The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1920-10-07

in connection with his store, and
Leggat and Stackpole had a two-story
log building. The upper floor was
used as a lodge room for the Masons.
There were, of course, a number of
saloons and dance halls, n OF the
most popular being that of Frank
Beck and John Anderson. There was
a 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 a
sick person when he was drunk. He
would say: mo, you will have to
wait until l am sober" He had a
song that he sang on all occasions,
which amused his hearers very much.
Each verse ended with the refrain,
fIn 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 a system of wa
terworks, with hydrants. The pip
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
The richest claims in the gulch
were on the main stream between
Wood Gulch and Horse Gulch. Num-
Der II or 18, 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 a good claim. We do
not know the number of Frank
Beck's claim. Some say that these
last two men were with the discov-
erers. but we do not know. At any
rate they came soon after, for their
claims we're not far below discovery.
Bill Owsley told me hal he and his
partner took out $3,100 a day from
their claim, but they only worked
three or four days a week in digging.
They spent the rest of the week
sluicing. Their neighbor, Mansfield,
spent his money 1avishly, even fool
ishly. His extravagances were a mar
vel to all on lockers. 1t was true in
his case that wilful waste makes woe
full want, for he died In the poor
house. Uncle Jimmie Murphy spent
his money in a different way. When
he had collected as much as he need
ed he turned his claim over to his
friends and allowed them to go down
and pan out as much as they wanted.
Another Discovery
Six weeks after the discovery an
other rich find was made, this time
a short distance below the townsite
in a sort of gulch or ~ravine, which
they called a dry gulch. This dis
covery was made by William Cooley.
James McChord and another. The
main road now goes directly over this
ground. David Evans of Melrose
told us that he was working below
the Cooley discovery, and one after
noon, late in the day, he was sent up
town for some meat for supper. In
going past this ground" he saw
some men panning out, and he stop
ped to watch them. Now according
to the ethics of placer mining this
was something that was never al
lowed, but they recognized hat he
was a tenderfoot and let him stay
on, and, being a tenderfoot, he did
not realize what was going on. He
asked them how far it was to bed
rock, and one of the men ansyered
that if all the dirt was as good as
this he did not care how far it was
Thinking this was an interesting item