Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1886-12-30

one. Thomas Page Jomstock, after dis
covering the great silver lode which bears
his name. drifted about among the mining
camps of Nevada for awhile and then
| branchel off north to Montana, among
| the Big Horn mountains, where he believed
more silver to be hid than tile rest oi the
world contained. 1t il said he went north
in the interest of Nevada parties. but how
| true this is at least no up in this part
of the country knows. At any rate he was
the leader of the famous Big Horn expeli-
ton that was sent out in the summer of
1870 in search of the mythical Lost Cabin
lead, supposed to be somewhere in the Big
Horn range. The object OF the expedition
discovery OF mineral wealth. was not
complishcd and the prospecting party
reached Bozeman short of supplies and
many of them without n cent of money.
: Comstock ranked with the latter class,
although from careful inquiry find he re-
fused offers Of assistance from citizens OF
Bozcman. Whether from disappointment
at the result Of the trip, worry over the
plight Of himself and party, or for some
. other cause; on the morning succeeding the
Bozeman, Comstock drove u pistol ball
through his brain and iedinstantly. This
occurred Sept. "a, 1870. 1t was n sad
ending Of n very wrctchcd and miserable
man, for there is little doubt among the
people of Bozeman, who saw and knew
him years ago in this town, that Thomas
Page Com,stock was of unsound mind when
he committed this rash act Of taking his
own life. Comstock left a paper in his own
handwriting. giving some interesting facts
concerning himself. 1t was written and
> dated at Butte City in 1870, and WAS as
follows:
5 had five claiu,s-pphir, Savage, Gould
& Curry, Hale Il Norcross, and Virginia. |
kept Norcross Mt work for year on that
I mine. | owned the principal part of Gold
+ Hi!l and leased ii to Walsh IL Woodruf.
t Now will tell you how | sold thosa mines.
| gave Sandy Bowers his claim-twcnty y
4 feet on Gold iIill--and gave Billy knight
{ his claim. To Joe Plato gave his claim.
% Poor Joe is dead, but the claim has made
. his widow very rich. was working on the
= Dphir aud taking out n good deal of ore,
Q but | didssnot know its value, for was in a
: wilderness. | sent several tons of ore by
:, ox-teams through the mountains to Call
fornia. And Judge Walsh was my agent
y, and helped me. /. took out II large gold
r. and silver specimen weighing twelve pounds
!, and sent in box to Washington city.
. instructed John Musser, u lawyer M
Wnsshoe. to send it. don't know whethel
- he did or not but y wanted congress an'
:, the president to see it, ior il was tn
\ lirst gold and sivfr ore mixed ever found
- in the United states. ! went ON working
and ] n 90 Walsh and Woodruff were ther'
:, every day for two months tryins to ba,
me out ] did not know what had. NJ,
health was bad SO finally sold "ut i'
" them on these terms: ! was To get SO,
J." u00-and did get it at last-and ] was Il
- receive one-eleyenth of all that ever cam
~ out OF my claim during my natural iii'
= time. and at my death it was To 90 I
whoever wii.ed it to. ! WAS also To RI
:" ceivc slco per m"ath. That was the c"l
tract. and two mea, Elder Bennett an
!" Many Penrod witnessed it. But my healt
II was bad. and before had the contract ~
y" corded Wooiruii IL Walsh sold il on
y" Having taken no lien ON the property,
y" never got a dollar from that day to thu
y" except what was nj first paid. am I'll
son OF old Noah Comstork of Cleyaian'
cr Ohio, and my relatives live there. VI
me born in Canada and am now 30 years oh
rk | have "A wife, but no children.
of This interesting narrative en'ls here.
m. Constock could have gone on relating h
Is wonderful experiences, what curious ~
ty strange reading matter some oil IT wou
zen make. As il w:is he died poor and mi
-he era BILE sinner with scarcely IA friend To clio
nd his eyes: aud yet his name will live in Ia
ere tory long after kings and presidents II
on forgotten. II this man had only he
we all he owned. your Clouds, VANDERBILT
ma and A.tors nf to-day would bc merely p
M mics in wealth compared to him. Ia th
ito teen years the comstock yielded s.l1
'ss. ooo, 900. The expense oi running tn,
al mines was something quite startling I
s,l consumption of wood for fuel and i'm .
val ing in the different tunnels was soIn"th
,,h- enormous. When the mines were IA !
,,., blast il required over 200 cars daily
-; convey timber over tine Virginia "a
ali, Trucksc railroad to supply them. FIR
o., IsT:. to 1850 over 900 cords oi ""
,,s- were used daily, and prior tp the el"~
down of the lower levels the con-lnptl
,,.,, of fuel was over lpo cords. More tn
;. so. .ooo. .ouo has been spent ia supply
tho fuel for the machinery alone. and II !
,.,. cost a- much to timber the shaft, inriin
ma drifts, etc, with liz. pine, hemj'eN a
tutu.rari.