Montana oil and mining journal., 1935-07-27

/. blocked Tom and his partner pulleS
on their boots and crawled out There
was no chance Of going around the
lumber on that narrow mountain roaS
and It would be a task TO find ths
horses in the dark. There was only one
thing TO do-and they did It. They
unhitched the horses Of the merry max
ers, lead them around the blockade
carried the girls through the mud tc
their loaded wagons and perched them
there while they took the boxes of
the spring wagons, carried them and
the wheels to where the horses were
and put the entire equipage together
again. Then they reloaded the girls,
whose escorts seemed rather helpless
in the face OF such high handed tactics.
and retreated to their beds when the
party left. The heavy wagons had been
pulled out of the mud and on their
way the next morning before the pleas
ure party returned.
George Evans, an old-time mining
and stock man, now residing at Suffolk,
worked at the Castle mine and at its
later neighbor, Copperopolis That part
Of the Milwaukee road called the Jaw
bone" Mr. Evans recalls, was first built
because the owners thought they could
make money houling ore from Castle.
The chief promoter, as all Montanans
know, was the man for whom Harlow
ton was named and while the Jawbone
didn't realize money it expected TO
make from Castle, central Montana
owes it a vote of thanks for opening
large wheat and stock territory which
hitherto had been divided, with much
Inconvenience to the residents between
the Great Northern and the Northern
Pacific railroads.
Mr.. Evans was the engineer OF the
freak mine Of Copperopolis Its ruins
are more easily accessible to the cu-
riOus than many others, since 1t lies
only little way off the main highway
between A1artinsdale and White Sui
phur Springs. 1t was - miles from
Castle and some Of the .dismantled ma
chinery In the older mine was used to
start the new mine.
Men named Bluett and Graham own
ed the mine, which showed rich ore
from the surface, but neither had any
capital to work It. They finally leas-
ed the property to three miners who
sank q shaft and took out ore which
brought them $4,000 clear.
OF course such find could not es-
cape the attention Of the Anaconda
people and Bluett and Graham leased
600. The three miners didn't seem to
care. They divided the $4,000 they
had made and went on "toot" which |
lasted In two cases until the money was |
gone and in the third case until the |
man was gone.
Copperopolis grew like q corn field /
on q July night. There were six Sa-
looms, which, says MIR. Evans, was |
sign Of prosperity. No self-respecttng |
miner would locate In a one or two sa- |
loon town If he could help himself. |
The Anaconda company started to |
work the mine Immediately. At the |
200-foot level they were taking out good |
paying ore, but the vein dipped sharp |
ly down and away from the drift so |
they decided to sink the shaft deeper
and drift out to meet the slant In the |
ore vein This was an expensive pro-
cess, but it was finally accomplished, /
only to have the engineers discover that /
the ore ran out just above where the
vein should have connected with the
new passage. A year had passed and,
there being no use to continue the mine,
the company forfeited the 100000 to
the owners and went on to newer fields.
Mining appears to have been as much
a gamble as farming.
Hidden in the heart Of a canyon in
the Little Belt mountains lie the ruins
Of the old mining town of Yogo. Most
people connect the name with blue
sapphires found there without realiz-
ing that another treasure CLEANED in
the tumbled rocks along this little
branch OF Judith river
Yogo was started in 1879, miners COM
Ing In from Fort Benton by way Of
Stanford and thence across the divide
into the headwaters Of the Judith. Min
ing In Yogo was all placer, or glIlch.
mining and the mother lode has not
been discovered to this day. One Of
the chief citizens Of Yogo was negresS,
Black Milly, or Niger AiIly, who ran
the hotel and worked side by side with
she men ON her various claims. She
was a negress who came up the Mis-
souri, by boat and drifted south from
Fort Benton with others Of her race.
She located several claims in the gulch
and named them all for presidents
There was the Garfield. the George
Washington and the jefferson among
1thers. The George Washington paid
.he most, but none OF the claims was !
syer worth a great deal Niger MiIly
Always said she would be the last man.
% leave the canyon tOwn-and she Was. I
She left to become an inmate Of the
sounfy poor farm.
@. g. David. Billy Babcock, and the |
Ekon brothers were among early miners 1
& XoRo Ia. stay on IN Judith basins All