The Philipsburg mail. [volume] (Philipsburg, Mont.) 1887-current, 1896-06-18
MILLIONS TAKEN OUT
Bit of Montana Ground Which Gave
Up a Fortune.
How They Secured the Gold, Took 1t to
Fort Benton, Thence Down the
Missouri River to st. Joseph,
Missouri and Sold It.

The richest half acre of gold ground
ever known in the world is now again
being brought into prominence, and
with it the shipment of gold dust to
the value of 81 200, 600 in ordinary nail
kegs from the upper Missouri to st.
Joseph Missouri. The story reads like
a romance. 1t is brought up now by
the recent discoveries made in the York
district in Montana. 1t is what is
known as the Montana Bar, III Confed-
crate gulch, about fourteen miles from
Helena. The luck Of no other pros
pectors has ever been equal to that OF
its discovercrs-George f. Wright.
James Sullivan, Chris Fredericks and
A. McGregor. 1t was in the spring of
1864. The men were of the ordinary
class of prospectors, embracing the
different grades of society. In their
peregrinations in search Of the prec-
ious metal they were struggling through
the foothills on the east side OF the
Missouri river when by IA lucky chauce
one Of them picked up handful of
dirt OF the richest part of the bar. 1t
| looked like very common dirt, but II
by washing it showed even color 1t
would have been cause for satisfaction
as pickings had been very dry. HIS
astOnishment can be imagined when
out Of the single shovelful of dirt he
washed about $40 il coarse dust. He
announced his discovery to his COM
panions in a somewhat excited manner
and they at once made another panning
with the same result. They then com
menced work in earnest and by night
had a pile OF dust and nuggets that
weighed ont value of $21, 000. They
were up early the next morning, as
early as they could see to do anything.
| The first thing they did was to properly
locate all the ground the law allowed
by driving stakes with the usual posted
notices. After that all hands turned
to regular labor.
The locality was somewhat isolated
and their special location hidden by
nautral Instructions, SO that they were
enabled to work without being dis
covered. No one knew of the rich re-
suits of their labors. Their needed
supplies were drawn from Helena.
Whenever they had to have anything
They had some gold coin, and with
this they made all their purchases. The
currency Of the country in those days
was dust, but to have used that would
have been to give away the fact that
they had found something They took
not only this but Other precautions to
avert suspicion. \ log cabin was
thrown ND for their habitatiOn, and
under it the gold was hidden as rapid
ly as it was taken out so as to avoid
even a chance observation. The pocket
was of such unprecedented richness
that in three months they had accum-
ulated 80 tons of gold, mixed with the
usual quantity Of black sand Of course.
and difficult of separation. They had
worked but half an acre Of ground. AN
idea of its richness can be had from the
fact that pure gold is rated at $40 an
ounce. The coarse gold of the Mis-
souri, river country runs about SIG an
ounce. This that they had accumu-
lated, dirt and all went about Sl2 an
ounce.
1t is but a q simple matter of mathe-
matics to figure out what the BE tons
would 90. 1t was very big fortune
to be divided up among the four pros
pectOrs. With all their dreams OF
wealth they had ever hoped for and
they began to think about "realiZing'
and of getting back to civilization.
There was another reason for this also.
The water in the small stream i'll the
gulch was getting very low, and then
operations were consequently more OF
less handicapped. Alter duly discussing
the matter they decided to get out. II
was one thing to determine to leave
and very different one to do so. Fin
ally one Of the four went to Helena anC
secured covered freight wagon with {
four horse team. Fearing that the pur
chase of bags or the other usual recep
tacles for gold dust would betray thei1
secret, he drove to the rear of hard
ware store where he loaded up abou
twenty empty nail kegs with all the
loose heads he could find With these
! he drove back to the cabin on the bar
The idea of carrying the dust in mai
. kegs was novel one. The kegs o.
course all had to be lined with what
ever material was at hand. This wa
, finally done, and at the end of the
week the dust was packed in kegs ant
the latter securely bound with thong
J Of rawhide.. This was only one prob
, lem. The greatest one was befor,
, them. Fort Benton, 1870 miles north
was the head Of navigation, but thu
boating season was ended, and the onl,
other outlet was Salt Lake, 500 mile
south, over road infested by high
: waymen of the most desperate charac
ter. 1t was clearly out Of the question
, 1t had been ascertained during this
) time that the treasure had value o.
about 81, 200, 900. 1t was finally, after
great deal of deliberation, decided tt
take the nail kegs to Fort Benton ant
, there construct light draught raft OF
fiatboat that would go over the shal
low places and with it float down the
Missouri river to St. Joseph. This
idea was carried out, though only after
several startling experiences. One o.
the men returned to his native country
Germany, married banker daughter
and succeeded to a profitable business
The others disappeared completely, an(
were not heard from again.
| After the departure of the discoverer