The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1923-02-01
PASSING OF SILVER BOW
HOW NAME ORIGINATED
lNSEPARABLY CONNECTED WITH
5UTTE'S EARLY HISTORY
THE STORY.

, memory.
Changing conditions and modern
legislation often shatter hanoWeo ira
oIuons that are priceless heritages
The pioneers OF Silver Bow county
ana all others IN TINS community, Tor
that matter-cheush the name Oh
Snver BOW, says the Butte kvening
Post.
But the movement which has al
ready gained considerable Roadway
and which bids fair to become a law
IN the merging OF the city and coun-
~ governments Will obnterate the
name of silver Bow" as it applies to
the county. 1t is proposed in the
measure to call the district the city
and County OF Butte" Already the
measure has been introduced in the
upper and lower houses of the state
assembly and if the bill passes and is
then ratified by a vote OF the county
residents the name Silver Bow" as
applied to the county passes as "A vic
tim of governmental progress.
Many Legends Are Told.
While many are the legends told of
the origin of the name, both history
and tradition are united on the gener-
ally accepted version.
The name was first applied to the
creek that rises east of Butte and
which also bears the distinction OF
having its origin further east than
any of the thousands of streams whose
waters eventually reach the Pacific.
1t was back in the days of Ga, so
the pioneers state, that the creek was
named. According to Freemans |
Brief History OF Butte. the Worlds
Greatest Mining Camp" it came about
in this way:
In the summer of 1864 four pros
pectors, Budd Parker, p. Allison, and /
Joseph and James Eser, unmindful
of the rich discoveries the previous
year in Alder gulch at Virginia City
left that camp and pushed on across
the main range of the Rockies strik-
ing alluring placers along the banks
of Silver Bow creek 1t is worthy of
notice that Silver Bow ranks with /
Helena, or as was more Familiarity
known, Last Chance gulch, in point of |,
discovery as one of the pioneer min
ing settlements of the state, though
deposits. Bannack was easily the pio-
neer Of them all, followed closely by |,
Virginia City. they being located in
1862 and 1868. respectively.
THE point selected by these pros
Dectors is upon bend of the stream
which forms a perfect figure of a
gracefully curved Indian bow, and
rom the mountain peaks which sur
'ounded the valley, the glistening wa
ers of the Silver Bow, etched in a
sheen upon a dark groNnd
If furry grass, form a striking feature
If the landscape Thus was born the
lame of Silver Bow which name was d
-iven to both village and creek"
Quoting Captain Mills.
1.-THE History of Montana" publish
d in 1885, gives practically the same =
tory of how the name originated 1t !
uotes Captain Mills as having writ
EN- in Glover Leaves" in 1869 as fol- .
)ws: =
Never a prettier name was coined, -
nd it came of this. On the evening l.
f a cloudy day Of January, 1854, Bud
arker p. Allison, Joe and Jim Es-
sr, on prospecting trip. reached the el
icinity of the creek near Butte, and o.
discussion arose as to its name. AS Ell
lie argument went on, the clouds 81
,lled from the sun. it's bright glance II
IL on the waters sweeping in a al
-aceful curve around the base of the 81
ountains, furnishing them to bril- II
lncy as they clasped the vale in re
wv like silver. And so they named ne
10 falthest southeast waters that tr
ow through the Columbia to the sea. q
o them it was a land of beauty, of 10
'omise and Of profit" pI
Word was passed from prospector 81
prospector that gold and silver had
zen found along the creek and in a
iort time the camp of Silver Bow d'
ew The stampede brought the wv
oics of the mountains from all sec pc
ms. The footsteps of civilization Isl
ere heard. Prospecting was extend al
along the creek in either direction tn
ON Silver Bow. Two years later the We
tire creek channel to Butte was Ia
orked by a company of four or more pc
en- to every 2OO-foot claim.
The men lived mostly in tents, or
ush shanties adjoining their claims.
ley worked six days out Of the on
EEK and on the seventh went to ma
mp where gambling flourished and DO
srchants made their cleanups. slOme tn
the dance houses panned out more m'
an the richest placer. Wages were loi
and 81 a day IT
And in Later Days. tn
What is now Silver Bow coHntE re- an
lined a part of Deer Lodge county
til the spring of 1881. Silver Bow
IS the first seat of justice of Deer
dge county. It enjoyed that dis SUI
ction for only a short time, how tn
ar fo,. II IL racordad that the cOl1n- ed