Glacier County chief., 1940-08-16
By WALTER E. TAYLOR


When histories of various important
10Th century gold and silver discov-
cries in western America are written,
the historians usually find during their
research that whenever an important
mining district was discovered there
were always a few people who came
forth with the information that they
knew the rich ore was there all the
time" And in this respect the discovery
of the Montana bonanza was no diff
ferent than the rest After mining was
started in Montana number of from
tier characters popped up to tell the
world they were the first to find gold
in the Treasure state. Some of those
who claimed the honor were Francois
(Benetsee) Finley the famous Stuart
brothers. Father De Smet, and GER
tain Mr.. Silverthorne. Several of these
claimants had good evidence to sup
port their stories but the tales of 9TH
ers were merely legend.
Most historians award the honor to
the Stuart brothers and Reese Ander-
son. 1t is true, without a shadow of
doubt, that the Stuart brothers did
lay the first string Of sluice boxes in
Montana when they started mining
operations on Gold, or Benetsee creek,
in 1862, but there is considerable evil
dence that there were others who
StuartS arrived. In some of their writ
ings the Stuarts have admitted this
fact. They had gone to Gold creek first
in 1858 and discovered gold, but did
not start mining operations. When
they returned in 1861 they found that
Henry Thomas had been mining in a
crude way along the creek.
Claims of Benetsee
Francois Finley, better known on the
frontier as Benetsee, claimed that he
discovered gold in Gold creek in 1880.
and his story was supported by the
late Duncan Macdonald of Ravalli
and others. There are those who would
discount Duncan MacDonald's evil
dence as unimportant, saying, This
indirect evidence is our only authority
for Benetsee'S venture save for rumor
and legend as old as the early fifties
AS far as is known there is not a
contemporary account of his discovery
Neither have we written evidence sub
sequently by anyone who actually saw
Benetsee with the gold. Pride of race
is proud to claim for one of his race
the honor of discovering gold in the
northwest"
This statement doesn't hold water
for there is written evidence of Benet-
sees discovery, evidence given by one
of Benetsee's contemporaries. 1t is
found in the manuscripts of Angus
Macdonald, father Of Duncan Mac
Donald, and famous as an early day
Hudson's Bay Co. trader in Montana.
The manuscripts are in the state his
torical library at Helena.
According to the story as given by
Angus Macdonald and his son, Dun
can, Benetsee and several other half
blood Flathead men went to California
during the gold rush to that region
in 1919. There they had learned some
thing about mining but didn't make a
stake. They returned to Montana IN
1850. Benetsee camped on Gold creek
that year and found some gold dust:
several times during 1851 and 1857
brought gold to MacDonalds post.
Macdonald Records 1t
In reference to this, the elder Mac
Donald wrote, The first authentic
gold dug in Montana was brought TO
me from Flint creek "a creek near
Gold creek and aSSayed by friend
of mine and made known by me TO
Major Owen and a few other trlendS
in 1850. 1 took It to Colville in 1857
and limited at the golden geology OF
our country to our men.
Duncan Macdonald says Benetsee
of gold at a time. Macdonald Is s!ld
to have reported the discovery to his
superiors of the Hudson's Bay Co. pul
was advised to keep quiet IS II was
felt that gold stampede would rum
the fur trade. ,
It was not until Bannack. Alder
gulch and Last Chance doomed that
real bonanza mining began i'll Mon
tana, although the operations on Goa
creek were the beginning OF the move.
ment which led to the development OF
these other fabulous camps.
Father De Smet claimed to nave
discovered gold both in California ana
Montana long before the gold rusheS
in these two states occurred. In La
veille's biography of the great jesuit
that author devotes many pages 70
proving that De Smet's claim was
authentic. However, it is the opinion
of most mining men that De Smet,
not a miner himself, was deceived by
tall tales of his Indian friends. La
veille intimates that Father De Smet
Kept his knowledge of Montana's gold
secret because he was afraid the IN
dians would suffer in a gold stampede
Father De Smet's Claims
In l84s, the year Of the California
stampede, Father De Smet wrote the