Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1936-05-23
LONE PROSPECTOR
AT HIGHLANDS
LOVED LIVELY GOLD CAMP IN IT'S
HELDEY, AND is STILL FAITH
Full, REFUSING TO LEAVE


South Of Butte, and plainly Wis
ibIe for all their distance of about
30 miles, lie the Highland noun
tains recumbent under their cover
ing Of snOw-"three old men In a
bed" the fairy minded call them
At their feet, now almost forgotten,
was once a great gold mining camp
great in a country that has
known its LeadvilIe, its COmstOck
and B0die, its Creole and Cripple
Greek, its Bannack and Alder
Gulch. It produced millions and had
= glorious but a brief life. An APP
probation Of the famous old min
ing camp appeared in a Butte pa
per Of 1885. IL reads, in part:
Eighteen years ago Highland was
one of the richest, liveliest and most
prosperous mining camps that had ever
been struck in the great west. Eighteen
short years ago most Of the people who
then lived in Butte did their trading
In Highland What changes has Time
wrought. Among the Butte men who
once claimed Highland for their home
are Rod D. Leggat, Joe M. Venable
Frank Beck and William Owsley. Then
there was Green Campbell Of Salt
Lake City, J. g. Kerley, one of the
founders of the Independent, Profess
sor Swallow, its editor. Billy Todd and
M. A. Flanagan of Fort Benton, z. S.
Stackpole, Lou Coleman and j. E
Dickey of Deer Lodge.
Busy Camp
@In the heyday Of its prosperity
Highland had IA stores, as many sa-
looms, dozen boarding houses, three
big hurdy-gurdy houseS-one was run
by John Becky-and other places Of
business. It was an enterprising town
surrounded by rich mines and popu-
lated by an enterprising. energetic
people.
''They mined, voted. purchased goods
and gave balls and parties on heroic
plan. John H. Ming shipped in "a tons
citing elections / 300 votes were cast.
It was nothing for one Of their grand
balls to run two days and nights.
Cleared Road
"On one occasion Rod D. Leggat was
placed at the head Of the arrangements
committee fol q grand ball. A heavy
snow fell couple of days before the
event, blocking the trails and passes.
Leggat sent word to Deer Lodge and the
people Of the valley that the roads
would be open in time for the ball. He
marShalled a force of 200 men with
shovels and dug the road open for a
distance of six miles.
People came, the hall was crowded
and the ball was one Of the most Sue
CeSSful of the season. Joy and merri-
ment reigned supreme. Peter Roman,
of the old Rocky Mountain Gazette,
Bob Fisk Of the Helena Herald and
Ben Dittes of the defunct Montana Post,
all of Helena, used to make regular
for their respective papers. Their Wis
its were always the occasions for
grand blow-out-and each time they
departed with heavy purses and long
lists.
but the placer mines became ex-
hausted and the people have scattered
TO all parts of the Territory. Today a |
few foundation logs, score or more of !
chimneys and a half
dozen shaky log cabins are all that now
mark the spot where a few short years |
ago a thriving mining camp attracted
Its thousands of prospectors; where its
rustling busting denizens made the
surrounding forest echo with the clang |
Of the pick and the thud of the ham
mer
'aThe shouts and the uproar that
Jnce drove wild beasts from their lair
are heard no more; on the spot where |
champagne and other imported bever-
ages flowed like water nothing can be /
found today but the waters from a
mountain stream to quench ones thirst. !
"But the flower bedecked parks, the
stately pines and frs and the grand
I'D snow-clad mountains, in all their
majesty, are still there, just as they
we're when the first prospector came.
The miners, digging out the three or
our millions of gold from the great
1lches, did nothing to mar the beauty
Il the surroundings.
"Of all the thousands who once called
he Highlands their home only one
onely man still fingers. His name is
Henry Marshall Seventeen years ago
le came to Highland. He knew it in its
prosperity, saw It's decline and watched
is old comrades depart one by one
nd In groups. He is not influenced bv
he fact that his beloved camp has
allen from her high estate He love
er in her heyday. He is still faithful to
Ter.
mo coaxlng, no persuasion can avail;
e win not quit the Highlands. His
lowing beard Is whitened by the frosts
I rs years; his step is unsteady but
e manages to exc out living. One Of
lis sources Of income Is mending boots
or Bob Leggat's men who are now at
empting to revive the old days by new
discoveries at Highland Gulch Falls
bove the old town. Old man Marshall
avs: The old town viii come back
las ne the gift Of prophesy2 Quien