Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1941-05-23
Lawyer Could Have Bought Butte for $500 Cash But He
Turned the Deal Down. Mines Later Made Many Monares

Ye.rs ass . Traveller was riding
nsraeSaek from Vkginh City. then
n MS prime ~ . goad prsduoer, y
Deer Lodge, and when oveftaken
y night he .teSpel n . log cabin
near . long. Nv hm. weeded With
nsrthern boundary Il . Nat valley,
stretching away with se0e miner
undulations - the south and end
ing abruptly into some snow-ciaA
leaka- To the east lay the SPINE Of
the continent, the Rocky moun-
tana. To the westward the him
itself eliminated in . steep, barren
volcanic origin. The hill was \
desoaate. forbidding looking place.
The traveller, lawyer by profession.
was greeted at the door OF the cabin
BY grizzled. old prospector. who took
the strangers horse by the bride and
invited the rider to alight and share
the scant comfort Of his cabin for the
night. The horse having been watered
and picketed. the two men proceeded
other such items OF news as had
reached them by devious routes from
the states
Offered Claims for $500
What luck are you having?" in
CURED the lawyer OF the old man,
presently.
We'll" said the prospector, ct be-
lieve I've got some good claims. but
I'm sick of mining here and want to
sell out. I'll let you have my six claims
for $500"
Curiously enough the lawyer had
Just that sum in his pocket in gold
dust, but the offer did not seem an
attractive one, so he declined. The next
morning he went on his way.
Within the lifetime OF that same
traveller those six claims had yielded
more than billion dollars the hill
had shed its clumps of pines for a
mass of bristling smokestacks and
shaft houses, and the few scattered
log cabins had developed into the CITY
OF Butte. the greatest mining camp
In the world.
This story. which could hardly be
equaled in romance of fiction, is
literally true and was related by the
late Senator w. F. Sanders, who knew
Of the incident at the time it occurred
Gold. Silver, Copper
Originally Butte, like all other Mon
tana camps of early days. was purely
placer district. passing through four
epochS-gold, silver, copper and zinc.
The history Of the district, originally
called the Summit Valley Mining dis
trict. began not long after the dis
coVery OF the famous Alder and Last
chance gulches, when, fired by en-
thusiasm resulting from those Aladdin
ike treasure vaults. energetic pros
pectors explored every promising nook
OF the Rocky mountain range and its
various spurs. The first discovery of
gold in the placer gravels Of Butte Is
said to have been made by a prospector
In the early summer of 1864
In May. 1864, G. o. Humphreys and
William Allison came to this vicinity
and camped near the modern CITY Of
Butte In Baboon gulch. They were the
sole inhabitants. Upon the site of that
which was afterward the Original
mine there was an old prospect hole
sunk four or five feet. Close by were
elk antlers, which had been used for
gads and hand-spikes The work APP
parently had been done years before.
but when or by whom is a mystery that
never has been solved.
Enthusiastic Over Prospects
Humphreys and Allison spent a
month prospecting, returning to Vir-
ginia City very enthusiastic with the
prospects in the new district, and COM
ing back to their discoveries in June
with provisions and equipment for de-
velopment work. They located the Mis-
soula lode, ran a tunnel on their prop
erty and organized the MisSoula Min
ing Co., believing that they had a
great mining property. Soon rich
placer mines were found near Butte,
with the result that in August, 1864,
the first mining district Of the section
was formed. Allison was made preSi-
dent and Humphreys recorder. During
the autumn the town Of Butte was
started at Town gulch close by the