Great Falls tribune., 1889-11-23
Special Correspondence Of the TRIBUNE.

Especial Correspondence Of the TR1BUNE.1
BARKER, Nov. 20-The reader who is
not familiar with the geographical position
Of the mining camps of the Belt noun
tains will hardly be able to appreciate the
vast treasure which lies hidden in these
mountains awaiting only the advent OF
the great civilizer,the iron horse, to awak-
en- into active life and give up to the use
of man vast stores of undeveloped re-
sources.
Take the map Of Montana and, begin
ming with the intersection of of township
line 10 north and range 5 east, pass the
pencil north along the 9th meridian east
to its intersection with parallel IS north; !;
now pass east along this parallel to its
intersection with the 10th meridian east;
then south along this meridian to the 9th
parallel north, and thence west along this
to the place Of beginning, and you have
surrounded tract Of country which in
cludes some of the richest mining camps
in Montana. This tract is SO miles long,
30 miles wide and contains SOL, 200 acres
Of land, mostly mountainous and much
Of it never prospected. But so far as
known it is remarkable not only for the
quantity of ores, but also for their great
variety. Nearly all the useful precious
metals are here, but lead, silver, copper,
iron, graphite and zinc are found in great
%hop ofboro
Within these boundaries are found on
Belt'creek and its tributaries, the camps
Of Barker, Neihart, Carpenter creek and
Snow creek; on the tributaries of Smith
river are several camps and there are sew
era] on the Judith tributaries. The
camps of Wolf creek are especially rich
in silver and lead, aud an immense vein
of iron has been discovered.
At Copperopolis exceedingly rich de
posits Of gold and copper have been
worked and further developement only
awaits cheap transportation.
In the Castle country tributary to
White Sulphur Springs are found rich
gold and lead deposits. Near Kibbey are
immense deposits Of pure white gypsum
which only await the enterprising miller
to turn out tons of plaster paris, which is
now being used largely instead of lime
and sand for plastering houses.
The ores of all this section are remark
able for their great variety, but where ore
of peculiar nature is found, not far
away will be found the necessary ore for
fluXlDg.
With the building of the Belt mount
ain railway new fife and zeal has been
infused into all this section of the coun-
try. This road will make it possible to
market millions of tons .of the low grade
ore and give still greater profit on the
higher grades. 1t follows the course Of
Belt creek to the junction of Dry Fork,
at which place it will stop for the present.
This takes it within 10 miles Of both the
camps of Barker and Neihart, but it will
be found necessary to run lines to both
these camps. In order to reach Wolf
creek, Yogo and the Castle mines, it will
also be found practicable to run line up
Dry Fork past Barker and along the
Blankenshlp trail ever into Wolf creek.
By making one tunnel this route will
furnish roadbed of easy grades and
when an entrance into the Judith country
is once effected branches will soon tap
the rich Castle gold mines and the copper
and iron deposits of Copperopolis. 1t will
also be directly in the way of this enter
prise to extend the line across the coun
try toward Lewistown and open up this
rich agricultural region.
The traffic which railroad entering
this region would receive can, OF course
only be estimated, but if we examine the
mines OF Barker alone it soon becomes
evident that there is vast amount OF orr
ready for shipment. Several OF the mine
are now prepared to ship 100 tons PEI
day and safe estimate would place th'
daily shipmen.s at from 500 to Soo tons
Add to this the shipments from othe
mines and the shipment of supplies TO
the Judith country which would take thl
route and the freight traffi will run VI
into thousands Of tons daily.
President Hill has had his eye on thi
district for some years and is now push
ing the road up Belt creek. After thl
lire is completed it will only be a matte
of time until branches will be extende'
to the places mentioned and their treas
ures made useful to man. Speed the day
t.