Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1931-01-08
C0PPER0P0LDS' HGYDAY BEGAN DM 1900 w9E1 MARCUS DAILY
PURCHASED M0NIMG PROPERTY; ADVERSE CONDITIONS IN 1903
CLOSED THE MINES THEN THE TOWN BECAME A GHOST CITY
By GRACE STONE COATES)

~ n AAAA WV 1fASeA &NN
White Sulphur Springs, the Elec-
trio highway swings over the divide
that separates the head waters OF
Smith river from the North Fork Of
the Musselshell. Approaching from
the west, one sees the bills on either
side of the road pocked and pitted
with innumerable prospect holes. These
"gopher-holes" spill their red or yell
low or oxidized black rubble, bearing
witness to the energy with which
prospectors dug these barren hills for
copper.
Conspicuous to the left is the hoist
and dump of the old Northern Pacific
shaft, and Immediately below it is a
log cabin that marks the site of the
original Copperopolis stage station.
Passing this, one must look quickly
backward and to the right to catch a
glimpse, through a gap in the hills,
of the deserted new Copperopolis
whose heyday began in 1900. The town
lies in a swampy depression a quarter
of a mile from the road, hidden from
it by intervening knobs
The mines of Copperopolis were 10
Gated by j. E.. Hall and his partner,
Hawkins, in 1866. They took out sone
very rich ore, and sent it by pack
mules to the Missouri river, to be re-
shipped to Swansea, Wales, for smelt-
ing. This was the year before the
toWnsite of Butte was laid out to &C
commodate its 500 inhabitants, and ten
years before the ultimate owner of
Copperopolis, Marcus DAILY, was sent
from Salt Lake City by the Walker
brothers to find a good investment in
Butte. Hall made money on the cop
per he shipped. How much is a ques-
ton, but enough to make him hold his
claims until 1900, when he sold them
for 81 300.
Up to 1900 there had been plenty of
prospecting, and occasional shipping of
ore, but little significant development.
A John Blewitt worked for a year or
two in the late '90s, finding rich ore.
But ~Copperopolis was a thriving stage
station and little more. Stockmen were
crowding into the Musselshell valley
for its sheltered range and heavy win
ter feed, and there wa constant travel
between the county seat, White Sui
phur Springs, and the stage stations
to the east-Martinsdale, Big Timber,
Winnecook, and Ubet. In July, 1884,
there was sufficient stir in Copper
opolis to justify Mary Holiday in buy
ing Eliza SCOTS hotel and stage sta
ton, and paying $4,000 for it. She
operated it for several years, and made
money. But with all the prospecting
and intermittent mining, the cost Of
hauling ore from Copperopolis was
prohibitive until the "Jawbone" was
built into Martinsdale.
Then, in 1900, after Marcus DAILY had
acquired the property, w. W. Mcdowell,
thirty-three years old and energetic,
arrived with a bang to put Copper
opolis on the map.
He was a good promoter. He had
come to Montana in 1896, fresh from
association with Armour & Company in
Chicago, during the flamboyant Worlds
fair years; and at once assumed a
responsible position in Marcus Days
offices in Anaconda. Destined to become
president of numerous mining compan-
les, president of the senate, speaker Of
the house and lieutenant governor, he
already knew how to break down sales
resistance. He located a toWnsite and
offered a fine lot in the center of town
to any one who would start building
at once. BY the end of October, 1900,
there were five 6-horse teams hauling
ore from Copper town."
In a signed article printed in Max
Waterman's Meagher Republican, Oct.
26, MI. Mcdowell says Is buildings
were under construction in Copper
opolis the previous week: that the town
had been plated, and is men were
busy grading the streets and linking