The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-12-25
IT Was Once the Rival Of Alder
Guloh.
NOT A BUILDING THERE
Highland City Wa Once the Largest in
Western Montana-The Home OF q
Thousand Peopie-The Gold
Stampede.

tae VI a oiieit hour dtld
at one time it was the home OF 1000 peo-
pie. At that time there were probably 10
houses. including residences. boarding
houses. stores, saloons. blacksmith shops
and other buildings used for various pur-
poses. To-day there is not a building I'm
the rigina townsite of Highland City.
which % years ago was the largest city
in Western Montana.
To a stranger who may happen along
that way there is nothing to suggest a
once lively. prosperous mining camp aside
from the falling heaps. which now are
mere moss and grass-eovered mounds.
Here and there are traces Of recent ex-
ploration and placer mining. but the evil
dences OF early-day activity are WELL
nigh hidden from view by natures YER
dure. which is spread luxuriantly from
one end of lie gulch to the other. Where
once stood the windlass and sluice boxes.
rose bushes and other mountain shrub
berry thrive I'm abundance. Drifting was
the method of mining I'm Upper High
land. The stranger might pass over the
ground dozens of times and never be re-
minded by the general appearance of the
place that IL was. years ago. the scene
OF a gold excitement. He would. of course,
see at a glance that IL is a placer mining
g~ulch-there Is unmistakable evidence of
that fact-but there IL nothing to forcibIy
remind him that IL was once a rival OF the
famous Alder and Last Chance gulches.
However. IL ne should be accompanied
on his jaunt over the ground by a man
who once lived I'm Highland City his at
tention would be directed to a long sue
cession of slight elevations or mounds of
/ graSS-cOyprp1 earth These ha u,aild ha
told. were the foundations of log houses
I long since torn down. The earth has been
fertilized by the decayed bark of the
foundation logs, and wherever these logs
once rested the ground is now. or rather
i'm the summer. covered with a heavy
growth of grass and weeds. For a dis
lance of about 1,000 feet on either side OF
the road the eye can trace the outlines of
the foundations of houses, one after the
her-hou that once We're Inhabited
by the miners and their families, and
stores and saloons.
Another object which would excite the
curiosity OF the visitor to the houseless
city is a log projecting above the ground
about six feet. This log has a hole
through the center of IL extending up to
about two feet of the top. There a hole
Is bored into the log from the side and
IN, that hole a large plug Is inserted. or
used to he. This was a hydrant-a hy-
Il VI Ont % tnt very nfst Systems. III
not the first. of water works in Montana.
The citizens. soon after the camp was es-
tablished. associated themselves into a
water company and dug a deep trench
from one of the brooks above the camp
down through lhe main street. In IL they
strung wooden conduits and connected
them with two hydrants. one Of which is
standing intact to-day. and this was their
source of water supply for domestic pur-
poses-the purest water. the old-timers
say. on earth.
On the right-hand side as the stranger
goes up the street. he would be shown
where once stood "A long building occupied
as a saloon. He would be surprised at the
mention of the amount of gold dust which
had changed hands i'm that building. lie
would notice that the ground under the
building had I'm more recent years been
disturbed. Several years after the building
was removed some miners of the gulch
scraped up the loose earth between the
rotten foundation logs and carted II down
the gulch, where il was worked through
sluice boxes. The exact size of the clean
up" from that dirt is known only to the
men who worked IL, but IL IL said that sew
eral hundred collars was the reward of
the enterprising miners. The saloon was
owned by John Trainor and join Cano-
van I'm the early days. when the miners
used to come i'm and. throwing n bag of
dust on the bar. say: Come on. boys.
and take something" The bartender
would weigh out the price of the drinks
and toss the bag back to its owner with
the remark. Here's your change" BY
this process there was more or less gold
dust lost. The cracks In the crude floor
would allow the dust to fall through
onto the ground. and by the time the men
in later years washed the dirt a good big
sum of gold had accumulate under the
floor.
Highland gulch was discovered in July.
1850. by the Coleman brothers.. now of
Deer Lodge: Thomas Rutter. who used to
have a photograph gallery in Butte. and
a man named Crawford. Mr.. Rutter was
recorder OF the district. The claims in
the gulch were 300 feet long and the width
embraced the ground extending from rim
to rim. Among the richest claims were
those owned by Messrs. Mansfield. Hef- |
from & McCrown, Murphy. Owsley & Car
yer. More than $1,000 was taken from
Marshfeld's drifts and about So. No from
each Of the others mentioned. These
amounts represent the clean-ups of the
original owners. no account being kept of
the sums extracted from the ground by
parties who subsequently, worked a..
Enormous sums were taken from Cooley
and Horse gulches. which empty into
Highland gulch a short distance below the
old town. These gulches were mined by
the sluice and hydraulic method. The
discoverer of Cooley gulch went to Scot
land. aking with him six oyster cans
full of gold. The names of some of the
other miners prominently Identified with
the early history of the gulch are ]. +.
Beck. r. II. Leggat. John B~ranagan.
Butte; Coleman brothers. Deer Lodge: |
Ike Miers. dead: Dickey Bros. Mil Creek:
John Canovan. Anaconda: John Trainor.
Messrs. Owsley and Carver.
Butte. and John Kern, who still lives In