The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1921-02-17
ENDS 50-YEAR SEARCH FOR MOTHER LODE
OF RICHEST PLACER D0GG0MGS EVER FOUND

Last week there passed away at
the age of 81 George Brandt, the
last survivor of the host of fortune
seekers who in the middle COS in
yaded Confederate Culch, the rich
est gold diggings ever discovered on
earth, and remained there after the
gulch had been worked out and
abandoned, searching fruitlessly for
new gold deposits that ever evaded
1.-THE pick and pan of the prospector.
For more than SO years Brandt had
lived in his log cabin on top of the
Diamond Divide, overlooking Dia-
mond City. Long years ago the last
of his comrades who came with him
into that land of promise had packed
their outfits and pulled out for other
fields. Newcomers, lured by the
chance that rich dirt had been over
looked in some of the gulches that
run into Confederate, appeared in
Diamond City, prospected the hills
for awhile for dust Or quartz, and
departed. Old Diamond City, hope
full in it's day of becoming the great
est mining metropolis of the west,
was in time invaded by Cinnamon,
who worked over the tailings of the
d~UdlQOuOu SldlulO. hOys lOO, at
length, passed away from the gulch,
but in his cabin perched up on the
divide above the gulch, Brandt re-
manned, through long, bitter winters,
seasons of sweltering heat, and en-
chanted Indian summer days of many
Montana autumns. For years he
never lost hope that soon he would
strike a mother lode of shining gold
that had fed the placer diggings.
Then, as time passed and his hair
turned gray and grayer, the finding
of wealth seemed less important to
him. He continued to live in his old
cabin because it was his home and
he knew no other. The hills were his
friends, and he knew every foot of
them for miles around. The gulch
below, SCARED and scanned by dec
AIDES of mining, and the weatherbeat-
en- old buildings, that once held
throngs of eager gold seekers, had
for him a host of memories. He had
no desire to go elsewhere. He had
lived most of his life there and it was
a good enough place to die in.
Came From Denmark
Brandt was born in Denmark and
came to America in 1864. Two years
later he made the trip up the Mis-
souri, river to Fort Benton and across
to Diamond City. In the 81 years he
lived on the summit of the range
he was a character known to many
travellers who passed that way. He
had a quaint manner, and when ask
ed concerning road directions, would
reply: "Well, don't know as / could
say. Only been here so years and
haven't had much chance to look
around yet"
Old Diamond City is located some
35 miles east of Helena. Half a en-
fury ago, when Brandt got there, it
was as we'll known as Virginia City,
Bannack or Helena, and was con-
sidered an incomparably better camp
than Butte. No Montana mining
town ever rose to prominence with
a greater rush than did Diamond City
or sank into oblivion so quickly. One
day in the COS a heavily laden
freight outfit pulled away from it's
with two and one-quarter tons
of gold dust, valued at $500, 600, the
cleanup of one short seasons work
four men on the famous Montana
Bar.
Struck in 1864
Confederate Gulch was discovered
in 1854 and during the fall of that
year and the spring of 1855 pros
p~ectors thronged there and the vicin-
ity was extensively mined by men
who had come up from the Idaho and
California placer fields. The rich
of the pay dirt in Confederate
Gulch was the sensation of the Mon
gold camps. AS high as $3.50
in gold to a a was obtained. Mon
ANA bar, situated above Confederate !
and consisting of a foothill of .
two acres, was richer than the main :
gulch. When the first cleanup was !
made on hat bar the fumes were 5
found to be clogged with gold by the !
hundredweight. When bedrock on /.
I