The circle banner. [volume] (Circle, Mont.) 1914-1939, 1920-10-08

| in connection with his store, and
Leggat and Stackpole had a two-story
log building. The upper floor was
used as lodge room for the Masons.
| There were, of course, a number of
saloons and dance halls, one of the
most popular being that of Frank
Beck and John Anderson. There was
sawmill owned by Peter White and
Charlie Ledoux. The. latter was a
French-Canadian and one of the pop
ular men of the camp. One of the
bestowed characters in the district
was DR.. Seymour Day. He doctored
the whole country around. Unfor-
tunately he was given to hard drink
ing, and eventually drank himself to
death. He would never go near
sick person when he was drunk. He
would say: mo, you will have to
wait until I am sober" He had a
song that he sang on all occasions,
which amused his hearers very much.
Each verse ended with the refrain,
"In the chilly winds of December"
He spent his last days at Divide, dy-
ing there about 1883 at Charlie Wun-
derlich's boarding house.
The town boosted system of wa
ing was made of green logs about 10
feet long and six or eight inches in
diameter, with a hole bored through
the center. The boring was done in
a machine of home construction,
turned by hand. The auger was made
by Charlie Wunderlich in his black
smith shop.
Richest Claims
z1. 10sv 1oTl
were on the main stream between |
Wood Gulch and Horse Gulch. Num-
Der II or IS, below discovery, was
the richest claim. That was owned |
by Mansfield, and the one just above
him was Uncle Jimmie Murphy, who
was a partner with, and later sold
out to Bill Owsley. Just below Mans
field were John Hiffner and DR.. Nc
Cam, and below them was Charlie
Carver, the Butte storekeeper, who
had grubstaked the discoveries. At
the mouth of Horse Gulch a party
of Frenchmen had a good claim and
above Owsley, Frank Beck and Tom
Hall also had good claim. We do
not know the number of Frank
Beck's claim. Some say that these
ast two men were with the discov-1
srers, but we do not know. At any
-ate they came soon after, for their
claims we're not far below discovery.
Bill Owsley told me that he and his
partner took out $500 day from
heir claim, but they only worked i
hree or four days week in digging. !;
They spent the rest of the week :
luicing. Their neighbor, Mansfield,
pent his money lavishly, even fool
silly. His extravagances were mar
rel to all on lockers. 1t was true in .
lis case that wilful waste makes woe
ul want, for he died in the poor :
rouse Uncle Jimmie Murphy spent :
lis money In different way. When
lie had collected as much as he need
ID he turned his claim over to his =
riends and allowed them to go down q
nd pan out as much as they wanted. =
Another Discovery In
Six weeks after the discovery an
Their rich find was made, this time o
short distance below the t0wnsite
4 a sort of gulch or ravine, which
hey called dry gulch. This dis s
overy was made by William Cooley,
ames McChord and another. The
lain road now goes directly over this
round. David Evans of Melrose
Did US that he was working below
he Cooley discovery, and one after
DON, late in the day, he was sent up
OWN for some meat for supper. In
ding past this ground" he saw
ome men panning out, and he stop
ed to watch them. Now according
} the ethics of placer mining this 4
ras something that was never al !
owed, but they recognized that he I
ras a tenderfoot and let him stay W
n, and, being tenderfoot, he did q
OF realize what was going on. He
sked them how far it was to bed
ock, and one of the men ansyered n,
nat If all the dirt was as good as T,
lis he did not care how far 1t was. :.
linking this was an interesting item +,