good two-story
frame hotel, and the necessary adjunct of
Lots are held at from $500 to $500, and for
half mile the lots on Main street are fenced
in. But there is one great feature in the
town, and, in fact, the cause and origin of
Phillipsburgh-viz, the
ST. LOUIS & n. n. CO. 3 MILL,
which, under the direction of Mr.. III. Coun-
tryman, will soon be completed. battery
of ten stamps, six Wheeler pans and three set
tiers compose the machinery. The building
is of stone and In all particulars strongly and
elegantly finished. AS soon completed,
| full and detailed description of this mill will
be forwarded to you. The ore TO be crushed
| by this mill is taken from the Comanche and
Hope lodes, both being situated one and a
half miles west from the mill, with good
road leading TO them. A gang of hands are
now employed on the Hope In an open cut S5
feet long, running nearly due east and west,
| on vein of five feet average thickness and
twenty feet deep. The ore assays very rich,
/ but as the mill will soon commence to prove
the correctness of the assays, / withhold the
/ fabulous yield the rock Is said to give until
| the returns come from the mill. But little
wore is going on Ia the shape of development
| of the multitude of discoveries, and if but
| tithe of the staked claims yield the fifth part
| of what they ASSAY, bullion by the hundred
/ tons will find its way from Flint Creek to the
mint. The Rumley-Bugher lode is probably
as large ledge as any discovered, and from
/ the course of 1t, appears to be q continuation
/ of the Comanche. 1t shows an immense vein
Il Oh ole anu promises TO Oe one OF the besb
mines in the district. To give mention to
/ all of the so-called rich lodes would require
more space than you can devote TO it, but as
/ they are developed Will receive due notice.
Messrs. Harman, Slaughtner and Dicterly are
now constructing in the gulch; one mile
| ISove town, three arastras, TO be driven by
horse powsr, with a capacity of three tons
per day to the set. Each one is furnished
with heating hue, permitting work to go
on during the winter. The rock, after being
run through the first one, passes into the
next one below, where the pulp is brought in
contact with the quicksilver, thence goes into
the third or lower one, there to be thoroughly
amalgamated and drawn off. These arastras
are built of fine quality of the hardest kind
! of granite, and will be valuable to test the
silverores of the district, before erecting more
costly machinery. B.
Phillipsburg, Sept. IS, 1867.