׉?4ׁB!בCט(u׉׉ 7cassandra://MJfdA8TC6T2urJEgIepaVgxKS-YS5S6vB44ADva6Nw8`׉ 7cassandra://xYurdE2B9TeRTiN3lkp9nDgZ64BRWQtKFis0YEHqQBE͋`s׉ 7cassandra://S0bE8cWoS5FRpEFwj882MKNmeuU7SRKBbEKMQZHU6ao)`fXk_ט(u׈}\נfXkb̏ 9ׁH#https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/ׁ ׁ Ј׈EfXkQ׉EAUGUST 2024 Ghost Towns and History of Montana Newsletter From The Western News, Sept. 13, 1910 Silver Bow Brewery Malt House Young Christian Nissler came to the United States from Germany, made his way west and learned the brewing trade in Virginia City, Nevada. The promise of gold drew him to Montana, where a lucky strike at Bear Gulch earned the enterprising Nissler enough to start a brewery at German Gulch. When the nearby placers played out, Nissler moved on to the camp at Silver Bow in 1871. He established the Silver Bow Brewery in a modest log cabin. Placer mining soon played out there too, but quartz mining at Butte City boomed, bringing thirsty miners by the thousands. In 1886, Nissler expanded his operation along what was once the main road between Butte and Anaconda. The bustling complex at Nissler Junction included a brewery, bottling house, cellars, saloon, dwelling, wash house, and stables. Nissler ran the business successfully until his death in 1901. The brewery then operated under several other names and owners until 1912. Only the malt house, later converted to a private residence, and its attendant brick wash house remain today. The malt house features cut stone quoins at the corners and two-foot thick rubblestone walls, which helped maintain even temperature year round. A chimney set into the north wall served as the flue for the kiln where the barley was dried after malting in the basement. Although Butte boasted five breweries by 1900, these two buildings gain added significance as the only local remnants of this early industry. -National Register of Historic Places Photo by Jolene Ewert-Hintz Accessed via: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/ ׉ 7cassandra://S0bE8cWoS5FRpEFwj882MKNmeuU7SRKBbEKMQZHU6ao)`fXkRfXkQ(בCט(u׉׉ 7cassandra://rbgJv8F2mXSsmhYgF-AlDT50j5qOlbnMMFDvcvJ1u2A `׉ 7cassandra://Dn9lztZ3YfujImNsVzxeOPyfWnwKAXOFo0ee0pxos7E͈`s׉ 7cassandra://2tkbcDsCyFVdqdcIxdjK5lorVPyTWa83Gf_CVrnPdw8&`fXkcט(u׉׉ 7cassandra://9WfZ0GVgdJBHU_8SWR9TrelsmTowqGdH9pI4WJ94qMU`׉ 7cassandra://axMCqLt3ZFxUAvVLKHzvOWAZunQT9EeYjOG8qlh8wxgͤ`s׉ 7cassandra://HvxMEDu7umAaWtN6NBMKrBVPXOp35fKSEDAJMjz6zmg%.`fXkd׉E P a g e 2 G h o s t T o w n s a n d H i s t o r y o f M o n t a n a N e w s l e t t e r MINES AND MINING IN PARK COUNTY From The Livingston Enterprise, January 1, 1900: Geologically speaking, the formation of Park county is very simple. Most of the mountain area belongs to the Eozoic and Silurian formations, such as slate, granite, gneiss and porphyry, with the several varieties of schistone rocks, talcose schist and mica schist. Along the base of the mountains is a Triassic belt of variable widths, and succeeding this is a broad area of nearly horizontal cretaceous beds, followed by the Tertiary formation which covers nearly one-third of the county. It can be at once seen that we have the same formation as exists in California, the greater part of Colorado and the Australian gold fields. The general strike of the country is N. N. E. and S. S. W. with a break crossing at nearly right angles, running east and west. Most of the mineral, so far discovered, is located in this, which includes gold, silver, copper, platinum, tin, bismuth, lead, zinc and cinnabar. Mines and mining in Bear Gulch Mining District With Livingston as a reckoning point, from here to the north extend the foot-hills of the Belt range, while, beyond these and on the opposite side of the Shields river rise the foot-hills of the Crazies, with their elevations rising some ten miles in the rear. To the east and occupying the angle of the upper and lower Yellowstone river is the Snowy or Yellowstone range, containing the lofty peaks of Emigrant, Chico, Mineral, Haystack, Mount Cowan, Sheep Mountain, The Needle and Sunset, the latter being the highest in the county. Along the west shore of the upper