The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1936-11-13

That part Of Montana which is
now Beaverhead county was b
scene Of the first quartz mining
operations in the state. The terri
t0ry's first stamp mill and first
smelter were erected there as a re-
dering owe nearly every other
mining section of the country still
panning the streams for placer gold,
the miners in the Beaverhead eOun-
try were using hammer and drill
and powder to break down the ore
which was either crushed in the
stamp mill or treated in the
smelters, according to its require
ments.
It was not directly in the Beaver
head country that the first sapphires
were found in Montana, but not so
far from there-it was on the West
Gallatin river. The mar who found
them, however. marked the spot and
left the treasure, thinking to return
to it at a later day. He wa never able
to find it again. That a probably
Montana's first lost" mine.
The first stamp mill vas a primitive
affair, mostly, homemade and the idea
of an enterprising millwright named
Allen.
A Mill Much Needed
The mill was built to fill a need. The
SOOO P1aCCA 6AOuA1O LII LIN oV1CCk1lo VI
that section was occupied. Miners had
located many mineralized Lodges. In
the Bannack region ON of these were
of decomposed rock easily crushed.
There the miners had followed the
practice of hauling such rock down
the mountain on a stone boat to the
creek, breaking it into small pieces and
they did gravel.
The Beaverhead country was widely
and favorably known among early-day
traders and trapperS who frequented
Montana. Hudson's Bay men visited it
more than 100 years ago. They knew it
as a country with plenty of water,
plenty of timber, lots of game and fur
ter.
When Granville Stuart, his brother
James, and Reece Anderson accom-
panied Jake Meek there in the winter
of 1857, they were looking for just that
- good place to winter. They had
started east from California, but were
Granville. BY the time he had recov-
cred sufficiently to travel, the Nor
mons under Brigham Young were hav-
ing trouble with the United States
troops and the Stuarts and Anderson,
unable to travel east because of the
traffic regulations Brigham Young had
ldlO OOWu, GOOk Lllc 1ISG OppOIGu1l1Cy
offered to get out of the country.
It led them into the Beaverhead Sec
ton. Meek, a Hudson's Bay trader and
mail carrier, was familiar with it; had
wintered there before. When they ar
rived, they found numerous other trap
pers already there. None of them, how
yer, had ever sought gold in that re-
gion, or at least had never found it.
~.-A.Halfbreed;s- Gold Is Found
Granville Stuart in his memoirs
makes no mention even Of looking for
gold in the Big Hole country, although.
he had in mind at the time the idea
of investigating the report that a Red
river halfbreed named BenetSee had
found gold float somewhere on the
Deer Lodge river in 1852. He passed
through the Beaverhead country and
in 1858 confirmed Benetsee's report by
the discovery of gold on Gold creek.
The rush of prospectors during the
next few years brought the Beaverhead
country under the picks of the throng,
and pay quartz ore was discovered. So
there had to be a stamp mill.
Allen made his mill from wood and
steel, the wood obtained from the
tongues and wheels, mostly, Of old dis
carded Murphy" %freighting wagons,
and the steel from their tires. The
Murphy wagons had tires about four
inches wide and two inches thick,
fitting shoes for the cumbersome We