The circle banner. [volume] (Circle, Mont.) 1914-1939, 1920-10-08
RED MOUNTAIN CITY, ONCE P0PUOUS RIVAL OF BUTTE CAMP
AND SCENE OF RICH PLACER STRIKES is NOW BUT MEMORY

In the summer of 1854 and 1865
the first placer mining was done III
Butte. The placer field was dowr
on Silver Bow creek and up toward
the old Butte TOWNSHIP, in the neigh
borhood of the present gas works
The oldest placer records mention
the Coleman, Crawford and Hum
phrey Discovery in Buffalo Gulch, y
in describing later placer claims,
These are not the first records, I'M
fortunately they are lost. From the
mention of this old ground" 1t is
known that the Coleman brothers
and William Crawford were prospect
ing in Butte as early as 1865.
Early Difficulties
The difficulty with early placer
work in Butte was that the good
claims were too far from water. 1t
necessitated the hauling of the good
dirt down to the creek to be washed
out. G. o. Humphrey, one of the
Butte discoveries, with his partner,
William Allison, determined to bring
in a ditch from Silver Bow creek,
from near its source above the pres
ent Meaderville. Many of the pros
pectors decided to wait until water
was brought in before they went on
with their placer work in Butte, and
in the meantime they turned their at
tention to finding new fields.
Early in the summer of 1866 ]. H.
S. and E. B. Coleman and William
Crawford went to Charlie Carver,
who had a store down ''in the dig
gings'' and asked him to grubstake
them so that they could go out into
the hills to prospect. This he did,
and they started out accompanied by
Tom Rutter, Den Parker and j. B.
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 $50 men
going out from Butte. Soon the
gulch was taken up for It's whole
length and operations were begun at
once. The result was marvellous.
The gold was found to be the richest
of any in Deer Lodge county, being
worth $40 an ounce. In very short
time the fame of the discovery spread
and there was a general stampede
from all the camps around.
The discoveries of Highland Gulch
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 records.
However, we do know that the Cole
mans went to the Black Hills during |
that stampede and discovered the /
mine.r These Coleman
brothers must not be confused with |
The Colemans Of Deer Lodge. The
latter were also in Red Mountain
City, but they did not arrive until the
stampede was in full swing.
Tom Rutter and Dan Parker stay
ID on in the Highlands during its
booming days. Afterward Mr.. Rut-
er was for a while in Butte and then
n Deer Lodge. He was a photo ;
,rapher. Mr.. Parker being we'll on
n the fifties was known as Uncle
Dan. He worked on the discovery I
lain for some little time, and made
few thousands. This did not seem
o much when it was compared to the
ems of thousands that others were
making. He afterward had a saw
nill with Allen Hays over on Moose ]
reek, and lived there the rest of his
avs.
Thriving Town
When the stampede was proven to
e something more than a wild dash,
he men began building cabins and
and blacksmith shops and
torres, and soon there was thriv-
ng little town, which they named
ted Mountain City. At the first !
ounty election there were a thou
and voters. The principal store
eepers were Charlie Wunderlich I
nd Rod Leggat and E. s. Stackpole. I
had a blacksmith shop !