Yellowstone, and separating Park county from Gallatin are the foothills and elevations of the Belt range, presenting a study in the various gigantic forms, caused by violent upheavals during the past ages. In 1885 Montana came to the front as the leader in mineral productions—a recognition which was established by the exceedingly rich placer and quartz finds of Little Prickly Pear, Bannack, Alder and Emigrant gulches, the latter at the time being the pride of the upper Yellowstone region. The excitement occasioned by these discoveries was very great throughout the United States, stimulating emigration in a way never heard of since that of California in 1848, resulting in the establishment of the largest mining city in the world (Butte), occasioned by more recent discoveries. ׉ 7cassandra://2tkbcDsCyFVdqdcIxdjK5lorVPyTWa83Gf_CVrnPdw8&`fXkS׉E P a g e 3 G h o s t T o w n s a n d H i s t o r y o f M o n t a n a N e w s l e t t e r While Park county is great in many other ways, having been endowed by nature with great resources, yet it is now and must for all time be greatest in its minerals, mines and mineral reduction, and when its greatness is spoken of from this standpoint, the gold and silver mines of the New World Mining district, the arseno-pyrites and gold production of Bear Gulch, and the immensely rich deposits in the Boulder district may be considered as its foundation. Although a great amount of injury has been done to the progress of the mining industry by the floating of stocks in companies having nothing back of them but an undeveloped prospect hole, yet the two greatest existing evils is the lack of capital on the part of the owner and prospector, and lack of transportation. GOLD The search for gold has ever been attractive. Although pioneer and "tenderfoot" alike have loved to live this life of allurement and uncertainty, the prospector for precious metals has now the same chance to "strike it rich" or "make a stake" as was ever held out here or elsewhere. But little of the hidden wealth stored up ages ago in these mountains has been discovered, while it is nevertheless a fact that Park county has been prospected only in a superficial way. Whole districts, aggregating an enormous area, and filled with the greatest possibilities have been unvisited by those of practical knowledge in quest of hidden mineral deposits. It is no exaggeration to say that if the practiced eye, aided by a knowledge of metalliferous formations, searches among the mountains for a day it is certain to find locations that will justify work and exploration. This is as true of the old districts as it is of those but seldom visited. As an example, the district of Bear Gulch had been prospected to a certain extent for more than twenty-eight years, when a common landslide in the spring of 1898 revealed to the naked eye one of the richest lodes of gold-bearing ore in the state. The Boulder district had been worked for its placer "diggings" for many years, when during the summer of 1899 E. H. Cowles, an expert placer miner, had used his hydraulic works so thoroughly that on reaching bed -rock, the leads of very rich veins of gold-bearing quartz were revealed to him. The Emigrant district was until recent years only worked for its rich placer gold; but great possibilities await the development of the recently discovered quartz leads in the Great Eastern, St. Julien and the North Star—the St. Julien assaying as high as $368 in gold and about $40 in silver. A nugget of gold, weighing $58, was picked up in the Yellowstone near the present site of Gardiner by one Jim Ponsford. Rich spots have been found that yielded five thousand dollars per day to the washer, then after it was worked out it might be days or weeks before another was found. Gold is obtained from auriferous gravels of placer mines or from veins or lodes, and by one of the following methods : (a) By smelting ore from the veins or lodes. (b) By milling, amalgamation and concentration, together with cyaniding of quartz ores. (c) By placer, hydraulic mining or dredging of gravels. ׉ 7cassandra://HvxMEDu7umAaWtN6NBMKrBVPXOp35fKSEDAJMjz6zmg%.