The daily enterprise. [volume] (Livingston, Mont.) 1883-1884, 1883-12-19
BEAR GULCH AT THE CLOSE OF 1888.


improvements Which will Tell In "a
Items Concerning the Mines and Mining
Prospects of the Gulch-The Greatest
Gold Region of Montana East Of the
Belt Range.
promised when l left Livingston to
give THE ENTERPRISE occasional letters
from this portion of the great mineral
world of the Upper Yellowstone, but the
many items of work in the erection OF
cabins, orc houses, prospecting and open
ing up leads, located during the past
summer,) from beneath heavy masses of
snow, have so fully occupied my time
that have been compelled to remain
silent down to the present writing. /
give promise, however, (now that my
hand is in,) that henceforth / will keep
your very cntcrprising and readable paper
quite fully posted on the Developments in
the gold belt of Bear and Crcvice gulchcs
as they progress as well as the discover
les of scores of rich gold leads which
close inspection of the belt assures me
must be made at a very early date.
LOCATION OF THE GOLD BELT.
The quartz lodes of this district run
northwesterly from beyond Crevice gulch,
across Creviee, Baldy, Mineral, Pine
Mountains and Forks of Bear Creek,
pointing directly towards the head of
Emigrant Gulch, near which they become
capped with lava formations. Taken in
its entire extent, the mineral belt, as far
as prospected, is known to be at least
twelve miles in length. by from four to
five miles in breadth. Bear Gulch, or
Sheep Eater mining district, as it was
formerly called, was first discovered and
worked for placer gold in 1867.
All along Bear and Crevice gulches
many thousands of dollars in placer gold
we're taken out by the old-timc prospec-
tor. At one place near the mouth of
Bear Creek there is bare bed rock to be
seen about fifteen feet square, where dur
ing the time when the sixties were in
creasing in size, an adventurous pioneer
took out only trif1e less than $4,000 in
few hours Of excavation. At another
point, in less than one-half day, miner
extracted over $1,1OO. Scattered along
the gulch numerous other places are seen
whose pockets paid the ancient Bear
Gulchcr their thousands. During the
past summer, fall and present winter,
Joseph Brown, the pioneer of the gulch,
with force of men has been steadily at
work, blasting bouldcrs along and con-
tiguous to the channel of the creek, and
cnlarging the flume ON the west side of
the gulch, in anticipation of placing IN
position in the gulch short distance be-
low the mouth of Palmer creek, in the
spring, the largest and most powerful
HYDRAULIC APPARATUS
ever operated in the territory of Montana.
This apparatus consists of heavy boiler
iron, hydraulic pipe fourteen inches in
diameter, with rivcted spiral seam and
nipple f1ange, in lengths of twenty-five
feet each, tested to required mar gin of
safety, with bursting pressure of 1000
pounds per square inch. 1t is operated
by the Little Giant Motor. Fall of water
from mouth of fume to bed rock, 600
feet. There will be two four-foot
fumes, one on each side of the gulch,
carrying as we are informed by Lieut..
Eaton, about Z 900 cubic inches of water,
taken out of Bear Gulch some three
miles from its mouth. The ground has
been thoroughly prepared for the opera
ton Of this extensive apparatus in the
early spring. A large force Of men will
be employed by this hydraulic mining
company and it is confidently believed by
these who have closely examined the
ground, that the projectors will reap rich
rewards as the result of their enterprise.
The monthly payments to their men will
certainly invigoratc trade in the vicinity
of Bear Gulch.
M OTHER PLACERs.
In this connection something specific
about other placers scattered throughout
this dictrict may lie in order. The ground
skirting the Yellowstone river on the
north side, from the mouth Of Bear Gulch
| - a MINI alx,nf one mile below the ferry.