The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1922-02-23

I of this party was Stanley, who dice
at his home in England in the fal
of 1914.
The fifth discovery. was in Emf
grant Gulch, Yellowstone Valley
j where gold was found in paying
quantities by David R. Shorthill
Frank Garrett and myself August
80, 1864, forty-five days after Last
Chance was discovered.
These were the first widely sonar
ated and distinct mining camps, and
not local to each other, where gold
was discovered before September /.
1854.
A Few Stories Untold
The stories of these early argo-
nauts in Montana have been told in
print too often to bear repetition, but
there are a few incidents that hap
pened in those days that have not
been published. One of them, which
had it's humorous side, concerns the
naming of Cinnabar Mountain.
When Captain Clark crossed over
from the Gallatin Valley to the yell
lowstone on the return journey from
the coast in 1906, he camped on the
evening of July 18th nea where Liv-
ingston now stands. Seeing the lofty
range on the east side of the valley,
he named it the Snowy Mountains,
but now it is known as the Absaroka
range. Across the valley, on the
western side, is another range of
mountains, one of the peaks of which
is called Cinnabar Mountain. 1t is
with this peak that my story has to
do.
When the new reached Virginia
City and the Gallatin Valley that
Shorthill had struck a rich gulch on
the Yellowstone Valley, a big STAN
pede of gold seekers followed. There
had been some prospecting done low
er down, but no gold in paying guam
titles had been taken out. 1t was the
luck of Shorthill, Garrett and I to
discover the rich diggings several
miles up Emigrant Gulch. Shorthill
worked all that summer on Claim No.
20 above discovery, and took out a
lot of gold. Down on Yellowstone
river a new town was laid out that
was called Yellowstone City. More
than fifty houses were built-all log
cabins, and quite a town sprung up
during the winter of ~1864-65.
The Strike of "Cinnabar''
Living in a cabin in the lower
end of town were two brothers,
Charles and James Soule, who had
tried unsuccessfully to get down to
bedrock in the lower, or Curry, dis
trict of Emigrant Gulch, and who to-
ward summer struck out in the hills
prospecting. Following up the river
a point near the northern boun-
dairy of Yellowstone park, they found
on a mountain-side a red-colored
rock which they imagined was CHINA
bar ore. They kept the discovery to
themselves during the summer, but
winter, after stalking claims
for themselves, they took samples
struck out on their horses for
Virginia City, then the booming met
of Alder Gulch. There they
announced that they had made a
great quartz strike and offered to
out claims for others at 500
They offered to take pay in
sold dust, grub or mining tools and
upplies, explaining that it would be
to drive a tunnel into the
1OulIdlI " Tap d UOoy VI IlCu OIS,
n whichsthey expected to find quick
liver.
Meanwhile, back in Emigrant
the miners had all ceased their
York for the season of 1855 in Short
Ills district, as the winter had set
4 on October 26 with a heavy freeze.
hey had packed their blankets and
outfits down to Yellowstone
ity, and were settling down to a
uiet winter when, on November l.,
bout dark, the camp was aroused by
orsemen riding it. 1t was the Soule
rothers with mail from Virginia City
nd their pack horses laden with
rovisions, tools, powder, etc. They
len explained to the miners that
had during the past summer
'und a big lode of cinnabar ore up
le valley on the west side of the
yer, and that they had sold seven
aims to Virginia City people. They
i'd they were going to drive a tun-
Il into the mountain.
Their story caused a little excite
ent, and the next morning an Irish
Iker, William Mcdonnell, came to
y cabin to ask what I thought about
e cinnabar discovery of the Soules.
told him / knew nothing about Gin
Lbar ore, but that l did not take
~ stock in this "strike," as the
mples they had showed looked like
d rock underlying hard coal forma-
ms / had seen in Pennsylvania,
d also certain soft coal beds.
The Quicksilver Mine
"Well," said Mcdonnell, "they tell
? that when they get their tunnel
where the ore is rich, the quick
yer will seep through the rock, and
forming a basin in the bottom of
tunnel, it will collect so that they
dip it out with a cup"
told Mcdonnell that I would want
see this before I believed it, and
said that if 1 didn't stake a claim
the cinnabar lode, he didn't want
Y either.
There was a good deal of fun in
City over the Soule's
ming enterprise, and I don't think
Y of the boys there took claims.
O Cn11Jac rranf o1on~ ,,r - +Io;u