The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1936-07-24

school teacher IN Missouri, and a miner
in Colorado before he drove an OK team
night of his arrival in Bannack he
joined a stampede to Horse Prairie.
There he secured a claim which he
operated quite successfully, earning
his first thousand dollars-the thou
sand dollars which was destined to
become the foundation of the vast Clark
fortune. Upon the approach OF win VIM
went to Salt Lake City where he bought
a supply of provisions, selling them at
twice their cost or his return to Ban
mack. Spring found him mining again.
That fall he sold his claims, Travelled
once more to Salt Lake City, and
to Virginia City, when in its best days.
Food was scarce in Virginia City that
winter and as a merchant Clark was
able to name his own price for his
groceries. He went into the general
store business at Blackfoot, then a
new mining camp. a the present
site of Avon, in Powell county; En-
Rockies through the Mullan Pass, in
the first stagecoach to traverse the
new Mullan military road.
In the fall of 1865, ever on the alert
to turn a good deal, William A. Clark
discovered that the markets of Mon
tana were short of tobacco supplies. He
sold his Blackfoot store, rode horse.
several thousand pounds Of tobacco.
The tobacco supply he took back to
Montana, selling it in Helena at from
four to six dollars q pound. Thus n
Clark fortune grew as h young busl-
ness nan continued to buy cheap and
sell at boom prices. In 1868 Clark
formed a partnership with D: w. Don
nall q riNroor V,oorohor nj If Door 1n6pa
and Virginia City, and together they
prospered. In 1869 they opened a bank
in Deer Lodge and moved their stocks
there. A few months later S.. E.. Larabie
entered the firm.
It was in 1872 that Clark turned his
attention to Butte. He opened a branch
bank there n purchased an interest
in the Original, Colusa, Mountain Chief
and Gambetta mines. The following
winter he spent studying at the
School of Mines, Columbia University,
learning how to assay. What he learned
at Columbia gave him faith in Butte's
future and in 1873 and 1874 he began
the exploration of the Colusa and
Gambetta, shipping his ore by freight
to San Francisco and Baltimore. When
William Farlin discovered silver in
Butte Hill in 1874 William A. Clark
was in on the ground floor and his
career as a mining magnate began in
earnest. He completed the first sue
cessful silver mill in the district-the
Dexter, which began operations in the
spring of 1876. In 1877 he received a
commission from Governor Potts. Ter
ritorial executive, and rode the 40
miles to Deer Lodge on horseback in
three hours to recruit $50 men to
help General Gibbon turn back the
Me- Perces in the Big Hole country.
One of Clark's fellow workers in the
Big Hole skirmiSh was Marcus DAILY,
who was destined to become Clark's
chief rival for industrial and political
supremacy in Butte.
Clark continued as a banker in Butte
and his firm successfully weathered the
panic Of 1893, for every dollar of the
millions he had made in the mines and
smelters of Butte was behind that
private bank in a city of less than
$4,000 people. One financial writer has
written: 1T is doubtful whether any
bank IN this country, not excluding the
firm of J. p. Morgan & Co., has such
immense resources behind it,"
Marcus DAILY, Clark's great rival, ar
rived in Butte in 1875 as a representa-
tive OF a Salt Lake banking firm. He
had earned a reputation as a shrewd
Judge OF silver properties and the Salt
Lake City bankers wished to make
what they could from the silver ex-
cltement IN Butte. DAILY wa a former
emp!oye Of the Hearst interests in the
fabulous Comstock Lode country of
Neyads. Upon his arrival in Butte he
optloned the Alice mine for 5000. re-
ceiving q small interest In the prop
eIty 1or himself. He built a mill and
soon n Alice was such a booming