Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1908-01-12
ODD NAMES OF MINES
Peculiar Titles Given to Some of
the Black Hills Claims.

the Black Hills Claims.
WHIMS OF PIONEER MINERS.
Many Of the Early Prospectors Select
ed the Names of Wives or Sweet
hearts, Which Stand Now as Remind
ers Of Romances Of Bygone Days.
Behind the names Of many of the
mining claims and mines of every min
wealth of romance and history, both
pathetic and ludicrous. The Black
Hills furnish as many and as good ex-
amples of the peculiar circumstances
under which many claims are named
as any locality in the country.
One of the best known mines in the
southern hills is the Holy Terror. Back
in the early days this claim was To-
Gated by an old miner who had work
ed some years without success. The
claim was hard one to work. When
the man went home in the evening
after locating his claim his wife asked
him what he named it. He smiled and
told her, For you, my dear" and her
further inquiry drew forth the fact
that he had called it Holy Terror. An
other man once named his claim Cen
tie Annie for his wife, while still a
third perpetuated the memory of his
wife, who was a noted clubwoman, by
naming his claim Silent Julia.
The hills are dotted with the names
of claims recalling romances of bygone
days. Many a young, ambitious man
came here when the mining boom of
the eighties was at it's height, lured
with hope of fortune, and all that re-
Katie w. or Mabel E. or Lulu ], Many
sweetheart or wife in the faraway
east was honored in the naming of a
claim that its owner hoped would prove
bonanza. Some few made good. Wit
ness the Annie Fraction and the Josie,
both of which were named for the
eastern wives of their owners. They
are in the Bald mountain district and
have produced thousands of dollars for
the iocators
In the Galena district there is a
small abandoned claim known as the
Widow, with which there goes story.
Years ago youth named Hanley APP
peared from somewhere with a few
thousand and with zeal commenced to
sink his money in a hole in the ground
in the hope of vast fortune Back
in the old home a little widow waited
in vain for the golden wealth he said
was sure to come and the wedding
day that would celebrate it. 1t took
but a short time for the youths small
savings to dwindle away with his In
experience, and, chagrined and dis
heartened, he put a bullet through hii
brain on the site Of his blasted hopes.
One prospector who worked diligent
ly on a claim which was staked by al
outsider and had difficulty in even get
ting his living expenses secured his re
venge by naming his claim Old Per
simmon.
Men of patriotic turn Of mind have
chosen names Of those famous in his
tory, as Washington, Lincoln, etc
Each of the presidents has been re
membered, famous generals. all of th'
states, seafaring heroes and heroes o
the Philippines, as Dewey and Fun
ston Indian names by the score ar
found. as Hiawatha, Minnekahta ant
Nanoma. Those Of sporting proclivi
ties chose race horses, as Nancy Hanks
Salvador. Maud S.. Red Wilkes, 10
Patchen. Favorite authors have beel
rememb ered, as Longfellow, Burns an
Dickens. One student named hi
group Miltiades. Mark Anthony, Attil
and Cleopatra.
One man of pessimistic vein chos
What's Left and Some Left. The aver
age business man in naming claim
will choose a simple name and use
series Of numbers, as, for instance
Thomas No /. Thomas No. 2, etc. On
man favored his wife by calling hi
claim Red Headed Woman. Two &C
joining claims are known as On Tim
and Late.
An odd case was known in the nam
of the Hoodlebug claim, which was 4
Gated by a German and an Irishma
and intended by the former to be calle
Heidelberg. When the Irishman reacl
ed town to record the location he ha
forgotten his partners selection Of
name and said it was something lik
Hoodlebug. which, for convenience
was the name recorded.
The Prodigal Son lived up to i
name by bankrupting its locator, WI
returned to Iowa at the behest Of tt
father who had put up the funds f
the venture. Among the names tn
doubtless conceal stories never know
are Old Whiskers, She Devil. Graz
Brain and Crank.
Some of the guIches have nam
that refer to incidents. Two Bit WI
named because placer miner d
cIared his first painful would vie
about two bits Then there are Pc
Mans Gulch, Sheeptail, Blackta
Whitehall, Crooked Arm, Poverty al
Prosperity Deadwood Cor ST. Lot
Renghlic