Arizona republican., 1899-12-11

field of his enterprise until it takes in
not only his state, but othsr states and
not only this country but ether coun-
tries
Mr.. Clark became a business man af-
ter he had begun as a miner. There
were opportunities for trade in the ter
ritory in those days. Provisions were
scarce. He brought in a load from
Salt Lake City in the winter of 1868 and
sold it at an advance that enabled him
to enter upon other enterprises. The
experiment was repeated the following
winter, Virginia City being his market.
In the spring of 1865 he opened a gen.
eral merchandise market at Blackfoot
City, then new hustling mining camp
of the type that went with the passing
of the sixties. He sold that store the
same year. Tobacco was a scarce ar
ticle in the territory, and Mr.. Clark
rode horseback to Boise City, where he
purchased 5000 pounds at $3.50 a pound.
He secured teams and drove to Helena
with his cargo, which he sold at prices
ranging from S. to Sc pound to ready
purchasers. He Joined another STAN
pede to Elk Creek in 1866, where he es-
tablished another store. There he
spent the summer trading goods to the
miners and selling outsin the fall. He
went to San Francisco on horseback
that year, returning with a stock of
goods. Mr.. Clark had been born with
a faculty for absorbing details in bus
mess affairs. He had not lived in the
territory among the miners for moth
ing. He had studied their necessities
and their wants, and selected a stock
goods with particular reference to
needs of the country. That stock
freighted to Montana with the
al difficulties of travel in those
rs, but it sold at a profit that left q
bstantial margin to the good.
History was made rapidly in the cos
In Montana, and the lives of men NOV =
ed with the swift current. Mr.. Clark
went East in October 1866, by way of
Fort Benton and the 'Mackinaw route
which took tkirty-five days to go from
Fort Benton to Sioux City. Iowa. He
returned to Montana in 1867, and was
next heard from as a mail contractor
between Missoula, Montana, and Fort
Walla Walla, Wash, a distance OF
100 miles. He made a success of the
undertaking, as he had done in every
other one. Then he made another
move in the direction of a wider sphere
Of business activity. The autumn of
1868 he spent in New York City. and
there formed a copartnership with r.
W. Donneu to engage in Il wholesale
mercantile and banking business in
the territory. The connection resulted
in one OF the strongest business firms
Of that period. They shipped an i'm
mense stock Of merchandise up the
Missouri River and established an ex-
tensive Wholesale business at Helena.
In 1870 the business was transferred to
Deer Lodge and consolidated with Mr..
Donnelrs west side enterprise, S. e.
Larrabie being admitted TO the bust
ness and the firm OF Donreu, Clark G,
Larrabie being formed, which was one
OF the pioneer banking firms of the ter
ritory. The business was extended TO
Butte, and Mr.. Clark and his brother,
J. Ross Clark, subsequently acquired
the Butte bank, the firm of w. a.
Clark 6 Brother having since then
grown into one of the notable banking
institutions of the West.
Mining enterprise was Mr.. Clark S
forte. The scientific side of it COM
manded his attention and gave him an
opportunity to take a step in advance of
the methods of the day. Those were
the days when values went away with
the forkings that would make a care
full miner rich today. Mr.. Clark stud
led the treatment of base ores and gave
attention to the quartz prospects of
Butte. In 1872 he purchased the Orig
inal, Colusa, Mountain Chief, Gambet-
ia, and other claims, which have since
proved to be fabulously rich. To fit
himself for a successful mining career
he spent the winter of 1872 in the Co
lumbia College of Mines, in New York,
where he took a course in practical as
saying and metallurgy. That he alb
sorbed in that time more than a pas
sing knowledge of the scientific details
of the work-that his enthusiasm in
seeking for practical knowledge made
of him something more than a student
III the everyday college sense of the
word, has been demonstrated a score of
times since then. He returned to Butte
and interested himself in the first
stamp mill in that camp-the "Old
Dexter The first smelter of conse-
quence in Butte was built by a compa-
ny that he organized-the Colorado
and Montana Mining Company, which
is still one of the leading enterprises of
the Copper City. In 1880 he organized
the MoultOn Company, which erected
the Moulton mill and developed the
Moulton mine. The company built a
complete dry crushing and chloridizing
40-stamp mill and sank q three-com-
partment shaft 500 feet, put in a mod
ern pumping and hosting works, and
explored the property at a cost of $780,
GOO. The mine has been in successful
operation ever since. Even through
the period of depression for silver
mines, when nearly every other silver
mine in the West closed down, the
stamps of the Moulton went on drop
ping with the regularity of clockwork
Now Mr.. Clark and his brother own the
Butte Reduction Works, the Colusa-
Parrot, and several other mines in con-
nection with them.
Nj. Clark made a study of copper
during the era when the Butte ore de-
With iTc,a9 ,r-a-a