The Kalispell bee. [volume] (Kalispell, Mont.) 1900-192?, 1903-02-06
ROCHESTER A LIVELY PLACE,
Becoming One of the Best Camps in
the State.

In Madison county, at a point
about 40 miles directly south of
Butte. there is little town known
as Rochester It is not a new place
it was Rochester many years ago,
but it was not until two or three
years back that it began ascending
in the scale of prosperity. There are
several veins of mineral bearing
rock in the district From the time
they were discovered until the Wat
SEGA Mining company bought the
Watseca mine. the veins were
worked only above the water. The
owners of the claims were all poor
men and could not afford to buy
heavy machinery and pumps for use
below the water level, and the result
was for many years the district sim
ply held it's own. There was also
feeling among the miners that below
the water line ore in paying quanti-
ties would not be found, and even if
some of them had money none wished
tc take the chance of spending it to
ascertain if the belief was correctly
based But when the Watseca COM
pany bought the Watseca mine, and
with plenty of capital behind it began
sinking the shaft of the property.
Rochester and the district awakened
from the lethargy in which they had
spent many winters and as many
summers. 1t required only a short
time for the company to determine
that the assumption harbored by
claim owners in regard to the depth
at which pay ore would be found was
wrong. Then the town and the dis
trict took jump forward, and has
been stepping right along. Last week
the Watseca company, with Carlton
Hand as its general manager and
Joseph Smith as superintendent dis
covered another large body of ore on
the 4O0-foOt level of the Watseca
mine, and since then the old town
has assumed proportions of a boom.
The ore runs about 500 to the ton.
The company is now employing about
100 men on its three eight-hour shifts.
Heretofore the low grade ore of the
mine has averaged about SIS in gold.
The company has had its old mill in
operation continuously. Last sum-
mer it began the erection of a new
mill and the plant is almost finished
IT connection with it there is a CON
centrator which will be finished in
about go days. When the new mill
and concentration are started up. the
company will treat custom ore and
other mine owners, lesses and pros
pectOrs will then have an opportunity
to sell their ore without having to
ship it to other points Men who
have worked in the Watseca mine
say that its workings are in better
shape than those of any other mine
they have ever SEEN
Besides the Watseka, several other
claims in the district are being devel-
oped and from some of them consid-
cradle good ore is being extracted.
Among the producers is the Longfel-
low, promising mine. which con-
tains a vast quantity of concentrat-
ing ore. The Carpenter is another
producing claim. It is understood
that the output of both these proper
ties is to be sold to the Watseca
company as soon as the latter's con-
centrator and new mills are ready
for business. These are only few
of the mines that are now being de-
veloped in the district. but they are
sufficient to show that Rochester is
fast coming to the front as a gold
producer.
At present the town contains sew.
eral hundred persons, and all the
men are at work, but there is a man
for every n0sifi0n