Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1938-02-12

home next day he found his dog has
preceded him unframed
Grouse and partridges were every.
where but there were no trout, except
ing in Running Wolf, where they had
been planted by Johnny Woodhurst anc
others from the Judith river There
used to be lots of wild fruit, buckle
berries, strawberries and raspberries.
Wall Starts Town
when I first came to the vicinity
there was no town of Stanford, only
small settlement nearby called Du-
buque. However, another town was es-
tabhshed soon at the ranch Of Colonel
Wall about three-quarterS Of a mile
! from Dubuque and this was the begin
ming OF old Stanford, three miles from
/ the present site. The colonel also kept
Shoppers including us snow diggers,
I charging two-bits meal and the same
Tor lodging. The postoffice was at his
place.
Tom Morgan ran a store for T. c.
Morgan at Dubuque. Charles Mixman
operated a saloon and hotel but sold
out soon to Charles Tintinger. A man
named Williams kept a store and there
was also blacksmith and repair shop.
We usually traded In Dubuque, making
the long trip with team and sleigh and
returning the next day In the winter
we were forced to shovel drifts both |
ways. We really had snow in those !
days.
I'VE frequently went to Barker over
the Blankenship trail some u miles 4
distant as the boom was on which con- /
tinued until silver dropped in price
This is difficult country for pros
pecting, the mineral is so high up and
the surface so covered with vegetation.
me lower canyons are formed of lime,
slightly higher is a belt of Shale and
about a mile farther the granite crops
out. The granite seems to be of several
varieties, porhpyry, quartzite, dolmite
and black slate. In places the granite
is capped with serpentine.
up around Wolf Creek Badly, the
highest mountain in the range, there
have been some great volcanic dis
turbances in the past. On the south
OF Badly Is what we used to call the
blowout. The whole side of the noun
tain has been tossed out by a terrific
explosion and thrown clear away,
leaving sheer cliff perhaps a thou 1
sand feet high.
The rock below forms dams that
hold streams issuing from the cliff. |
Four small lakes have been formed in
the basin at the bottom of the wall
and a little stream flows out of the
blowout, entering Dry Wolf It is a |
terribly rough country but a camera
fan is well paid for the climb.
Long Copper Vein
"On the head of the blowout, nearly
1t the summit, a vein of copper ore
AN be traced on the surface for more
han a mile. Pat Hughes of Great Falls q
lad a claim located on 1t years ago /
Several Finn miners relocated several Q
;laimS here and did considerable de- (
orb cf1A 1o,~
mount of ore. The claims were patent b
d and an offer of 100000 made to c
hem for their holdings was refused C
There were many prospectors nearly t
0 years ago, some staying only a few a
ayS and moving on. We always seemed B
o be able to get hold of little money, q
1ostly by doing assessment work. L
Isually had a wildcat claim or two y
sady to sell to some tenderfoot priced q
ON $25 up and we also sold poles to = !,
anchors. u
Among early-day prospectors were a. ~
1hn B. Ritch, Joe Anderson, known ~ -,
Skookum Joe, Frank Mitchell, r
enry Maltby and Al Slough. Bob .,
raham and Dan Raun found a vein ~
rich ore in the shale formation at ~
lie mouth of Blowout creek. and here e
ey built a one-room cabin on the on
llside. The slope was so steep they n
ere IOtceu 10 dig DacK INTO the Mill th
I lounoation, a. rock fireplace IN XII
e PACK was led by. thrustlng long tW
y poles three to six inches thick III
'wn the top of the chimney. The =
axe sometimes shot 20 feet into the
:. With snow on the hill and dirt on by
e roof, there was no fire hazard. ST
"Other old-timers whose names I re- de
Il are Billy Mason, Tom Swanton. G,
I'M Thorpe and Finley, who ran a Nj
wmill on upper Dry Wolf
'On Lion creek were Jack Williams
LAS Whisky jack, Frank Sutton, n
&c Martin, Bill Mcdonald, NeIs wI
nsen and brother, Jim Cochran in,
las Jim the Bird, Dan Raun (alias NO
Moe DAM, Henry Paulson, Buck we
, u ana Long john Perrln- Hans we
the mouth of Spring coulee. A saw ne
II in Butcher Knife was operated ooi
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