Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1929-07-11

tainS east of Helena from York to
Confederate gulch has been richly
productive of gold. In an area about
20 miles long and five or six miles wide
nearly every gulch contains or did
contain profitable placer deposits. In
addition a considerable amount of gold
has been obtained from lodes, and a
continuing yield from that source is
to be expected.
During the gold rush period Q864-
1870 Confederate gulch became a syno-
nym for the ultimate in richness, and
Diamond City, its capital" was the
most celebrated boom town Of the gen.
eral region. Estimates of the amount
of gold produced vary widely, but the
extent Of the workings and the I'M
doubted richness of the deposits indi-
cate that $12, 000, 900 is not far from
the truth. The other gulches and the
terraces along the Missouri river to-
gether are estimated to have yielded
about So, 10000 more, and the total
placer production for the area consid-
cred is therefore about SIT, 500, 900. In
addition some new or incompletely
worked ground remains in several of
the gulches. In 1928 a deposit of that
description in Maybe gulch was being
opened by E. l.. Wall for drift mining.
In Confederate gulch as elsewhere
the early miners left more or less gold
in the poorer or less accessible parts
of the deposits. Not all of this gold
has been recovered, and placer mining
is still carried on. In 1923 M. O. Ellis
~ Sons were reopening a stretch Of
the main gulch below the former site
of Diamond City and E. B. Robson
was mining on a bar near the head
OF Cement gulch.
Collaborating lodes were discovered
soon after placer mining began. and
since then lode mining has been car
total production Of lode gold is esti-
mated to lie between $780, 900 and
$500, 900.
Geography and Geology
The area is occupied mostly by
ridges or lateral spurs composing the
southwest side of the Belt mountains.
These spurs separate narrow mountain
valleys or gulches that are from 1000
to 1000 feet or more deep. Their
blunt front ends rise abruptly along
a regular line at the northeast edge
Of the wide i-ntermountain lowland
known as Townsend valley. Viewed
from this lowland they appear as a
wall that is deeply notched by the
mountain streams. The rocks in view
are chiefly resistant limestone and
quartzlte, which present bold and
rugged Outcrops. Where it crosses
them each mountain valley is narrowed
to a rugged and picturesque gorge.
Back of this limestone belt, which in
cludes several formations of Paleozoic
age, are older rocks of shay and slaty
habits that compose part of a great
group known to biologists as the AL
gonkian Belt series. These rocks are
somewhat softer than the limestones.
and therefore the areas they occupy are
characterized by wider valleys and
smoother slopes. Along the mountain
front the rocks have been tilted until
they stand on edge. Farther back the
beds are less steeply inclined. Through
out the area the prevailing strike is
northwestWard, or parallel to the noun
tain front, and the dip mostly south
westward.
On the summit of the mountains
are many fiat areas that are remnants
OF a plainlike surface that once over
spread the whole area. This surface
was developed by erosion during a long
period OF time in which the region
was free from mountain building move
ments. It's destruction began with an
uplift Of the mass composing the pres
ent mountains, which caused the
streams to sink their channels and
eventually cut away most of the old
surface and replace it with the present
mountain valleys. The uplift and con-
sequent dOWncutting did not progress
steadily but were interrupted at certain
periods, during which the streams
yynrHnd 1oforo1lu onI ~~nI,,ooI Ro<c -
plains. Remnants of these flats that
escaped destruction when the down.
cutting was resumed now form terraces
at different heights. These remnants
include the bars" that have yielded
much of the placer gold.
At n OF the earlier OF these ter
race stages a wide alley that extended
from the vicinity Of York northwest
ward to Beaver creek was developed
in the shaly rocks just back of the
limestone belt. This valley was later
completely abandoned by its stream or
streams, and all that now remains of
it are the wide fats on the divides
north and south Of Trout creek at
York and on other divides farther
northwest. The development of this
valley was probably associated with
the superficial enrichment of certain
gold lOdeS that lay beneath its floor.
Igneous rocks in the York onfeder-
ate Gulch area consist mostly Of bikes
and small stocks. bikes of a dark
greenish-gray rock classified as quartz
diOrite break up through the tilted
Belt shales along a nearly straight line
that extends from the vicinity Of York
eastward. These bodies are collectively
called the York group of bikes, and
the westermost, which crops out on
the ridge north of Trout creek at York,
is called the Golden Messenger dixie,
from a well-known mine within it.
Other igneous masses that are of
particular interest because of their as
ISOLATION with gold-bearing lodes are
two small quartz diorite stocks-both
in the Confederate Gulch drainage
area. One is at the head of Montana
gulch and the other on Norris hill, a
ridge that forms the north side of Con-
federate gulch at the mouth Of Boulder
creek. These rocks, though similar in
general composition to the bikes
described, are in general appearance
more like ordinary granite.
LOdes
The area contains two groups of
lodes, one of which is valuable for gold
and the other for copper. Most of the
known go~ld-bearing lodes are found in
the vicinity of York and in two small
areas in the Confederate Gulch dis