The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1938-01-21
VERYBODY in Nelson gulch
quit work that day in 1865 that

- the Maxwell g. Rollins Co. prop
erty found a gold nugget weigh
ing nearly a pound and which proved
to be worth S2,073. Nelson gulch was a
being worked for a stretch of several
miles. The richest ground in the camp
was owned by Maxwell g. Rollins and
that firm had 10 men working sluice
boxes in rich gravel.
One man was using a FORK to throw
out of the sluice boxes those rocks
which were too heavy for the water to
handle. He came on the nugget among
them. His attention was called to 1t
by its exceptional weight in comparison
to the rocks with which it was mixed,
He examined it and found it to be a
nugget, the biggest one ever found IN
Nelson gulch and n OF the largest
His wells of excitement brought his
companions to the scene n IN a lew
moments the news wa racing from
mouth to mouth up and Town the
gulch. Everybody quit work and
cheered. Men came from the nelghpor-
ceSsion and marched down the gulch
with the big nugget dangling from a
pole to which it had been tied: BY the
time they reached the little town at
the foot of the gulch there were aoout
300 miners in the parade. AT the toWI1
there were a couple OF salGofS as M1r
spent 5000 or $500 there treating the
miners, who made a holiday out OF the
Robert Vaughn, one OF. ,Montana's
pioneers, described h Incident IN ms
Volume, 'Then and Now" He was WORK.
inc in Nelson gulch at the time n
was about a quarter of a mile from
where the nugget was found. When he
heard the uproar he thought that an
accident had occurred. In a way Una
was true, for had a less observing uliti e
been on the end of the fork that plcKto
up the nugget it might nave eo gone So 1i its
might have been termed an
accident. That, however, was not M
kind of an accident that Mr. ausli
IA larger nugget than the one found
in Nelson gulch was one 1ouno III St, - c
naor the Mullan tunnel of the Northee
ern Pacific railroad in 1865. That OF
co11rse was many years before the JUL
neI existed. The nugget found IneIe
weighed 178 ounces ana was WI - :,
81. 900. It had some quartz attacileu ~
It. The big n found IN Neiso1i s n,,re
had no quartz and was practlcally Paar.
noid NH. Vaughn says that anoI1Sha
Biz nugget was found IN Nelson guiG =
;n 1877 hv a man named Rogers. ~
was worth 81, O5O. In 1867 the DleIllck
brothers, working in Rocker guicn 10 nea1
Butte found a nugget worm 9l'ooo'
IS Millions in Gold
Mr.. Vaughn in his discussion o. Snt
NUGGETS, calls attention to the 1act Liza
Alder gulch, the 10 miles OF wt,ic III colo Gold
in the early days, and where noi
If %nIIggets were found, never
one 01 Raj could compare with the pig
Chunk of gold from SnoWsnoe gtio -
last Chance gulch. neXt w
Alder, produced a few large
The richest ground in any I the go1o
dipgings, Mr.. Vaughn says, was IN oo1i II
federate gulch, but it was IN d 4hl
area. In 1866 a party. OF miners LIZ. Ia
took out two and one-half Ions 81 got r.
worth a million and a han donaIs ~ =
was owned mostly s s by a nam med HEIDI
nnan In the fall, guarded by IA armeo
men. it was hauled to Fort Benton IN ~
- Waoon draWn by four mules anu
Skinned down the Missouri river Dy
boat, the principal owners accompany
ing it. ..+ land
Mr.. Vaughn, who made the 1lrSt i 5aeo
entry in old couii ;S The sim
riVer country, was part and parcel OF
Mnntana's early mining days at ban
mack, Virginia City, Helena and other
places. He was born in Wales, Jutie .,
f836' He remained on the family iaIL,
until h was 10 years OF age: NJ sod ~ a
sister living, and obtained employment
as a gardener. He had a brother VINO
had emigrated to America and was ny
ING at Rome, N. Y, II he dec!oeQ ~
1883 to visit him and to make the trip
to America, without his pareLa ms
reached his brothers place. he only
intended to remain four or five monthS.
After reaching America he wrote ms
narents what he had done n Lolo
Them of his plans to visit his brothe1r
for a while and then return to England.
He remained at Rome, N. y 1ot d
couple of years instead OF a 1eW
there went to Ohio to visit with an
amt. He remained there for a year N
then went to Youngstown, Ohio, Where
he worked on a farm and IN the Goa,
mines. In the meantime his brother mac
moved to s,, dllin9lf him an a. t farmed y1 WITH
his brother for a year and then WORKED
in the coal mines for a time. Although
he always wrote home regularly, every
move he made took him farther away
On March 4, 1864, he left Fairbury'
in Livingston county, Ill, Tor n mon,
tana gold fields. He was accompanied
by James Glib, John Jackson, James
Ster. Il took them Is days to cross
illinois and Iowa. They crossed the
Missouri river at Council Bluffs, then
a small frontier post. Omaha was a
village of 1900 persons. There the
Vaughn party joined an emigrant train
of IS wagons. some OF which were oouna
Washington, others for Salt Lake, but
the most of them to the new gold fields
100 Wagons in Train
The wagon train followed the survey
stakes of the Union Pacific railroad
most of the way to Fort Laramie. At the
latter place the Vaughn party and many
of the other gold seekers Joined a
NAMED Mcknight who had two wagon
loads of goods destined for Virginia
CitY. Within a few days they had q