The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-05-25
WORLDS RICHEST HALF ACRE.
From II -Four Wen Took over ~,
100000 IA Three Months


known IN the world is now again being
/ Drought into proU.uel-a, ana with it tne
| @Aip-iien- o. gold au-. % me FalAe ~ g.
1917 ~ ordinary Dan KEGS. from tne = -
! per Missouri TO 81 Joseph, 40. The story
reads like a romano. Do j. brought up now
/ 1y the recent discoveries made I'D the
| York district in Montana il D what IS
| known az the Montana Bar, in Confeder-
| ATE sllcn, about fourteen miles from Hel-
e.a. ~ luck q ao otaeI psosl eetors ms
/ StlI oeel equal 20 t4at oI !. 9lscoFe
/ George T. Wright. James Sullivan, Chris
| Fre4erlcks and a. ~ -liresOr-
| ~ was pa the spring oi lo3A I1e men
| We're Of the ordinary class Of prospectOrs.
] embracing the different grades of society.
/ IA their search for the precious metal they
were struggling throg gh the foot Mills on
| the east side OF the Missouri river. when
| by lucky chance one Of them picked up a
/ painful Of dirt on the richest part Of the
par II looked like very common dirt but
u, IN washing. IL showed even a color, il
| would have been cause for sd ustactiOn, as
| picklugs had been very dry. His astOnis h
ment can be imgaiuel when, out Of the
single shOvelful Of llrt he washed about
SD IN coarse dust. He announced MS dis
| coFety TO MS companions IN someWhat
tAciteu manner anu luey maze ano lner
| panning, with the same result. They then
commenced work ia earnest, and by night
had a Pile OF dust and nuggets that weigh
ed 70 value Of $1,000. They We're up ear
~ the next mOrning, AS early as they could
see TO do anything. The nrst thing they
qld was 10 locate all the ground the law al
loWed by driving stakes, WIN tne usual
posted notices. After that all hands turn
ed 10 regular labor
The locality was somewhat isolated, and
their own location hidden 10y natural OBJ
| strucuons, so that they were enabled TO
work without being discovered. No one
| knew of the rich results of their labors
| Their needed supplies were drawn from
| Helena. Whenever they had TO have any
thing one of their number went to that
place. 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 10 give away the fact that they had
! found something.
They took other precautions to avert sus-
plclOn A log cabin was thrown up FOR
their habitatiOn, and under IL the gold was
! hidden as rapidly as 1t was taken out SO
as TO avoid even chance observation. The
pocket was of such unprecedented rich
| ness that in three months they had accum-
ulated three and half tons OF gold mixed
with the usual quantity of black sand. Of
course, and difficult of separation. They
I had worked but half an acre of ground
An idea of its richness can be had from
the known fact hat pure gold is rated at
$50 an ounce. The coarse gold of the Mis-
souri, river country runs about $l6 an
ounce. Thls that they had accumulated,
dirt and all, went about $l2 an ounce. 1t
I is but simple matter Of mathematics TO
| figure what the three and a half tons
! would go. 1t was a very big fortune TO
be divided among the four prOspectOrs
| With all their dreams of wealth and of
striking il rich, ii was more than they had
ever hoped for, and they began to think
about realizing and of getting back to civ
ilizatiOn. There was another reason for
this, also. The water i'm the small stream
in the gulch was getting very low and
their operations We're, consequently, more
or less Handicapped.
1t was one thing TO determine to leave
and q very different one to do So Finally
one of the four Went to Helena and Sc
cured a covered freight wagon, with a
four-horse team. Fearing that the pur-
chase of bags, or the other usual recepta-
Giles for gold dust, would betray their Sc
cret, he drove to the rear of a hardware
store. where he loaded up about twenty
empty nail kegs, with all the loose heads
he could find. With these ne drove back
to the cabin on the bar. The idea Of
carrying the dust in nail kegs was a
novel one. The kegs, Of course, all had to
be lined with whatever material was at
hand. This was finally done, and at the
END of week the dust was packed in
the kegs, and the latter securely bound
/ with thongs of rawhide,
one was before them. Fort Benton, 120
miles NORTH was the head of navigation,
/ but the boating season was ended and
| the only other outlet was Salt Lake City,
| 800 miles south, over a road then much
| infested by highwaymen of the most des-
/ perate character. 1t was clearly out of
/ the question. 1t had been ascertained
/ during this time that the treasure had
| a value of about 81, 10000 It was finally,
| after a great deal of elaboration, decided
| to take the nail kegs to Fort Benton, and
| there construct a light-draught raft, or
| fiatboat, that would go over the shallow
| places,
| souri, river to st. Joseph. This idea was
! carried out, though only after several
startling experiences. one of the men
! returned to his native country, Germany
married a bankers daughter, and sue
! ceeded to a profitable business. The oth-
| ers disappeared completely, and were not
! heard from again.
| stampede TO Confederate Gulch set in.
| Many good finds were made. In one in
stance an Irishman who had just staked
] nfF a1 i'm
| good prospects, was bantered by a by
stander who owned couple of pack
! horses for trade. This was quickly
agreed to, and in few weeks the new
| owner took out dust to the value of S06,UO
| Another claim, which yielded $4,000 was
| bought with Colts revolver. The total
| yield Of the gulch was in excess OF
Ali Of the gulches, called ravines in the
| east opening to the Missouri river for a
distance of fifty miles below its three
main tributaries, were very rich in gold
| and many millions of dollars were recov-
! cred. The old bars left by the recedins
| waters were the most prolific, but The
opinion prevails that if the water of The
| river could be diverted so that the bottom
| ground could be washed, at least $780,
| 100000 would be the reward, or, as one
| placer miner residing in that section puts
| it, There IS enough gold there to load q
| steamboat Last Chance gulch is one oil
| those which seem to give foundation for
| the possibly eXtraVagant idea of this old
| miner. 1t is the one in which Helena is
situated. 1t has yielded $4,000 600, and in
| every direction for a distance of fifty
miles the ground seems to be impregnated
| with placer gold. This has been some
| what neglected in recent years, as the
effort has been to get at the mother lode
or the source of supply from which this
immense amount of placer gold came. AS
| there never was a placer field that did not
have its source in a quart vein fOrmatio
so this one must have such a beginning
Many of these sources are found by pure
accident, as the bonanza one in this ease
may finally be.
Many large and rich quartz leads have
been opened up, and several millions il
value taken out, but until within the las
few months it has not been known tina
Helena, as the center, is very nearly en-.
Yironed by an immense pOrphyry dixie, ricl
in gold, which evidently has fed the placer
grounds that have yielded these sudder
fortunes. on this dixie are now nearly al
the mines that are in active operation
| Ihe placers have been fed by the slow
disintegration of the rock. Porphyry is
sort eruptive rock, and is not usually con
sidered a material likely to contain gold
/ but the developments at Cripple Creek, il
a similar formation, show the fallacy O.
such old geologic ideas. The dixie ex
tends for a distance of twelve miles, 81
| Tar as now explored, in a Semi-circulal