Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1937-07-17
Bv @LIMERoCK" WILSON

- Sc years Of continuous minlng N eile'
district full account o. OIL ~ne u.rv large vol
me So in this article Will e hoeS' " - a
cover the ground as FUZZY as possibly sIltor, ~
svnopsis of the highlights In the hlS'oi' %
tne aTa1 vas first discovered in the Jualt ms
Nv .skookum joe Anderson early IN i io9c is
found Igacer gold in Virgln eulch wi'ie bout
aouA the southeast slope Of the ranEe az s,ts
on Ia one-half miles from the present ~
~ Gilt Edge Skookum's find createu - ~
-tternent among the sparse Popu,a ,e r,.re
$1,000 trappers and Indian traoeiS' why s,sat
hunters, t,ashahitants OF this section az thas
w and a small tent town caHeo 1SnsISi-,
III 1vas located near the mouth ~ y. .rascnt
gulch about half mile s soo1 people car
eee desultory sort OF Prospectus -.
Stscent hills and gold was louIlo t q.
otber eulches. but none Oh ti were both
proven ao skookum moved over the iaI
w w found good pay dirt IA A ~ aho,,t the
ees,Hotnr,'s partner Dave Jones ~, bead Of
same I'M -,e gulch where the town OF haa l-o-
warm q heated The Jones claim ulI &C.. tSere
h nov would have paid wen,, IN IN "a
conoltlon1I tttic water to handle the ~ " rhe
was TOO n that overlaid the bedrocA. ~
Iees , ~ Zoe claim IN Alpine gulcn s,s nm 10
SAoUA vrorked out and proouce0 "A''
10000. -. u~o,,Dd IN Spotted
There was some very rlch ~ SSaiden canyon,
INC ,lch tributary OF Mal9en - &c a
Horse su iro,,nd was very spotted aho 90 1,ar
ous aid not pay wages. Soins a., canyon
WIZ a., the deep ground IN 1850 vSos the
ooie ,.,,,nber of people amohB WIFI VI, rouuh
by huI I1S,a,ever the bedrock was t ~ ~
wrlteI' ran about ounce OF sol ~ 49,
she tot square set OF timpetS,. , d. worn
rock Of the canyon IS Ho oTd the gold being
Io eH .rooth by water ana y cii go are any
very tos washed away. So Il tnet re, voontb
c oaso diggngs. they are peso o ts deep with
paylns u.s The ground there IS w. - "a
Of the conyon' - from the bedrock 70 l ~
water 70 a'tttnq and no one Win sS = ,esTve
cihtae11 ~ open the ground mas
enough to tackle ~ ,or,enced California
Jones' W. always claimed the LUZ Sar
placst t,11s were too young geoiosican a hsd not
eood placer mines. because sabservation
been sufficient erosion. My gvas right. Prom
peeH Scrvn me that Jones was ,,tls fountains
has snow snow .tandpoint. the judith mo1iS-oct
80 1,,tte young In many pla ~ stSes of the
aLe are sbales extend well up sne do not
a lu and over large 49, have been
tnItovs the massive Imes So
oens IN depth Of 20 IeeI. or turned
SIroor,Inn Joe and Dave Jones CUartz and
their attention to proSpg ,asi found first, the
during VIZ lead prospect; then tne T I,I,,9
20 1sntrh on the surface was :. etooEun
gold and later that same 9In@se and what is now
diseoyettssa ~ NEaqfnnis mine. In the Iea.,.side
Irs NJ the district hao sSdv,rs almost
Points and new people 49, carried on all
5eiIv Prospecting was DsANS
oveT the mountains , mention spe-
~ lacy of space can only isant mines
.,t,ca,,v few OF the more pro am heated in
OF the warm o. ana partners located tnS
loSi nine and also the Florenee u Iooes To-
n,,ntajn Skookum Joe ana Ds "a go noun
Gated the Alpine on sno9,uu Joe and Jones
IAN. D W Meadow Of BILLINGS was rant
nsr he having furnished a - aI iocated the
Sege and Pott and Hayden es o. cue noun
SUI Sase and keystone claims on cave
Near the eastern end of Crystal mo1 a1,9sd
- the eureka and Silver star looes tt,e
~elT z.sr SAGE and Tom Kerr Bet"ss So ~
py : Ins and the Florence was tne rms 49,, IL
,,ed nv sage and Henry kayser. W W., made
