Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1887-1890, 1889-08-17
GOLD, SILVER, LEAD.
ALL WILL BE DEVELOPED BY THE
BELT MOUNTAINS RAILROAD.
The Citizens of Great Falls Gratified by
the Good News Spread by the
Tribnne-Signif1cant Article
by Howard Mitchell.

The good news which the TRIBUNE sent
broadcast yesterday afternoon was re-
celved with much satisfaction by the peo-
pie Of Great Falls. 1t is now on the way
to the mining camps Of Barker and Nei-
llart, where in flowing bumpers the min
ers, prospectors and people generally will
drink success to the Belt mountains rail-
road!
Graders will soon be in the field and
they will make short work of the so miles
or 50 which separate Great Falls sfrom the
gold and silver, lead and copper, iron and
gypsum Of the second Butte that lies
southeast OF this town. Railroad build
ers who constructed $50 miles Of track
from Minot to Great Falls in about five
months, will promptly build the road,
which prolonged to the Judith region,
will open up rich country to the farmer
and miner.
This city will be benefited considerably
by the building of the new ROAD. This
will be the base Of supplies. This will be
the place where graders will spend mon
ey for clothes, food and tools. 1t is here
many Of them will settle and build houses
when they look around for place to in
vest their savings.
The ultimate benefit to the town will be
great. Already the news has stiffened
the price Of real estate and made some
holders reluctant to sell.
| The new railroad must lead to the es-
| tablishment here of slnelters on the larg-
est scale and to the enlargement Of the
smelter already in operation. Thousands
Of tons Of ore will pour in here and capi-
TO tai will be found readily transmute it
into precious and other metals.
The improvement OF the water power
will follow as matter Of course. Butte
will send down her ores to be smelted III
this Swansea of America where metal
burgists of high 1ank will reside in com
Portable and elegant homes.
The general trade of the Belt mountain
and Judith region will also flow here and
IL.
In connection with this subject it is
noteworthy that Mr.. Howard Mitchell of
the St. Paul Pioneer Press, who visited
the Belt river valley and Nehart this
summer has written an able, graphic ar
ticle on the subject, illustrated by an ex.
cellent map. Appended are some ex-
tracts from the article:
EARLY Friday morning we went across
country to Martins via Kibbey's, John
sons and Thompson's. 1t was region
of prosperous farms, fat cattle and sheep
and vigorous grain, beautifed and en-
livened by wildernesses of wild roses,
wild pansies and anemones, aud forests
of pine and fir. From Martins we drove
to Neihart, the mining camp which has
excited so much enthusiasm among the
old '49ers and '59ers and which soon is
likely to intice the interests of old-estab-
lished financial circles.
What have they at Neihart? Well that
is hard to answer just at present. Let
me give sort Of cursory presentation of
honest conjectures. A man of apparent
trustworthiness and undoubted faith told
me there were 400 claims within seven
and half miles of the town, ten of which
combined would produce 1000 tons
daily, averaging 40 ounces to the ton in
in silver. Up on the mountain side the
London has a tunnel driven 7SO feet into
the subcutaneous tissues of the earth.
The Florence and the Queen of the Hills
are doing we'll, with ambitious holes in
the ground each, and a promising exhibit
Of ore. The Gait has Il tunnel only
ninety feet into the hillside, but shows
four feet Of ore, averaging forty ounces.
The Nevada has a shaft sunk over a
hundred feet in good ore Of high grade.
Adjoining is the Mountain Chief, with
adjuncts of smelter and concentrator
which have cost more than 100000.
The Dakota has already had $4,000
expended on it, and apparently we'll spent.
Of the lngersoll group Of mines, the
Champion and Moulton look like bullion
producers. The Oneida and Hartley ad-
join the Broadwater group Of mines. The
latter consists of the Montana Bell, the
St. Julien, the Minnehaha, the Dickens
and the Maud S., situated on the noun
tains north of Neihart. Dozens of pros
poets are in the neighborhood, and about
so people sojourn in the town, holding
Oh to their claims like "grim death to
ueau ulSSef, WulIlHS lOf In6 fhllfOau 10
come, or some other evangel of civilian
ton.
Over on Snow creek the local argonauts
have struck free milling gold ore, and in
the Carpenter creek district lead ore ex-
lists in enormous quantities.
What about the rest of it! We return
to Martins and next morning a trip up
the dry fork of Belt creek, which, by the
way, is not a dry fork at all, except for a
very short distance. A brief and there
fore Intellectual effort to become acquain-
ted with the 100 (not 400 people of Bar
ker, a casual look at DR.. Armington's
mine, the Pride of the West, glance at
the smelter, and just admiration at the
glorious canyons, the bountiful grazing
and agricultural lands on our twelve
miles Of return journey, and we are at
Martins once more, Let us stop here
among the thousand charms of this fa-
vored valley. There is too much along
the Belt river to tell all at once without
sighting something worthy. And as for
Rice's, Tiger butte, the sluice boxes, the
mineral springs and the miniature "Na-
tional Park" situated near by, it would
take volume to properly bring their
charms to public notice.
Do Not Suffer Any Longer.