Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1932-08-11
Schools ion Placer
Miners Draw $50

BUTTE-Hundreds of Montanans
have attended schools for placer
miners conduete5 in Great Falls and
Helena by Prof. Oscar A. Dingman,
expert frem the State Bureau OF
Mines and Geology.
Professor Dingman has returned
to his office in the Montana school
Of Mines in Butte, where he is keep
busy answering the queries OF plac-
err miners working Treasure State
ground. He is enthusiastic about
the interest in gold mining being
shown throughout the state.
Six hunderd men, women and
children registered for the school
{. INDICTED in Great Falls under the
auspices of the Cosmopolitan Club
an 15g attended the classes given
in Helena under the sponsorship of
he Helena Commercial Club. In
both instances the number far ex-
eeeded expeettatiens.
Professor Dingman began each
cour.e with lectures, at which he
exhibited ar paratus for placer min
ing tApldiltu Siildil-StdiS Hhlillih6
mesll.ds, interpreted mining law and
aneNgfed cue items. Following the
Classroom work. the placer sud
tnts we're taken TO convenient spots
hero the profe scr Illustrated pan
nifg, use Of the rocker, the con-
.. nct on. # sluice boxes and many
points Ct actual mining.
In Great Falls the practical work
va q ndueted on The banks OF the
Missouri an in Helena it took place
feaw the Great Nothern station in
ihmeus Last Chance gulch, where
o1aer generations of miners pr9duc-
ed millions Of dollars worth Of pla-
cer geld.
Merchants or organizations in
both cities provided pans for stud
IN instruction, lumber for the
sluice boxes and other material. In
Great Fall Professor Dingman salt
cd the dirt with small quantities OF
gold dust to give the students OPP
%portunity to actually see the "coi-
orsh after their W panning. In
Helena a prospector brought a sack
of geld ore to the creek to be Planned
and the students found themselves
working with real fspay dirt"
Professor Dingman told his stu
dents that he had time to teach
them only fundamentals and warn
ed them that diligent labor on the
creeks and bars would profit them
probably only a few cents a day in
H3ld.
He was asked a continual bar
rage Of questions. He was button.
holed in hotel Hobbies, on the street
and before and after his lectures by
persons earnestly desiring informa-
ton on their own placer-mining
problems.
Professor Dingman is author of
the State Bureau of Mines and
Geology memoir No. 5, placer
Mining Possibilities in Montana
The first issue Of 1000 copies was
exhausted within a few days of pub
l~ication and q reprinted edition is to
be issued.
The success of the placer-mining
schools in Great Falls and Helena
has 50 interested civic organizations
in other Montana Cities that they
are endeavoring to promote similar
nlasses under H1ofesspr Ding1nan's
direction for miners in their own
vicinities.
Professor Dingman's informal but
forceful lectures and his robust per-
sonality appealed to his placer-min
ing students. He il the son of a pio-
neer Colorado gold miner, was gra-
duated in mining engineering from
the University of Kansas, worked
throughout West and in Central
America as a mining engineer and
has been a member of the Montana
School Of Mines faculty for the past
five years.
During the war he was an in
structor of engineers and now holds
a majors commission in the reserve
corps. He is a past commander OF
American Legion, Silver Bow Post
No. | and has long been interested
in Boy Scout work.