zee large number OF otheI saooine list
nv the original prospeetors' s sne claims
soronrises all the most pronlllen ~ lees ore
Soilr ono If these produced more OF le9s ,ost
rtb IN both gold and silver. me ne, w. nEae,nnis
famed Tor their production weie which will
enotted Horse and Florehce' "i'o
Sontfycal1v describe further on - 49,
Fa-iv In 1881 a town was lala ouV nsA. i Tls
head Of Warm Spring gulch ABOUT Tee sen a r'- 10
t ~ Maiden A controversy arose - "
Nses av1e I'd give the town. The only WoIiS 81
u, tbe gulch was a Peigan squaW, 49, foT
ars old. who had been doing Wasi .l5 no
ave boys She had name nopou ~ S 49,, - As
tne pos 80 thew named her the Maiden, no
controversy over the selection OF tasro
~ tba town waxed warmer, Bill =, 1AAs Sto-
loL M and said why not name II ALeeI
sPON0 ,ra{5en o. And so it was done !Iht Mes
w vav the town got its name as to.u " 49,, -,
Nv ,' several Of the boys including Hayden nm
self. =, 49, atstrict tn attract
aita1 was the orc Cache. generally known
os fine Maginnis, from the name OF ehe 49,
nanv which operated 1t. early IN ene ~ A,lo
- 1aa1 Skookum Joe put location notAOe ~ 81
~. ~ro,nd and then went on around the mn
iookSng for something more: Wnen I11, ~,
800 hack in the evening, ne Iouho JOl.liA.s
SSrnneT digging a hole about so yearos from
ES ,eLlp,,,s location notice Kemper said ne
Ala NOT see the notice and agreed 70 SeoP w. va
- once mt Joe told Kemper to go aheau an ~
tske the ground II he wanteo II A a
ta s -, bed found something that suited
80 better Kemper made his discovery Shats
near the top Of the hill on a larse I ~ ~
rock that was well mineranzeo Ou. ~ ~ hovy-
sesno To carry any values. Inere were NJ ~
49, q verv few exceedingly fine coiors IN ehe
d,Tt that was mixed among the IoeA. 49, nv
dersh OF ten feet the ore nae nov H .a &c
va yyemper concluded to cult for the tiI te
- tbought perhaps at a later date ne nnlsls
sint deeper Camped near Kemper.s tent WeIe
three other prospectors, Barney Hill Jimmy SllllnS
Deere and John Burke. one morhins >eNFs-
noticed these men packing up 80 A..
'svVhatl'' said he, you are not going 70
Ieave7" ..,- rvo seeD
that would be worth staying loI - 'i@' ~
OF yours on the hill"
.Weli" said Kemper, IF that viii keep you
here, go up and take It, Men are too scarce
here for me to let them leave II mole IKE
that will stop them"
So the three unpacked and started sinking
shaft. At thirty-five feet the rock showed q
far prospect gold. And at fifty feet some OF
the ore ran as high as $50 per ton. About
that time A. NJ Esler who had been sent from
Helena by Sam Hauser and A. M Hotter 70
look the district over, happened along After
sizing the property up, he offered the owners
$4,000 cash for 1t, an offer they promptly
accepted.
Early in the spring Of 1882. Esler started a
tunnel to tap the ore body deeper, and began
constructing 10-stamp mill By fall the mill
was finished and the tunnel had reached the
ore And such orel 1t is doubtful IL Alladin
with his famous lamp could have conjured
up anything that would have beat It. In one
drift, 7-foot face Of ore averaged 81 per
pound Esler showed me a specimen from
another drift that weighed about five pounds.
IL had been broken in two but stu did not
separate, being held together by native gold
wires the lower part swinging loosely. The
MaRinnis Co., however, did not get much Of
an income from the mine. But many Of those
who worked In the mine and mill got along
nicely and IN q few months we're able TO
make swell starts on ranches or in business.
The Maginnis co. finally bought the Black
Bun mine from skookum Joe and his partners,