Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1939-08-12
Siluer Mining Received Only Slight Attention in
Eorly Days of Development of Treasure State Ore
By EDWARD B. REYNOLDS

ii LIE aILcnIOu was pA1u u
silver in the hectic days Of
Montana's territorial settle
ment rs years ago. In that first
year of discovery, 1864, it was gold
that sent men stampeding from
one section of the state to another
to stake claims along river beds, to
dig into the sides of gulches, and
to establish boom camps like Vir-
ginia City, Bannack and Last
Chance Gulch.
Most histories concentrate on the
gold camps and the placer mines and
few realize that silver was first dis
covered IN Montana about the same
LIME as tne Iirst goid discoveries. TO
BeaVerhead county belongs the credit
of producing the first ounce Of silver
ever mined in Montana The silver
was mined from the Blue Wing quartz
lode, discovered and located in Beaver
head county in 1884.
Probably the reason why silver was
neglected in the territorial days of
Montana Is because silver generally
comes in formations that require hard
rock mining and Is never free so that
1t can be placer mined in the same
manner as placer gold. Consequently,
hardrock gold mining and practically
none to silver mining. Thus the loca-
ton Of the Blue Wing silver mining
claim in those first halcyon days OF
the gold rusheS to Montana was es-
pecially unusual That it was not
abandoned when the extreme hard
ships and problems of mining con-
fronted the owners is even more UNI
usual
Worked with Arastra
The product of this pioneer silver
mine was first worked by means of
the crude arastra, sort of homemade |
mill. The name arastra Is of Spanish |
derivation, The Spanish used them ia
the silver and gold mines of Peru,
Mexico and California during the cen
turtles Of Spanish colonization before !
their power was broken by Drake and I
his English privateers.
An araStra is made by digging q |
large hole in the ground and lining It |
with rock. A post is placed in the
center with an arm or arms extending
out so that huge boulders may be
dragged around inside the pit. Power
Is furnished by oxen or horses and
mules. The boulderS are suspended
from the arms of the post These arms
are hauled round and round by the
oxen or mules.
ore, taken from the mine, is placed
in the arastra and the boulders are
supposed to pulverize the ore to fine
sand. Water is added from time to time
so that thick slime is created. The
mineral Is concentrated by washing
and the waste ore Is thrown away.
Final extraction of the metal Is ac-
complished by means of amalgamation
through the use Of mercury. The mer-
curry Is then distilled from the silver,
condensed and used over again In
new process.
Naturally the arastra Is extremely
crude and requires considerable pa
thence and much man power to become
in the least bit effective The use of
the arastra In extracting silver from
the ore of the pioneer Blue Wing
claim resulted in q total failure. Not
enough silver was recovered to war !
rant the work expended by the men
who staked the claim. And this was
Wing was rich in concentrated silver
ore.
SmeIted In Wales
After the failure of the arastra :
method 1t was decided to choose only
the best ore and ship 1t by freight I
train to the east where it was shipped
to the Smelter at Swansea, Wales. The I
freight trains were drawn by long 5
strings OF oxen or mules across the
plains to the nearest shipping point. q
Because of the danger of indians and r
the hardships Of freighting this long s
process incurred great expense. Fur 5
Lher expense was occasioned by the v
fact that the ore had to be sent by a
ship across the ocean TO Wales. Natllr-
ally only the best Of the ore was
shipped and it hardly paid for itself. n
Hundreds of tons Of high grade silver q
Blue Wing mine after the best grade .
ore that was selected to be shipped d
had been sorted out. This lay I'M 7,
touched until the building Of the d
Union Pacific railroad when the G
freighters loaded it in their wagons f,
and hauled 1t to Corinne, Utah. 1t n
was shipped from Corinne after that y
For treatment.
Later the cost was further reduced a
when the Utah and Northern railroad N
was built and smelterS were erected In g.
Butte The Colorado smelter was built e
IN Butte for the treatment OF ore B
mined In that city which was becom- m
ne at that time one of the boom 81
silver camps of the west. The ore from fl
.he Blue Wing was sent by freight to
Dillon, county seat OF Beaverhead tf
county at the present time, and shipped hl
20 Butte. There it was treated in the el
Colorado smelter. W
No authentic record Of the amount In
If silver produced by this old-time al
nine had ever been kept. However, bs
,areful research shows that 1t must VI
lave yielded many millions OF ounces ve
'alued at a considerable sum accord %
ng to the price of silver at that time. pt
The value obtained from the sale Of tr
he silver was eaten up to large M
.xtent by the enormous expense IN
Tolyed IN getting the ore reduced and II
hipping it to market.
lis Finally Abandoned
Despite the faith of the original dis
,overers In the mine which caused "a
hem to press its development to UNI 20 20
Isual lengths in the face of such ire ~ NJ
nendous handicaps the mine was ~
inally abandoned The greater attrac- d de
ion OF placer mining for gold, which vi
7as yielding huge fortunes and Great Il,
1g numerous wealthy men at that 81
Irne, was probably as great cause for 10
he abandonment of the Blue Wing n
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