The Powder River County examiner and the Broadus independent. [volume] (Broadus, Mont.) 1919-1935, 1922-07-14

0VoE eAuCe tue llrSt SQuare-lOeO
savage, back in the abysmal dark
ness of the childhood OF the race.
picked up gold nugget from the bed
OF prehistoric stream. bored hole
In 1t with his stone piercing awl and
hung It, as an amulet. around his
neck, suspended from a piece of ten
don-extracted from the leg of his
chief source of meat supply, the wild
horse-the hunt for metals, precious
and otherwise, has occupied a prom
inent part in the lives of the people
of almost every race.
There Is a fascination about the
hunt for precious metals that few
can resist. When the Mormons first
settled in Utah. Brigham Young
found 1t advisable, as head of the
church and successor of Joseph
Smith, Goods anointed,' to forbid
his people to seek for precious met
ais. The Wasatch mountains lay
temptingly near.
The command of the president was
obeyed only because disobedience
would mean the cutting off of sup
plies among the faithful, with no
other source to draw on short of
Omaha or San Francisco.
When the Gentfles came the Nor
mon quickly forgot that mining was
unlawful and Joined in the gold rush
quite as eagerly as his unregenerate
brothers. Young's command was
prompted by the belief that his peo-
pie, given free rein, would neglect
farming for prospecting - and his
colony would starve, as a result.
Gold Did It
While the fur hunter explored the
west, it was the gold seeker who
made it populous. A bit of yellow
metal picked up by an ignorant la
borer beside the mill of Jacob SUIT
ter, Swiss adventurer and gentle
man of fortune. started the rush
which wrested the Bear state from
the Dons.
It was the gold of Alder gulch,
Bannack, Virginia City and Last
Chance which brought the thousands
INTO this state to fill the valleys with
glittering towns, fat farms and or
chards the prairies with lowing herds
Of cattle and the hills with quartz
mine shafts and mills.
It was the gold in the Black Hills
that caused the white man to violate
treaty obligations with the Indian,
brave the dangers of death by tor
ture, starvation and thirst, pouring
in across what was in those days
known as the Great American desert
in such numbers that they ultimately
conquered and drove out the fierce,
brave and numerous nation Of Sioux
Indians.
Although gold is a tombstone that
turns wilderness into garden,
sends men scurrying like flies to the
perpetual SHOWS of Alaska or the per-
petual tr0pic heat of the Congo, to
Australia or Siberia, Nevada or Ma
laysia, It occupies but a puny place
among the riches dug from the breast
Of mother earth.
States in 1920 was only $49,5O9,4OO.
The wheat output for the same period
was $1,135.806,0OO while King Corn
showed a bank surplus of $2,189,-
721.o00. Gold is sadly outdistanced
among the mineral products. Petro-
leum, as an illustration, brought in
the amazing sum Of $1,36O,OOO,O 900
in 1920. Silver production amounted
to $57.420.325, or nearly 100000
more than did the gold production,
while copper brought more than
$222,000.000.
In 1875 two New Workers, Edward
and Michael A. Hickey, set their To-
cation stakes on tree-clad hill over
looking Butte. One claim they nam
ed the Anaconda" in recollection of
General Grants bulletin during the
siege Of vicksburg in which he stat
ed that the federal army was grip
ping Lees forces "as within the folds
Of ar anaconda
Another they named the "St. Law
renee" in memory of their birth
place. st. Lawrence county, and a
third they named New York." out
Of compliment to their native state.
The first two locations mentioned,
along with others. made by those who
were attracted or encouraged to con.
tinue by them havc already added
the stupendous sum Of $1,75O,0OO,-
900 to the nations wealth since that
October morning in 1875. and Butte
hill lis just getting good.'
They Built Cities
These Butte mines have built three