The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-10-06
ON SILVER BOW CREEK
Chipamen Have Made Money
Working the Bars.
WAS A RIVAL OF ALDER
Thousands OF Dollars Was Taken Out
in the Old Dsys-Highland 0uich in
Palmy Days-In the Marys-
Vile District.

ing the past summer I'm mining the bars
of Silver Bow creek. between the Cen
tennial brewery and Rocker. In some
places they have made. so one Of their
number said. from s2.56 to s. a day. and
in others they say they found nothing
at all. This creek was originally
worked by placer miners in the SOS as
far down as Silver Bow and the bars
below the old camp yielded thousands
Of dollars. At one time Silver Bow was
a rival Of Alder and Highland gulches.
Since those days the ground. the full
length OF the gulch, has been over
turned, old tailings rewashed and the
bedrock cleaned over again. OF late
years. however. little has been done in
the way Of placer mining on the stream.
Cinnamon. in their crude. primitive
way, have managed to make a living
by ''coyoting'' some of the bars. but
Silver Bow creek has long since retired
from the list of placer gold producers
of the state.
Highland gulch, in its palmy days.
yielded hundreds of thousands of dol
lars i'm gold u of almost the limit
of %fineness. being more than $50 fine.
All this gold was taken from a COM
~paratively small space of ground. From
the head OF the gulch down to the
mouth of Coulee gulch. a distance OF
one mile. the ground has been mined
thoroughly. A noticeable fact in this
connection Is that all OF the gold lay on
the bar on the ri%ght-hand side of the
gulch.
From the point where work ceased to
a distance of about three-quarters of a
mile down to the old Leggat diggings
the ground Is virgin, as IL were-never
been worked. Here the gulch has but
very little fall. Several holes have
been sunk and bedrock. where reached,
is from 25 to As feet deep. This part of
the gulch takes a half-circle course
around TO the point where ground sluic-
ing hydraulic work has been done.
Many rich pans have been washed out
of the prospect holes in this deep new"
ground. but the g~ravitation being so
slight. to mine II by means OF sluice
or hydraulic would involve a tremen-
dous outlay of money to carry a bed
rock fiume with the required fall up to
the point of profitable operation. Drift
ing Is out OF the question, as the water
could not be overcome without a bed
rock drain, and this drain would neces-
sarily have to be nearly a mile long.
Taking an airline course from the
point where operations ceased. near the
head of the gulch, to the Leggat dig
HasS 'aN vim of'A ~ VI
wooded hills. Holes have been sunk
through these mounds or hills to the
depth OF so feet without having reached
bedrock. The formation Is gravel. and
the further down, in most places, the
richer the gravel becomes. although
not In all places rich enough to war
rant profitable drifting" In placer
mining ~parlance. 1t has been pretty
well demonstrated that the main chan
mel of the gulch does not take the cir
cular course followed by the stream,
but rather is under these huge wooded
gravel heaps which were evidently
placed there by a heavy wash from
the mountain separating Highland from
Mammoth gulch. thus turning the
course of the surface channel.
Before the Butte City Water COM
pany turned the waters of Mammoth
gulch into its city mains, these were
used I'm sluicingTground in Coulee and
the lower Highland. Now. however. IL
IL should be proved that the gravel un-
der these hills is rich in gold. there
would be a sorrowful lack of water
with which to wash 1t. as there is very
little water flowing down Highland
gulch these days.
quite a number Of Butte men are
Interested In mines I'm the Marysville
and adjoining districts. as well as in
Northern Washington. the Kootenai
and Idaho. While the Summit valley
district may seem to be staked out
from one end to the other. there is no
doubt that other hidden leads are vet
to be exposed. However. much Butte
capital has found profitable investment
In other parts of the country. Reports
from Marysville are to the effect that
this once lively district liz taking on
renewed activity and that the future
holds much In store for those who have
stayed by the camps and for others
who have of late years planted their
stakes up there. Recent development
on the Belmont mine has shown that
all OF the gold was not taken out of Il
in the boom days of its infancy. Frank
Longmaid is developing the property
and has made several improvements
this summer. The North q and Bald
Mountain mines. above the Belmont, |
are producing an excellent quality OF
gold ore.
When Nate vestal. in 1878. discovered
the amazingly rich pocket in the Pc
nobscot. in the same district. all eyes
were directed towards that particular
section N Ii was primarily through
this great discovery that many other
prospects In the vicinity were worked
with renewed energy. with the result
that several important mines were
opened and Marysville, Belmont and
~ "tht Btshta W. " III UldTh
OF Importance among other great min
ing camps OF the time.
About that time or n little later.
Thomas Cruise began TO rise up i'm the
world financially through the splendid
aid of a succession of rich strikes in
his famous Drum Lummon at Marys-
Vile. and after that IL seemed tina all
the energy and ambition of the many |
miners and prospectors in the district
were directed in an effort to find an
other Drum Lummon, and consequently
n large number of erstwhils good gold
producing mines were gradually desert
ed by the men whose attention was de-
voted to the search for a mine like
their old friend Cruise la struck. The
Drum Lummon was a gold-silver prop |
All of the on which
mine was situated was plas-
tered owe with location notices. Some
showed up well and others
so well. IL was demonstrated, |
I