׉?4ׁB!בCט(u׉׉ 7cassandra://YwdZhEQ0bphHCaRRv_yqzxb6CUxn5p7UL1FSgHKS2Ok2`׉ 7cassandra://6uHvSTKsI40aBBDV-D80QwUMF4GVJN7FjdU9gEawLJUu`s׉ 7cassandra://4T-yQw8VUQq89MFPLQ8Yg_mXKEvS_S0EFqKFWbNQx3c&`׉ 7cassandra://e_AnAR3wiASATgOKvUAJLxNtu-RznT-ztedHiIBhhc0H͠]^qB !wM[ט(u׈8Hg/נ^qB !wM[h̯9׉H http://www.montananewspapers.orgGׁ ׁ rנ^qB !wM[h̨ 9ׁH http://www.montananewspapers.orgׁ ׁ Ј׈E^qB !wM[׉EGhost Towns and History May 3, 2020 Ghost Towns and History of Montana Newsletter G I L T E D G E , M O N T A N A This town’s start began in 1880 with placer mining. Not long after, lode mining in the Judith Mountains began. The big boost however, came in 1893 when Ammon-Stivers Mining Company out of Great Falls bought the mines and rebuilt the crude cyanide plant that previous operators had erected. The new cyanide plant was the first in the U.S. to use the cyanide leeching process in gold mining. Workers and their families established the camp. From The Belt Mountain Miner June 15, 1892 Accessed at www.montananewspapers.org Despite the $35,000 improvements made to the plant, the mill still proved inefficient within just a few months upon opening. Financial struggles ensued and payroll couldn’t be met. The company began writing worthless checks and the sheriff was called in to shut down the mill. Word spreads fast in a small community Photo by Jolene Ewert-Hintz Photo by Jolene Ewert-Hintz ׉ 7cassandra://4T-yQw8VUQq89MFPLQ8Yg_mXKEvS_S0EFqKFWbNQx3c&`^qB !wM[^qB !wM[(בCט(u׉׉ 7cassandra://ehzX3cLxNsTxquamWzjI0BfZNVh8Rz1clrsBhnvDc6cM`׉ 7cassandra://ZHNnGXDqiabHuMi-oT8UL0EcwhcEtp8QiigphZX2Ou0y7`s׉ 7cassandra://l6kf0zN7dyEg4xJuft4K5UqHY-MSNzPi275GwU7pVY0#4`׉ 7cassandra://TkXNU_7zgnhsn_sY_GF3KameSTw9nTDUPkdDOLiOGdkoEt͠]^qB !wM[ט(u׉׉ 7cassandra://_0v8yQvyUa8lmWscMLTQlOA8OnPlUnQajdxcw8azIUs/`׉ 7cassandra://aNyXp3Gm7y8ml77vh1eP1UZ0i2SOL97l3X-DE6hrYS8́%`s׉ 7cassandra://7T00B4-qneNeAXLcBcCfYmI-a-YoKpf98yeS8MAfJXg#z`׉ 7cassandra://CGXa4f8C2QDUgcyfdqX9Yn_fuFlinzuNNjS0oupF_B8Z͠]^qB !wM[נ^qB !wM[Ct9׉Hhttp://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83025293/1867-06-08/ed-1/seq-3/#date1=1836&index=2&date2=1922&searchType=advanced&language=&sequence=0&words=House+Weston&proxdistance=5&state=Montana&rows=20&ortext=&proxtext=&phrasetext=weston+house&andtext=&dateFiltGׁ ׁ rנ^qB !wM[#}%9׉H@https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confederate_Gulch_and_Diamond_CityGׁ ׁ rנ^qB !wM[Fp9׉Hhttp://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83025309/1881-10-13/ed-1/seq-2/#date1=1836&index=0&date2=1922&searchType=advanced&language=&sequence=0&lccn=sn83025309&words=Hector+Horton&proxdistance=5&state=Montana&rows=20&ortext=&proxtext=&phrasetext=&andtext=HectGׁ ׁ rנ^qB !wM[9׉H)http://granitecountyhistory.blogspot.com/Gׁ ׁ rנ^qB !wM[9ׁH)http://granitecountyhistory.blogspot.com/ׁ ׁ Ј׉EtP a g e 2 G h o s t T o w n s a n d H i s t o r y and before the sheriff arrived, all the bullion in the mill disappeared. The uncertain fate of the out of work miners and their families was relieved by food and aid sent in from the valley and from company warehouses. Only a few souls remained when the property was purchased by the Great Northern Mining and Development Company in 1897. Just a year later, the mines were once again in full production and a new 150 ton mill was erected. Ownership would switch hands a few more times while the population climbed to 1500 and $1,250,000 in gold was produced. The mill was dismantled around 1916 and future ventures never breathed life back into the town. Photo by Jolene Ewert-Hintz To Get There: From Lewistown, head east on Hwy 87. Turn north on Stillman Road. Turn left at Gilt Edge Road, follow about 2 miles to town. Robber’s Roost Pete Daly built a log roadhouse at this site in 1863. Unlike most roadhouses of the time, which provided meals, companionship and a place to stay for weary travelers, Daly’s was allegedly a hangout for Montana’s most notorious criminal gang- the “Innocents”. It was reputedly led by Henry Plummer, the Sheriff of Bannack and Virginia City. His deputies were supposedly members of the gang. According to legend, the Innocents watched travelers stopping here on the Virginia City and Bannack Road. If they looked like easy targets to the crooks, there were Photo by Jolene Ewert-Hintz plenty of places to rob them in the wilderness between the two mining camps. Although not a member of the Innocents, Daly was well aware of their activities. Most of the members of the gang, including Plummer, were killed by the Vigilantes in early 1864. This log building is traditionally known as Robber’s Roost. It was not, however, constructed until several years after Plummer’s gang met its grisly end. Unlike its predecessor, this building functioned more as a traditional stage stop. Pete Daly