Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1877-12-22
rHrRrr MILLIONS OF GOLD.
The Wealth That Has Been Extract.
ed frOm Alder (uleh

| The Wealth That Has Been Extract.
! ed from Alder Gulch.
In TIE spring OF 1858 party of FIVE miner
from Bannack took the trail for the Yellow
| stone and Elk Horn country. which for some
| time had been supposed to be rich in gold
/ Shortly after crossing the Madison on their
way eastward they encountered Indians and
were driven back across the spur west of the
Madison into the valley of the Sinking Water
Following down this stream towards its June
ton with the Jefferson they camped over night
at the mouth of narrow gorge coming in
u.n the east; As usual, they prospected its
their ps4se ImaateS br found
cess. they pushed explorations next morning
still further. and before the day was over had
"a listed themselves that the new creek was
TiSh, as s Alder GlIeh Which proved the most
produch We mountain gorge for its length that
has prohaL " ever been found in any part Oh
the world, A. ID whose history If il could be
scenes of dissfp. ton and lawlessness that
could be found.
The Fairwealher pam. the he discovers, i'm,
mediately located and star ed OUT the richest
ground they could find, and segan washing,
meeting with unprecedented suc.e For
time the discovery was kept secret, Sut uitl-
mately provisions had to be bought, ana lhe
trip made to Bannack for these resulted i'm the
publication of the news. Instantly there was
tremendous rush made to Alder. The gulch
was invaded by thousands of the widest and
most unnamed of the pioneers of those days.
Prospecting disclosed the fact that il was rich
from end to end. from the base of Old
Badly at its head far down into the valley of
the Sinking Water Every foot of ground
was taken up, and much was claimed twice
and three times. circumstance which in
stantly necessitated a large graveyard and a
coroner. With hardly an exception, every
claim in the canon became almost Immediately
highly profitable. In twelve months popu-
latiOn of l,00O had congregated there, and
five miniature cities had sprung to life.
During the summer of 1868 over s6000,000 in
dust, yield almost incredible. had been taken
from the bed of the creek. and in the spring of
the following year the population had in:
creased, through emigration from all parts of
the United States. both East and West, to
nearly 5000. Many claims yielded to their
owners 100000. and several doubled that
amount. 1t can be easily imagined how wild
must have been the days on that rugged
stream, where fortunes were so plentiful, and
where every attraction which the senses could
call for was placed within the reach of the
miners so suddenly raised to affiuence. The
flush times ut WaShOe were childS play to
these Alder Gulch days.
OF the five settlements strung along the mar
row seventeen miles of the gulch, Virginia.
being the most centrally located, was the most
prominent, and is to-day the only inhabited
1t is pleasantly located on the east bank of the
creek, and for number of years was the cap
tai of the territory. During the four years
succeeding its discovery this canon yielded the
enormous amount of $35.0O00OO
The geology OF Alder Gulch is interesting i'm
the extreme. AT its head stands a ragged gran
lite mountain. so steep that the soil finds but
scanty fOOthold on its slopes. 1t is cut and
scanned in every direction with gold veins,
whose outcrOp may be distinctly traced by the
eye for long distances. Following down the
canon the formation gradually passes into
gneiSs and from that into the quantities., states,
and finally the more recent and unaltered
sedimentaTy rocks. The gneiss, like the gran
lite of Old Badly, is full of large and strong gold
veins, which cross the gulch diagonally from
side to side. Through these highly auriferOuS
formations the waters OF Alder creek have
been cutting their way for ages and the frOsts
of winter have been at work on the steep
fragments Of quartz for the stream below TO
grind TO powder. Thus a process OF disinteg
ration and concentration has gone on through
the centuries, resulting finally in vast depOsi-
ton of the precious metal to an extent far be-
yOnd any precedent.
OF course, the fame of Alder declined in
time. Confederate, Last Chance, Blackfeet.
thousands. Its best days ended with 1867, and
when the first attempts at quartz mining
proved through mismanagement and incOm-
potency, to be abOrtive the towns in the val
ley Shrank rapidly in size. With this decrease
OF population came an era OF law and order,
and Virginia City losing the palm to Helena,
rately living mountain camp of 1900 or 1900
inha tantS, depending for its daily support
on the crumbs of former days, vainly striving
To sustain the dignity Of the past, and anX-
iOuSly awaiting for the capitalists who will
have the means to collect the hundreds and
thousands of small and now valuelesS Gf
properties, and 10 bring in the much-needed
supply of water.
The thirty odd millions of dust which have
come from this famous gulch may be cOnsid-
cred as barely quarter of what was in its bed
at first The opportunity for successful ad-
ventures i'm working the abandoned claims is
very great and has already been seized upon
to some extent. Numerous attempts have
been made also to work the gold veins so
abundant i'm the gulch, and moderate amount
of success has been attained. The revival of
the active production i'm Alder is now only the
question OF few years The enormous fig
nres of the early day will hardly be repeated,
but as mining district, presenting favorable
and attractive inducements for capital, il Is
hardly to be surpassed. The great veins whose
debris lined the bottom of the canon with gold
in the past contain still many times more than
they have given up, and only wait to be work
ed in all intelligent manner to begin pouring
out once more their treasures.
The Fairweather party, who discovered the
gulch, realized immensely from their claims
and threw away their gold i'm all forms of ex-
cess and dissipation, as was customary among
the pioneers. William Fairweather, the leader
Of the party, character i'm our national his
tory not unlike ComstOck, the discOverer of
the famous mines in Nevada, died, like the
latter, i'm abject poverty, with few friends, and
with scarce shelter over his head. In both
cases the diScOverer was forgotten or lost in
the fame of his discovery.