New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-07-07

oh enc iodu. IL was HIS mtehuon W JUN otuai"
and he directed his expedition to point on the
Stnlingwater Creek. where he believed Stuart
TO be encamped lie reached that delectable
region only to find his friend gone The remains
of deserted camp were visible, and he took up
Stuart's trail toward the Big Horn country. In
May he arrived at the spot in the Yellowstone
Valley where the city of Billings now stands, and
here he was captured by party of Grow Indians.
They robbed him of his horses and let him go,
but upon his proceeding toward the Big Horn,
they dispatched an Indian runner after him with
the information that they would not allow him
to do any prospecting whatever in their mountains.
Hughes turned back dspirited and con-
Guided to make the best OF his
way to Bannack, meeting as lie pro-
ceeded with number Of animating experiences
with hostile savages. lie was sufficiently a
strategist however, TO issue safely from them
all, and, having crossed the Gallatin and Madison
Rivers, he came at last into deep and narrow
gulch which contained the head-waters Of the
Alder Creek branch of the Jefferson River,
about 100 miles due south from this city. Here,
on the evening of May %, 1863. he went into
camp, having travelled 700 miles in a circuit
since leaving Deer Lodge.
One OF his party, named Fairweather, while
the others were preparing the supper wandered
down into the gulch. The mountains on either
side were steep and rugged, and he noticed several
points Of bare bedrock jutting from their Sides
This indicated the action Of water washing the
mountains, and induced him to fetch out his
pan and examine the bed Of the gulch. lie TOOK
up at random painful of dirt, and became album
dainty happy at discovering yield OF ABOUT 80
cents lie communicated this agreeable circuili-
stance to his companions, and they sank a hole
Immediately. The first painful taken from tne
bottom produced SIS 10 in dust, and each sue
cessive washing gave convincing proof that they
had come Upon placer digging oil un"oh'eo
richness Their provisions, however, were eA-
hausted, and they concluded TO make Decline 1or
Bannack. secure a proper equipment and return
They lost no time in making their journey, and
Of course. their feverish anxiety to buy the whole
city at once excited remarks. They at length
acknowledged they had made rich find,' and,
to their dismay, when they started upon ther
return trip they found the larger half of Bannack
at their heels Several attempts were made TO
shake off and escape from their unwelcome fol-
lowers. but every movement they made was
watched. At last, as they approached the golden
gulch. they halted They told their tormenting
pursuers that unless it was agreed to give each
Of them his choice of 200 feet across the gulch,
from rim TO rim, they would turn back and ne7er
90 near their Eldorado. If, on the other hand.
that guarantee should be given, they might all
proceed in harmony together The faith OF the
miners was pledged upon this basis of agreement,
duly recorded and signed. In two days more
the richest placer diggings ever found in the
world were penetrated, and Virginia City was
established At the most critical period OF the
Nations financial history this gulch added sixty
millions to the gold product of America.
Equally interesting are the circumstances at
tending the birth of Helena. Four young miners,
whose names arc not associated win
the otys later history in May, S6i, were wander
ing along the main range prospecting. They
had been unable to obtain claims in Alder Gulch,
and their objective point in case they should fail
to strike rich field of their own, was Kootsuai, in
British Columbia, where common report had loSit-
ed valuable diggings. They camped one night in
the gulch where Helena stands to-day, but though
they found color they were not particularly
pleased They doubted if gold there in any
thing like paying quantities They pushed ahead,
therefore, crossed the range, and had gone as many
as thirty miles northward when they encountered
a man who dspelled their dreams of koOnsuai. lie
said the good claims were all gone, and the best
of them were poor, anyhow. This news was
great discoura cement to the party. They held
rather dismal council, and concluded that the
gulch they had lately left was their only hope.
Accordingly, the next morning they turned around
and came back to the spot upon which they had
previously encampcd. They grmly named the
valley Last Chance Gulch7 and Last Chance
Guch it is to-day. They sank two holes to bed
rock and their hearts leaped high when they
counted 50 60 in dust in their first pan. Each of
these four adventures made a fortune from his
claim, and soon a big camp was drawn together.
One of the miners who had been impressed with
the destinations Of llomers heroine CALAMITY
urged the name of Helena most appropriate for
the name of the new city, and Helena it became.
1t stands to-day in the very bottom where the
Last Chance pilgrims made their first discoveries.
more absurd and yet more picturesque stua-
tion would be difficult to fancy. Its chief bust
ness thoroughfare lies directly in the bottom of
the Last Chance Gulch at the further end of
which the patient Chinaman is still washing his
pan of dirt and realizing fortune larger than in
his own country he had ever dreamed of achiev-
ing. Thirty millions were taken from Last Chance
Gulch before it was abandoned 10 merchants and
sho plSeepers, and even now the builder Of new
house can find laborers willing to dig his cellar
for the dirt they take from it, There still remains
a few placer mines in Montana, but their product
is inconsiderable, and it grows less every year.
Mining as it is done to-day is the work of steam
drills and engines of tremendous power. 1t is so
expensive that only man of fortune, a corpora
ton in which "A fortune is invested, can engage
In it. But rarely does the discoverer of n mine
reap the full reward of his acuteness. Before he
can be sure of what he has. he must spend $780,
900 or so. lie must usually do vast amount of
excavating must run entries through solid rock,
chasing his vein until he finds it wide and deep
and thick enough TO justify the purchase of such
will enable him to get it out in COM
petition with the great firms and corporations
These great producers, with millions of capital
already owning mines of the highest value,
and able to extract the metal through their won