The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-07-25
BUTTE News.
BEFORE BUTTE EXISTED
MI. Granville Stuart Passed Over
the Present Site.
A BIG HERD OF BUFFALO
Grass Knee High on the Flat and on the
Big Butte-Antelope at the Head
of German Gulch - In the
Fall OF 1857.

Mr.. Granville Stuart. n of Mon
tana's real pioneers, having recently
arrived home from Uruguay and Par
aguay, where he has been United
States minister for the past four
years. is sizing up different cities Of
Montana with a view of selecting a
place in which to locate. Mr.. Stuart
was a resident of Deer Lodge at the
time OF his appointment as minister.
but he is now thinking strongly of To-
eating in Butte. which makes up in
stir n business what il may lack IN
beauty. MIR. stuart has not as yet de-
cided where he will locate. but he was
in Butte several days the past week
and expressed himself as inclined to-
ward the selection of Butte for his
home.
While Mr.. stuart. i'm his long resi-
dence in Montana, has never been a
resident of Butte. yet he saw Butte.
or the place where Butte now stands,
years before anybody now in Butte
saw il, and it may be doubted whether
any men now living passed through
this section previous to Mr.. stuart
visit. 1t was in April, 1858. that Mr..
Stuart first saw the big butte and the
surrounding ountry He told about
it in "A that with a Standard reporter
the other days:
when / came through here / had
little thought-in fact. l had no thought
at all-that on this site would rise the
mightiest city of Montana n that 40
wears afterward ! would come back
here with a view of becoming one OF
the teeming, bustling thousands who
were to inhabit the place. There was
nothing to indicate Butte's great fu-
fure. Their was not "A human being
anywhere within sight, not an Indian
even. Who could think that in 40
xears $4,000 people would occupy this
hin where there was no sign of a
white man ever having set foot? Ger
tainly ] didn't think OF it.
I'VE arrived in Beaverhead county In
the fall of 1857 and remained there over
winter. In April. 1858, l and three
Others came through here on our way
90 Gold creek at Pioneer / remember
that we saw plenty of buffalo signs
on the fiat below here and traced them
until we approached a herd of 400 bur
falo. The went west, headed toward
the park. The grass was knee deer
on the fiat. and. in fact. all over tho
hill where Butte now stands. i remem'
Der distinctly that there was grass also
over the big butte, although the gras:
did not grow so luxuriantly there as
on the fiat and the surrounding hills
] concluded IT that time that the bis
butte was Of volcanic origin. We SAY
deer and elk all over these parts and
found some fine antelope az the heac
of German gulch.
. mo, we didn't pan for gold in Silver
Bow creek. Our tools scarcely justified
us in doing much prospecting. All W.
had consisted of a broken pick. a spade
and a dilapidated pan. We were Twins
on beef straight without salt and Were
glad to get IL. Meat straight withoui
salt is not bad when the meat is fat
But in the spring. when the meat rs
poor. it is pretty hard to get alonl
without salt.
1T was 1864 before the digging'
were discovered around here. What :
contrast between the intense solitude
of his place back in 1858 ana the bus,
scene here to-day