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

Tn the summer of 1864 and 1855
the first placer mining was done IL
Butte. The placer field was dowT
ON Silver Bow creek and up TOWARD
the old Butte TOWNSHIP, in h neigh
borhood of the present gas works
The Oldest placer records mentor
the Coleman, Crawford and Hum
phrey Discovery in Buffalo GuIch,
in describing later placer Claims
These are not the first records un-
fortunately they are lost. From the
mention of this old ground IL is
known that the Coleman DrotneIs
and William Crawford were prospect
ing in Butte as early as 1860.
Early Difficulties
The difficulty with early placer
work in Butte was that the good
claims we're too far from water. 1t
necessitated the hauling of the good
dirt down to the creek to be Wasned
out. G. o. Humphrey, n or the
Butte discoveries, with his partner
William Allison, determined to prlng
in a ditch from Silver Bow creek
from near it's source above the pres
ent Meaderville. Many of the pros
nectors decided to wait until water
was brought in before they went on
with their placer work in Butte, n
in the meantime they turned their at
tention to finding new fields.
Early in the summer of 1866 }. Ii.
G n e.. T. Coleman and William
Crawford went to Charlie Carver,
who had a store down Gin the dig
eings', and asked him to grubstake
them so that they could go u INTO
the hills to prospect. This he dld'
and they started out accompanied by
Tom Rutter, Den Parker and j. -.
Dunlap. The next that was heard
from them was that they had struck
it rich out in the Highlands.
Stampede to Gulch
Immediately there was a stampede
for the new discovery, about l50 men
going out from Butte. Soon n
gulch was taken up for its whole
length and operations were begun at
once. The result was marvellous.
The gold was found to be the richest
of anv in Deer Lodge county, being
worth $40 an ounce. In a very snort
time the fame of the discovery spread
and there was a general stampede
from all the camps around.
The discoveries of Highland GuIch
did not themselves profit by their
rich find. The Colemans, Crawford
and Dunlap seemed to have been on
the order of the rowing prospectors.
They evidently left the town soon
after the discovery, for none OF the
men now living have any recollection
of them. They returned to Butte IN
1867 but any knowledge of them is
gained only through the ecords
However, we do know that the Cole-
mans went to the Black Hills during
that stampede and discovered the
Homestake mine. These Coleman
brothers must not be confused with
the Colemans of Deer Lodge. Inc
latter we're also in Red Mountain
City, but they did not arrive until the
stampede was in full swing.
Tom Rutter and Dan Parker stay
ed on in the Highlands during It's
booming days. Afterward Mr.. Rut-
ter was for a while in Butte and then
in Deer Lodge. He was a photo-
grapher. Mr.. Parker being well on
in the fifties was known as Uncle
Dan. He worked on the discovery
claim for some little time, and made
a few thousands. This did not seem
so much when it was compared to the
tens of thousands that others were
making. He afterward had a saw
mill with Allen Hays over on moose
creek, and lived there the rest OF MS
days.
Thriving Town
When the stampede was proven TO
he something more than a wild dash,
the men began building cabins and
sawmills and blacksmith shops and
stores, and soon there was a thirty
ing little town, which they named
Red Mountain City. At the first
county election there were a thou
sand voters. The principal store
keepers were Charlie Wunderlich
and Rod Leggat and e. S. Stackpole.
Wunderlich had a blacksmith shop