Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1938-01-22
Thunder Mountain Gold Excitement Burst on World
From Region Where Mystery Sounds Caused Terror

vt is NEARLY 40 years since hum
drcds of Montana prOSpectors and
miners and other hundreds who
knew nothing of the mining game
but who had the age-0ld desire
to get rich quick, trekked into the
Thunder mountain region OF Idaho
lust across the Montana line and the
then Ell Dorado of the west, where the
pIunger's luck Of Colonel Dewey had
resulted in the development OF mill
lion dollar body of ore on a property
for which he paid only 100000.
AS a matter of fact he hadn't paid
for the property when the SCr1ke was
made and it looked for time as
though it might get away from him.
He had agreed to build a wagon road
to it, and when the bonanza was I'M
covered the time remaining before the
expiration of the lease was insult
ficient for him to do. so. The only way
he could save it was by plunklng down
100000 cash, and he did 1t.
Thunder mountain, a name which
seems to have been applied indiscrim-
inately to a number of peaks IN the
southeastern part of Idaho county,
Idaho was easily reached through
Anaconda and the Big Hole country,
which was one reason why so many
from western Montana joined IN the
stampede.
The peaks in the region, ranging
from 5000 to 1900 feet in altitude, are
believed to have derived the name
Thunder mountain from the frequent
thunder and lightning storms IN the
area, although another version is that
the rumbling sounds caused by rock
slides caused the early prospectors TO
SO name them The real Thunder
mountain. however, is located just west
Of the middle fork of the Salmon
river, not far from its junction with
the Salmon, southeast Of and 90 miles
from the town of Warren, south OF
Vinegar hill
While the Thunder mountain district
had long been known to mining men
as an extensive mineral area rich IN
both quartz and placer properties, 1t
was not until the sensational values
of the Dewey mine became known that
the rush into the region began. Both
quartz and placer claims showing good
values had been reported IN the dis
trict during the early SOS. PlacerS /
where water was available were worked
in the early days, but the quartz
locations were made and abandoned
yearly up to the time of the Nez Perce
war in 1877 !
Excitement in 1875
In 1875 there was considerable ex- 4
citement caused by the report that a
dered by renegade Indians IN the /
Thunder mountain region. In the years /
following the Nez Perez war the myS-
terious disappearance OF individuals /
caused resultant suspicious OF addi- /
tional murders in that section. Both !
white and red outlaws made head I
quarters in the section after the Sheep I
eater Indians were supposed TO nave
been wiped out by General Howard'S /
army in 1878, and these outlaws re-
sented any invations Of miners into |
their territory.
In the early SOS claims in the Thun !
der mountain district were staked by
mysterious and unknown locators and |
were relocated every year at about the
time prospectors began their work. +
The strange names signed to the no (
tees and the fact that the only known I
trails were unused was enough to make I
the region one of mystery. Wandering 4
prOSpectorS told of nights made noisy
there by the sound Of picks, IN reg
ular strokes upon rocks on the noun
tain side. They heard also, so they
said, the wall of Chinese fiddles and
the sound of horses hoofS upon the
trail The average old-time prospector
was not entirely free from supersti-
ton and these ghostly sounds usually
caused those who heard them to get
out Of the country as quickly as pos
sible.
Knew of Sounds, Not Causes
And among the other mysterious
sounds were those as of distant thun-
der probably caused by the frequent
rockslideS, a natural result of diSin-
tegration in an extended area of soft
and stratified formation. But the pros
pectors knew only of the sounds, not
their cause. In addition to these things,
those prospectorS who were not scared
out by the presumably supernatural
reported also hearing
the unmistakable sound of rifle shots
at unseemly hours. Now and then ]
packhorse would be killed by an in