The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1889-03-19
M0NTANA'S NEW GOLD MINES.
A Discovery in the Sweet-Grass Hills Causes a
Kush of GOld-Seekers to That Region.

BIG SANDY, M. T., March 18.-This little
town is full of excitement over the devel-
Opment of gold mines in the Sweet-grass
hills, fifty-five miles northwest of here.
People have just arrived from the hills. re-
porting that miners in Eclipse gulch are
making from $50 to $50 day. The most of
the gold is taken out in the placer diggngs.
but blue ore has been struck by several
parties in the hills. and the country is full
of prospectors from Helena and other min
ing districts. If the present rush contin-
ues straltened times must inevitably re-
suit, as men from all parts of Montana and
Dakota are focking here in great numbers
without making adequate provision for
subsistence. Frank Stiles, of Chamberlain,
South Dakota, heads party of gold-seek-
ers who arrived from st. Paul Yesterday.
They will open a mine owned by Stiles In
East Butte, and are prepared to locate
claims. Beside the gold deposits. which
are the center of interest. the amount of
silver in the rock at the hills has led to the
organization of three companies - the
Brown. Ried & Bell. the Detroit, and
the Hazel, which are now opening
mines at East Butte in the hills Other
eaists in a' lea leads s ali pfe through rough
this region. Actual work at the mines has.
as yet, only fairly begun, but the results are
very satisfactory to the parties working
claims. To Alfred Hilles, Butte miner, is
probably due the credit of the discovery of
gold in paying quantities in the hills. He
has been working quietly at Middle Butte
for nearly year, and shows about -, 600
for his labors. About week ago, however,
country is overrun with prospectors, some
OF whom have absolutely nothing, and sup
plies cannot be brought in fast enough TO
feed every body. 1t looks as if temporary
f;pnine was imminent. The Sweet-grasS
hills, in which the gold has been discov-
cred, are tifty-five miles by wagon road
northwest of Big Sandy, and just south of
the international boundary. The hills COM
prise three buttes. varying in elevation
1S abundant bum Lao in 'f east Bate i@a but tmSer
and water are scarce in Middle
Butte. Between and around the buttes
are broad bottom lands with small creeks.
The richest placer diggings are at Eclipse
mines and gulch in East Butte. Silver
copper, iron and fine quality of marble
have been found. while coal is abundant on
Milk river and Sage Rock, to the east. If
the present immigration continues, these
mines will be developed in a short time,
and prices of food, now at the top notch,
will 90 up out of sight. Scarcely man at the
mines is getting less than four dollars a
day, that being the wages paid, but nearly
every one is prospecting for himself. The
one great obstacle here is the distance from
market. There are but two lines of rail-
road here. Dr.. Barker, of Helena, and a
party of Ohio capitalists, control valua-
BILE property here, and have decided to de-
velOp these mines next month, taking the
products to Benton Great Falls. Like
every one else, they are enthusiastic on
gold-fnding, and nothing else can be heard
around here but the great strike in the
Sweet-grass hills and the development of
the mines there