The herald., 1895-03-24

IL you Wuull DcCOlnc tlc ltNdI poiit iol
/ a smile intended to express contempt for
ignorance of modern geography and min
ing camp history. ask Montanian about
the location of Alder Gulch You would
in return be asked where in the nation
you lived. whether all tenderfeet were
us hopeless as those who came to Mon
tana, or kindred inquiries set in the
breezy originality of the Western man S
talk. Yet if your inquiry was honest
and the Montanian's endurance was pa
tient, you might learn that Alder was dis
covered near the Stinkingwater-now call
ed the Ruby River-by ohnFairwcather,
in the early sixties that it became a
swarming place for 80. 900 fortune seek
ers, and that despite any subsequent dis
coveries this old stamping ground had
held its place in history as the greatest
and richest of gold gulches.
Years ago the old gulch was panned out
too low for the ambitions of the gold
dreamers and was left to the slow rewards
of that despised class of wor ers generally
known as John Chinaman. The Others
scattered to the new gold beds along the
jefferson River, to Bear Guch in Deer
Lodge county, to Last Chance Gulch
where the city of Helena now stands. and
to all corners of the earth where rumors
are born to attract Adventurous men.
This gulch now is vast empty hive of
treacherous holes. broken mounds of
gold-bearing earth and rotting sluice
boxes. 1t is lonely and solemn grave
yard of soil. From the foothills few miles
away 1T looks like Il plot of ground up
turned by giant plows and as you APP
proach closer and the rough surface be-
comes more familiar, the scene suggests
1,o rAll lNol.
dead volcano. Save for the occasional
ring OF Chinaman 5 pick and the glrg
ling OF waters that once carried a wealth
of golden visions to the hopeful MINER
the silence is unbroken.
At the left as you ride up the guch, is
the famous old town of Virginia City
once great camp of thousands, place
where every window, every door, every
nail upon the floor" has bit of romance,
now inhabited by scarcely 400 souls
who find dwelling places in but few of the
hundreds OF deserted buildings The FL
Sol, the greatest gambling house ever run
in the Western country, is given over to
the peaceful trade of the village butcher;
the dance halls and the hurdy houses,
once bright with the light OF many
candles and ringing with cheap music,
the oaths of miners and often the ex-
change of shots, are now the grimy win
dowless homes of spiders and rats.
cluster about its gold field because it was
not only the starting place for the civil
lZatlon OF the territory but the scene of
very much of its history. Each summer
brings gangs OF these pioneers to Alder for
no other purpose than that of visiting
the .gulch and gathering incidents and
stories OF stirring times. They tramp
from the spot wnere Fairweather panned
out his first dust to the head of the gulch.
and thence across, nearly opposite Vir-
ginia City, to a strange, uncanny and
unpleasant nook in the gulch known as
'HelPs Corner"
Hel's Corner is bed of ouicksand. 1t
stands high from the diggings and rests
against one of the lower tier of foothills.
1t is not more than a dozen yards square;
its depth is unknown. The sand is coarse
and even and yellow. 1t is not different
in appearance from the gold ground in
many parts OF the gulch. and it carries a
small percentage of dust. So far as is
known, this is the only bed of quicksand
in that region, but certain it is that it
is bed of the quickest sand ever known
to Montanian. Some years ago the
writer visited the place with two old
timers. He lost wager that he could
count ten before a large green branch
taken from fir tree above would disap-
pear from view: Great powders rolled
from the cliff dropped from sight as
though tumbled into water.
In October $780, Chnaman digging in
the bottom of a small shaft near the
sloping wall of sand that separates Hell's
Corner from the gulch. struck human
skull. 1t was brought down to the store
OF State Senator Sim Buford and ex-
ahmed by the old-timers. 1t was dis
colored and marked by the crunching
sand. The theory was first advanced by
local biologists that it was the skull of
an inhabitant of one of the lost periods
This could not have been, because the
only tooth that was left in the head was
partly built of gold. Not long ago the
story reached the warm and cozy reading
room OF that famous home of hospitality,
the Montana Club OF Helena. Hugh
McQuaid, wealthy mine owner, retired
journalist and all-around good fellow
told 1t to Colonel James Gourley, another
pioneer, who had fought his way through
Indians to reach Alder.
Curious" aid Gourley.
Curious nothng!" said McQuaid, with
rising infection. 1T palmer than full
moon. Do you remmeber little black
eyed monte dealer named Nc Lehman that
came up from Santa Fe with "a
With a Mexican girl, and killed the
brother of George Ash in the FL Sol for in
sulting her, and then both Disappeared
and we all thought the vigilantes took
them andy the way, John Henry