The Butte inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1901-1912, 1901-12-30

| by glacial erosion. That lead, or that
series of leads, is somewhere in the hills
of Alder gulch. 1t is lost, but may be
| found some day.
The Highland Mary is Madison coun-
tvs particular lost mine. Somewhere
over in the Madison range, away back
in. the COS. prospect was discovered.
located and for time worked with
most gratifying results. 1t was the
Highland Mary. The locator brought
several sacks of ore over to Virginia
City and interested some Of the mining
men in his discovery. The ore was
rich with free gold and had every APP
pearance of having come from good
sized lead. The prOspector never d.
vulged the exact location of the lead,
and after he was drowned in crossing
the Madison river. all trace of the mine
passed away. and, although prosrectors
have sought for it, and some have
claimed to have found it, the Highland
Mary still belongs to the category of
lost mines.
Silas King of Butte tells of man
coming to him one night after he had
retired. with the story Of discovery
in the neighborhood OF Browns gulch,
short way from Butte. He gave Mr..
King various samples of the top ore.
over $500 to the ton. MIR. King grub
staked the man and sent him back into
the hills. Weeks passed and the pros
pector did not reappear. Mr.. King
heard of an unknown man having been
Z found dead in the hills near Browns
sulch. He and friend went to the
grave exhumed the body of the I'M
known person and recognized in the de-
! ceased the features of his friend the
prospector. Mr.. King and others to
. whom he had told the story. spent time
and money in the endeavor to find the
lead of which he had been told.
In the days of the overland trail
Philadelphia man visited his daughter,
who was teaching school at Deer Lodge.
While upon his return trip he found
, ledge that looked promising and took
samples tifereform. He blazed the 10
caity so that he could easily find it
again When he reached home he had
samples aEsayed and .'as astounded by,
the returns. He made arrangements to
go West in the spring. but during the
winter contracted an illness that caused
his death. In his closing hours he tried
to describe the location of the ledge to
some friends. who the next summer
made the long Journey 10 Montana for
no other purpose thah to find the lost
lead. They prospected and hunted all
summer, but had to ra,urn home eventu-
ally, leaving their story to be num-
bered among the mining myths OF the
district.
Pettireill. the Montana wild man,
/ who roamed in the neighborhood of
Dewey's fat when alive, used to APP
pear regularly in Butte with guam
tity of rich quartz gold. No one was
hi 70. ,Ga 10 n m q
the ore.
In the early days a man would APP
pear at irregular intervals in Deer
Lodge with a sack of gold quartz rich
enough to make commodity for bank
ing transaction. After having INDUCED
in a prolonger carousal with the pro-
, ceeds of the sale he would disappear
into the hills. Often he was followed
for weeks al time, bu, no one was able
to discover the repository of hidden
!. wealth. Merchants, bankers, prospec-
tors, miners-all tried at various times
to make him divulge his secret, but to
no avail. He wouldn't tell when he was
! sober and he lied when he was drunk.
After he had made many trips to Deer
Lodge he was induced to agree to take
a party to the prospect. Upon their
arrival there he was to be paid a stipu-
:
est in the claims. The party under his
guidance left Deer Lodge, crossed the
Little Bucktail. near the site of the pres
ent town of Ellston and camped in the
gulch in the neighbochood of the On
tario mine The guide said they would
camp there. as it was the nearest water,
and that in the morning he would show
them the lead. He was quite confidential
that night and described, as his COM
rades thought, the location of the lead
| with great accuracy. That night the
guide died. Since then many well-known
men. taking the camp near the Ontario
as basis from which to work, have
spent thousands of dollars in prospecting
| trips in the neighborhood.
! These are only a few Of the hundreds
of tales told of the lost mines. A few
undoubtedly are based upon some slight
| foundation of fact. Many of them
emanate from the excited fancy of pros
| pectors. to whom the value of quartz in
| creases in a direct way as years and
distances increase, and some have not
| even the similitude of fact as a bsasi,
| but all are believed: for "eyen if they
are not true there is no reason why they
Ie,I,1 ~ h4 fV,yn