The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1917-07-15
(Reprinted, with the authors permits
sion. from the Overland Monthly

sion, from the Overland MonthlyD
Man usually finds 1t possible to
adapt himself to his environment.
After moving to n wilderness home
where the conveniences Of his old sur
roundings are lacking. he invents a
means of supplying his needs by find
ing substitutes. Well known Is the
story OF how our colonial forefathers
adopted furs. fish and wampum as a
medium OF exchange in place of the
money they had used In Europe. This
practice OF barter was again renewed
decades later when the pioneer moved
Westward to the Pacific.
In the early sixties. when gold be-
gan to be seriously mined in Montana.
from California and Idaho, n wave Of
miners started for the new FL Dorado.
and from the cast the "tenderfoot"
came to seek his fortune. Montana in
1862 was hundreds Of miles from~set-
tied communities. The trails to her
gold fields lay over prairie, stream and
mountain range. where hostile savage
and desperate "road agent" lay In walt.
Hence little coin got into the territory.
Nevertheless. the thousands OF miners
needed medium Of exchange with
which to purchase food, blankets. picks
and other necessities.
Granville Stuart Tells Of Currency.
Granville stuart. the sole survivor Of
the party of three who in 1853 discov-
cred the yellow metal at Gold creek
and started tho gold rush to Montana,
gave tho present writer much valuable
Information on the subject Of early
Montana currency. He remembers
that not only was there not much sill
yer coin In the territories In the six
ties. but also that there was a very
little" gold coin. ''Grecnbacks' or
United States notes began to arrive
In 1862 or 1863. "Shtnplasters" or
fractional currency. came still later.
Mr.. Stuart holds that little II any
Confederate money ever reached Mon
tana.
Gold Dust Commonly Used.
Society being without a necessary
supply Of money In early days. Mon
tana escaped reverting to the barter
stage by finding an exchange COM
modify Mt once Of great Intrinsic val
ue. of fair divisibility and Of almost
universal distribution among the scat
tered settlers. This medium OF ex-
change was gold dust Gold dust wa.
the money used In most OF the earl!
gold camps Of the United States. Il
can be examined today in many OF tht
bank vaults Of our mountain states
After the gold Il panned or taken from
the sluice boxes the large nuggets arr
removed. II luckily there are any. ant
the finer particles, ranging in sizt
from about that of IA navy bean Il
mere chaff. Is the dust" Of the earl!
days. Its color varies, the gold from
each gulch having Its own shade. Thu
color depends on its purity and tn,
nature Of the foreign substances which
It contains, copper. silver. etc, each o
which gives the dust n characteristic
hue. Early miners and merchants be
came 80 accustomed to handling
that they could tell from what gulcl
1t came with great precision.
Could Tell Dusts Origin.
| II could tell almost always fro,l
what gulch dust came" said the lat
Judge Frank Woody OF Missoula. VIII
came to Montana in 1856. and was Il
point Of residence the oldest white In
habitant OF the state. In the sixties.
continued Judge Woody. II clerked I
Worden's store at Hell Gate told Mis-
soulaA and handled thousands Of dol
lars worth Of dust. Every merchan
had a little set of scales on which
was weighed. Besides the scales "
had brass dust blower an arrange
ment by which We GOULD blow out tn
lighter refuse and save the puE
metal"
Granville Stuart says that he ofte
used q dust blower during the earl
years when he was engaged In tn
mercantile business. The bankers I
the sixtica" continued Mr.. Stuart, al