The Wolf Point herald., 1922-07-06

Ever since the first square-toed
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 it with his stone piercing awl and
hung it, as an amulet, around his
neck, suspended from 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 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 it 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 Gentiles came the Nor
mon quickly forgot that mining was
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 result.
Gold Did 1t
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
Dorer beside the mill of Jacob SUIT
.er, a Swiss adventurer and gentle
man of fortune, started the rush
which wrested the Bear state from
he Dons.
1t was the gold of Alder gulch
3annack, Virginia City and Last
Chance which brought the thousands
nto this state to fill the valleys with
differing towns, fat farms and or
;hards the prairies with lowing herds
If cattle and the hills with quartz
nine shafts and mills.
1t was the gold in the Black Hills
hat caused the white man to violate
reaty obligations with the Indian,
rave the dangers of death by tor
ure, starvation and thirst, pouring
n across what was in those days
nown as the Great American desert =
n such numbers that they ultimately {
onquered and drove out the fierce, {
rave and numerous nation of Sioux {
ndians g
Although gold is tOuchstone that e
urns wilderness into garden, L
ends men scurrying like flies to the
erpetual SHOWS of Alaska or the per- b
etual tropic heat of the Congo, to b
ustralia or Siberia, Nevada or Ma D
lysia, it occupies but puny place @
mong the riches dug from the breast Z
mother earth. C
The output of gold in the United Il
tates in 1920 was only $40 500, 400. g
he wheat output for the same period
as 81, 5000 while King Corn 90
lowed a bank surplus of S2,189,- S
$1,000. Gold is sadly outdistanced
nong the mineral products. Petro- k
um, as an illustration, brought in II
e amazing sum of $1,360, 900, 900 k
1920. Silver production amounted
$57,42O,325, or nearly s8,000,000
ore than did the gold production, :,
hile copper brought more than -
100000. -
In 1875 two New Workers, Edward
ID Michael A. Hickey, set their To-
tion stakes on a tree-clad hill over
oking Butte. One claim they nam
the anaconda" in recollection of
,neral Grants bulletin during the
sge of Vicksburg in which he stat
that the federal army was grip
ng Lees forces "as within the folds
ar anaconda"
Another they named the "St. Law
nce," in memory of their birth
ace, st. Lawrence county, and
Ird they named New York" out
compliment to their native state.
The first two locations mentioned,
ing with others, made by those who
re attracted or encouraged to con-
ue by them have already added
} stupendous sum of $1,750,
to the nations wealth since that
tober morning in 1875, and Butte
s'is just getting good"
They Built Cities
These Butte mines have built three