Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1931-08-06

(BY SID STODDARD)

Gu DcLiiiS LcdIy W uiSCOAtiiluC thC
profitable vocation of freighter and
take a chance on striking it rich.
He was in the act of hitching up his
horses at Alder Gulch, one Of Mon
tana's greatest early day gold camps
and starting for Salt Lake after a
load of supplies, when Doc WernOck
called his attention to some ore speci-
mems he had been asked to assay.
Doc Wernock was then engaged in the
drug business at Alder Gulch, and
when not compromising prescriptions
and dispensing pills, did assay work
for the miners, using an ordinary
blow pipe for the purpose.
The specimens had been brought to
him by two prospectors named Allison
and HUMPHREYS, who had left Alder
Gulch in the early summer Of 1864, to
push their way across the main range
Of the Rocky mountains and had struck
promising placer digging On Silver Bow
creek.
Like many other pioneer prospectors,
Allison and HUMPHREYS were lot con
tent when they found themselves on
the gold-yielding Alder to accept the
chances of wealth offered in a camp
already discovered. The unopened
gulch claims might contain, as indeed
they did, millions in treasure. But the
possibilities of the territory beyond
the range were depicted in such glow
ing tints in the imagination of the
prospectors that the charm of striking
out over untrodden hills and being the
first to lead the way to gold treasures,
as yet undiscovered, proved so irresis-
tible that many of the more energetic
turned aside from the certainty of mod
crate fortune to take the chance of
striking it big" in some of the unex-
plored wilderness to the west. Allison
and HUMPHREYS belonged to this class.
Arguing from experience, they main
tanned no gold-producing county was
ever known to contain but two streams
where placers would pay for working,
n this experience was found to be a
safe guide in estimating the extent of
Montana mines.
After locating on Silver Bow creek
in the vicinity of the present town of
that name, and stalking out claims, Al
lison and HUMPHREYS continued to
prospect toward the head of the creek
and struck what they considered a
find in Babboon gulch. After devel-
oping their claim for about a month
they began to run short of provisions.
Taking specimens of their ore, they
started for Virginia City after sup
plies, and in passing through Alder
Gulch, left the ore with Wernock. It
was while the samples were in the pos
session of Wernock that Leary first
saw them.
While Leary was second to none as
a freighter, hOrSeman and frontierman,
his knowledge Of minerals was limited.
The specimens impressed him greatly,
but to make certain Of their values, he
confided in an intimate acquaintance
This friend, Frank La Pierre, had CON
siderable experience in prospecting and
mining, He inspected the samples, and
like Leary, was also impressed.
In early days the movements of ev-
cry proSpector suspected of having
struck it" were closely watched, and Al
lison and HUMPHREYS were no excep-
lions. When they set out on their re-
turn to the new Ell Dorado, the sharp
eyes of a plainsman trailed them
through the gulches, over prairies and
across mountains. Finally their secret
became his. That person was Dennis
Leary.
BY fall the news of the find on Silver
Bow creek had leaked out, and in view
of the number of miners and adventur-
ers it attracted a mining district was
formed. Three years later a township
was laid out, which today marks the
site of Butte, Montana's metropolis, and
known internationally in mining circles
as THE Richest Hill In The World"
Shortly after Leary took up the voca-
ton of placer miner he was joined by
La Pierre, whose mining experience
proved a great asset. Both had &C
quired a fair sized stake before the
winter set in.
During the first summer Of its exis-
tence, not a single case of law infrac-
ton was reported in the little mining
camp. Without exception the early
Corners were honest prospectors and
frontiermen, attracted to the spot in
hopes Of digging a fortune from the
bowels of Mother Earth. Success had
crowned the efforts of many and when
the snow of winter made it impossible
for them to work their claims to advan-
tage, they denned up in their cabins to
await the advent of spring and another
season of activity.
But when the breath of spring had
banished the frost from the mountain
gulches, and the grouse in the timber
had started mating, many new faces
began to make their appearance along
the banks of Silver Bow. Before the
second summer was half gone n OF
the miners reported someone had locat-
ed his cache and appropriated his poke
of gold dust. 1t wasn't long before
others had the same experience, among
them Mr.. La Pierre who lost a poke
containing approximately 81 100 in dust
and nuggets. Among the latter was
an disappearing azurite specimen, rich
in gold.
The frequency of the thefts soon ha6
the camp in a turmoil. Who is the
theft" was the question on every man.
tongue. In such a small community
far from the outposts of civilization, i
was only natural that the inhabitant.
became suspicious of n another
Neighborly feeling began to vanish ant
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