Red Lodge daily news combined with Carbon County news., 1934-11-21
BY GEORGE VAIL STEEP

MIA Mining council. a clearing
house for western mines with of
fees at New York City, San Fran
cisco and Los Angeles. For some
time he has been engaged in max
ing a thorough-going study of the
Cooke City region and his obser-
~vations are graphically set forth
in the following article.
"Topsyturvydom and the New
Deal in Mining" would be the sort
of title given to a drama of the
New World mining district around
Cooke, Mont, if the story were
being written in Hollywood; and
some of Hollywood's far-sighted
directors might we'll look at this
queer community at the northeast
corner of Yellowstone park for the
melodramatic factors for a real
western.
Gold is being taken out of the
Beartooth mountains around
Cooke. taken out in quantities
which make the casual observer
thrill in establishment, but the
strangest factor is not hat gold
is being taken out, for gold has
been taken out in hundreds of
western camps, but in the fact
that gold is being taken out of
supposedly and apparently barren
rock and earth; taken out of shale
and limestone and tale which, by
all prior experience, should be abb
solutely sterile.
One claim, the former Melrose,
now called the Melissa, and be-
longing to Walter McLaren, of
Dayton, Ohio, over a continuous
shipping period of a year, showed
average smelter returns of $83 a
ton and that value was taken out
of materials that experienced min
ers have always thrown on the
dump. In fact, areas have been
ignored or abandoned solely be-
cause of the fact that this ma
terial appeared to predominant
Hundreds of claims in this area
show exactly the same formation
and assay values from a few dol
lars up to hundreds of dollars +;
ton. The ownership of these claims
l. uvidaIxy Distributed
That is the reason that thi
camp has been called "Topsy
turvydom". Gold in great quaint
tiles is being found where no gol
ever before was supposed to be
And there are literally mountain
of this material around Cooke, sub
ject to open-pit or steam-shove
mining.
That is the first factor in tn
drama. The second factor, equal
unusual, is a negative one. Cook
is a typical, mining ."boom" CAM
rough and primitive, and yet Their
is not a single stock promoter, nc
a single claim trader, not a sign 0
a promotion scheme in the Who'll
area. Who ever heard tell of sue
a condition around a boom camp
Truly, the "New Deal' is express
ing itself in mining, for Cooke j
a strictly development camp, op
Grated by the soberest type of bus
mess men. Walter McLaren, tn
most conspicuous operator in tn
area, il an ex-auditor. His princi
pal associates are George F. Jima
son, formerly a surveyor, and I
e. White, a machinery salesman
This is the type of men to b.
found from one end of the CAM
to the other and wherever ont
goes the unacceptable word i
Nothing to SELF.
Let the Hollywood director seel
where he will among the hundred
of old camps in the west and his
tory will show him that this con
dition never existed before. Ye'
this is a typical mining camp with
its ramshackle old buildings o.
another day, log cabins, tents, sa
looms, gambling and dance halls
The single, broad street sweeps
up the valley of Soda Butte creek
with silver mines on one side anC
gold mines on the other.
The oldest operating company
in the district is the Republic
Mining company on Republic
mountain, reputed to have taker
$4,000 profit from 1900 tons Of
ore. The Little Daisy mine is re.
ported to be the bonanza location
of the camp, claiming ore running
$4,000 a ton, and having an OLE
stamp mill. The Atlantic and Pa
cific Oil company, belonging t
the John Hays Hammond inter
ests, is operating 80 claims. TIL
Ell Dorado Syndicate, headed b.
John Robertson of Denver, has 81
claims and is erecting a mill. TIL
Montalaska company, having II
claims, is headed by George +
Jimason, with whom are associat
ed T. E. White and Robert X. Sta
ley of Casper. Walter McLaren
operating extensive properties ir
dependently and has a new fifty
Ston Nicht C.Ouohing