lived to a ripe old age and was one of the valley’s most prominent citizens at the time of his death in 1915. Robber’s Roost is located South of Sheridan, MT on Highway 287. ׉ 7cassandra://l6kf0zN7dyEg4xJuft4K5UqHY-MSNzPi275GwU7pVY0#4`^qB !wM[׉E jG h o s t T o w n s a n d H i s t o r y P a g e 3 Placer Mining Panorama God love this town And swallow it down And goodbye to you (the fate of No Name City in Paint Your Wagon) We are venturing a ways from Granite County today to post a very early panorama of a placer mine and town that we stumbled across reviewing the index of the Granville Stuart papers in the Tom Perry special collection of the Harold Lee library at BYU. In box 19 there is an item (No. 9) which was apparently identified by Mrs. Granville (Belle) Stuart as a photo of mining at Gold Creek and an unidentified mining town (which we presumed to be Pioneer) taken in 1868. However, when we received a scan of the photo we saw it could not be Pioneer. It rather seemed more like Bannack but careful examination of the photo shows a building with a "Weston House" sign which strongly indicates the panorama is of Diamond City. See especially the Helena Herald of May 20, 1869, for correspondence from Diamond City discussing the Weston House. We have been pointed in the direction of Diamond City by feedback from the Bannack Association as well. The photographer is not named but we think it could be August Thrasher who was a pioneer photographer with a penchant for producing panoramas, and who was in Montana in the right time frame. He lived in Deer Lodge and was in Bannack during the 1870 census. We are interested to know if other copies of this photo exist. This scan is posted by permission from the Perry collection. Thanks! Another photo of Diamond City was published in Volume 4 of the Proceedings of the Montana Historical Society in 1903 (below). In this photo, the perspective is similar to the Panorama above and the hills behind are an excellent match. However, the town is located on the bench, well to the north of the town's location in the panorama, . The original Diamond City apparently suffered the fate of "No Name City" in "Paint Your Wagon" and was engulfed by mining, buried in the tailings seen below the mined bench in this photo. Diamond City's newspaper was the Rocky Mountain Husbandman, which contains several articles detailing visits by reporter to the Philipsburg area in the late 1870s and early 1880s - a gold mine of information on the town, people, and mines in that time frame. This is from our friends at the Granite County History Blog. Follow them at: http://granitecountyhistory.blogspot.com/ ׉ 7cassandra://7T00B4-qneNeAXLcBcCfYmI-a-YoKpf98yeS8MAfJXg#z`^qB !wM[^qB !wM[(בCט(u׉׉ 7cassandra://GlWHG1K9mvvv9oP3QFTl62XJtfI-XBol4NKxj15Zo7A`׉ 7cassandra://BKA0POtJAfapgC2k1mWNzJqTu4DXURcUP7RoRDvUmU8͋a`s׉ 7cassandra://kLtAPF5yt-7E6ESJwkXmcbKavaBcZRk-gTXpo5kvslU*g`׉ 7cassandra://SRXF9JXSASQARlJjgE0RKwbpBiqLwVmMdVLWBoXgUk0$)͠]^qB !wM[נ^qC !wM[̈D̳9ׁHmailto:montana@gmail.comׁ ׁ Јנ^qC !wM[̧̽ 9ׁH http://www.montananewspapers.orgׁ ׁ Ј׉EP a g e 4 G h o s t T o w n s a n d H i s t o r y Gallows Barn- A triple legal hanging by The State of Montana took place in 1917 in this White Sulphur Springs gallows barn, built circa 1895 for the Meagher County Sheriff's Department. The three men hanged were convicted of killing a man during an attempted train robbery. The White Sulphur Springs Historical Society donated the building in 1975, and it has been a popular background for several movies, including Missouri Breaks (1975), which helped pay for its move to Nevada City. Photo by Jolene Ewert-Hintz From The Madisonian Newspaper, June 4, 1886 Accessed via www.montananewspapers.org Photo by Jolene Ewert-Hintz Willard, Montana - Fred Willard Anderson explained how the town's name came to be in a 1944 letter: "I was one of fifteen Would you like to receive our digital quarterly magazine for free? Just send an email with MAGAZINE in the subject to ghosttownsofmontana@gmail.com who came from the same community in Seif County, Minnesota, and homesteaded in the Willard community. My homestead happened to be located on the road to Ekalaka. As soon as we landed with our first carload of goods, the businessmen of Baker were after me to take the post office on my claim and told me to name it. I took my middle name, Willard, and so it was named and opened in 1910. I had the post office for fourteen years before I sold out to C.J. Anderson. I also had a store in connection with it." Please be sure to share this newsletter with a friend! ׉ 7cassandra://kLtAPF5yt-7E6ESJwkXmcbKavaBcZRk-gTXpo5kvslU*g`^qB !wM[׈E^qB !wM[^qB !wM[(, Ghost Towns & History of MT- #18@A Newsletter for all lovers of Montana ghost towns and history! ^q?8Hg/zٺ