The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-08-29
ALDER GULCH AND THE MEN
WHO CAVE It TO THE WORLD
How Bill Fairweather and His Hardy Band of Trail
Blazers Discovered the Richest Placer Ground
on Earth-Tmely Bits of the Old
Camps History.

! weather said to Edgar, What do you
| think of IL?
"The latter replied: L will go and gel
| the tools
When Edgar returned, Fairweather
| did the work and filed a prospecting
! pan with gravel. He then said to Ed
gar:
Go and pan that, and see if you can
get enough ito buy us some tobacco
when we get to Bannack.'
While Edgar was panning, Fair
weather shouted: I've found a scad.'
If you have one, have a thousand,
answered Edgar, who had just finished
panning the gravel
The Great Find.
"Fairweather then came to the place
where Edgar was panning and showed
him a small nugget, which was weighed
and found to be worth $3.50. The
amount in the pan was SIPS. Fair
weather then panned some more of the
gravel and obtained golden sands to the
amount of $3.50 A third painful in the
hands of Edgar yielded S4.40 With
these fortunate tests, when darkness
was reigning. the happy prospectors
sought their camp. This small piece Of
rock was the main factor in the crea-
ton of the Territory of Montana. In
the meantime all thought of the horses
boys came down the creek and COM
planned of the neglect of the stock.
Sweeney said they had found a few
colors, and Edgar displayed the pan
Containing the gold that had been
saved. But Sweeney claimed that it
had been sailed and supposed that a
joke was being perpetrated. He was
the first to wake in the morning, and
soon found out that he had not been
deceived The labor of the d1V
done in pairs by Hughes and Cover,
Sweeney and Rodgers, and Fairweather
and Edgar. The last named by panning
realized the sum of $3.50. During this
time they had no food, and We're almost
in the condition of the man of old, who
died of hunger while his table was COW
cred with gold A lucky shot furnished
an antelope for supper and meals for
the ensuing day.
Sweeney then asked Edgar to write
a notice of his claim to a water right,
and all agreed that the latter should
select a name for the gulch. Alder
was then written by Edgar, because
there was dense growth of that shrub
along the creek. The work of the miner
has been followed by a thorough change
in the surface, and to-day the chief evil
dence of this statement consists of the
stumps and roots of departed trees
which are uncovered when the 'tailings'
and sediment are washed away.
TT was mutually agreed that pro-
visions and supplies should be bought
in Bannack, that nothing should be
said regarding the richness of the dis
coveries, and that prospecting should
be resumed, so that they might be able
to secure the best of the ground. Leav-
ing the camp on the 2Sth day of May.
they arrived al Bannack on the LIST day
of June, having travelled since their de-
parture over 900 miles,
starts a Stampede.
Notwithstanding the pledge of secrecy
by which the discoveries were bound,
the returning prospectors were not long
in the old camp on Grasshopper creek
before the suspicion that they were the
bearers of tidings of momentous import
began to gain ground. Each one of the
party had some particular friend, or
friends, whom he wished to let in on
the ground floor and though they act
ed with much stealth, the fact that the
confederates were laying in supplies for
some expedition of unwonted magni-
tude could not be concealed, and they
were soon the 'cynosure of all eyes"
and every movement they made was
watched with avidity and eagerness.
So evident was this that the party
made secret departure on their return
to the scene of their discovery: but, in
spite of all their precautions, they had
hardly left the town before the SIAM
pede was on" and every man who
could possible leave was in wild pur-
suit, and Bannack was literally Ito
quote Hon. Phil LovelD "depopulated
in a night" Horses, mules, and even
oxen were pressed into service as pack
animals and hundreds on foot, laden
with coffee pots and frying pans, picks,
shovels and blankets, were hieing away
in search of the Ell Dorado which every
body believed the prospectors had GER
tainly found. The discoveries and their
party, however, successfully eluded
pursuit until they had arrived at the
scene of their lucky strike, and on the
9Th day of June, 1868, a miners'meeting
was called. at which Fairweather dis
trict was formally organized, with DR..
w. l.. Steele as president and James
Fergus recorder. Other districts up
and down the gulch were organized in
rapid succession, and long before the
winter set in and put a stop to the
primitive methods of mining which
We're resorted to for the extraction of
the precious metal from its gravelly
beds Alder gulch was being worked
for u miles of its length, and many mil
lion dollars worth of yellow gold had
been extracted from its auriferous de-
posits.
A Unique Figure.
OF the subsequent results from Fair
weather's discovery. 1t is not the pur-
pose of the Standard to write here.
They are matters of history not within
the scope of this letter, which is to deal
~ IN the career of the man who was
the central figure in the group which
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