`fXkTfXkS(בCט(u׉׉ 7cassandra://9SMpEk6FS6yG1zgwvTX41RuIMBuQpcb-cmrZfi_O-1o`׉ 7cassandra://731Fb5zufOla67BAg55RCon66L5wlcLFVtxP1ZZT9NM~J`s׉ 7cassandra://pHlUIOE4LXrq9cm300PjQhlC--tHEWj5eDuhMKoSA9k"`fXkgט(u׉׉ 7cassandra://J8OTmXl0OAZbNJsXwIsKY4j5oITaukTu3joYVRHLqFU`׉ 7cassandra://TBbIIjRXsu0tBB7IpSX1ZenZZKQaJJsC0iLVc9_OjZU͈O`s׉ 7cassandra://kOa455nZ43lnksb5rW3QUr-gs-e5T62w4z-5oCTlarw!/`fXkh׉E MP a g e 4 G h o s t T o w n s a n d H i s t o r y o f M o n t a n a N e w s l e t t e r The smelting of the ores in Park county has only been in operation in the New World Mining district. Although this process of reduction would reap an abundant output of the hidden wealth in other districts, yet the lack of capital stands ever ready as a bugbear to taunt the ambitious owner of mines and mining prospects. This district is only in its infancy, today; but fabulous possibilities for her future are often given as the judgment of prominent mining experts. Fort Yellowstone Gold to the value of many thousand dollars is obtained annually by the Bear Gulch Mining and Milling company. Plans are in progress for the building of complete reduction works, the supply of ore from the mines necessitating their speedy erection. Placer mining to some extent has always attended the discovery of gold. It has been extracted from the gravel, either by the old process of panning, or the more expensive methods of dredging and hydraulics. About one-half million dollars has been realized from the partly developed placer districts of Emigrant Gulch, while the Boulder district (by the recent discoveries of E. H. Cowles) and Bear and Crevice gulches by their past year's output bear evidence of many millions of dollars in undeveloped dust and nuggets. SILVER While it is true that in this district silver usually accompanies gold in some quantities at least, but of the few discoveries that have been made in silver leads, the decrease in its marketable price has caused such propositions to remain idle for the time being. The production of silver in Park county for 1898 was about 60.34 fine ounces with a coining value of $78.01. Some of the assays made of silver in the New World Mining district yield one hundred fifty ounces per ton, and are now lying dormant. Although rich copper deposits have been discovered in the Boulder and Six-Mile districts, the lack of capital has prevented their development. The best possibilities for this metal are found in the Belt and Crazy Mountains, and the day is not far distant when a second Butte excitement will be realized. Platinum has been found in the form of placer in the diggings of Emigrant gulch. Bismuth and zinc are also found in small quantities throughout this gulch. Tin is present in the New World Mining district, and cinnabar ׉ 7cassandra://pHlUIOE4LXrq9cm300PjQhlC--tHEWj5eDuhMKoSA9k"`fXkU׉E P a g e 5 G h o s t T o w n s a n d H i s t o r y o f M o n t a n a N e w s l e t t e r is plainly visible in Cinnabar mountain. Lead mining has been the least important branch in the mining industry, yet the increase made during later years is proportionally greater than that shown in previous years. It occurs as a by-product in the output of gold and silver; but owing to the low price of ore and excessive freight rates to the consuming point, it is not found profitable to be developed to any great extent. Iron ore abounds in the Boulder, Six-Mile, Emigrant, New World and Sheepeater districts. The ore has only been utilized in the fluxing of the more valuable metals with which it is found as a by-product. The day is dawning when it will he used in manufacturing mouldings of castings and mining machinery. The coal industry of Park county is one of the oldest in Montana, the deposits at HORR yielding an annual output of many thousand tons of the best quality of lignite coal. This coal mining town is located on the Park Branch railway, about forty-five miles above Livingston. The Yellowstone river forms its eastern boundary and the base of the Cinnabar mountain range its western limit. The history of its coal industry dates back to 1804, when the Montana legislature, convening at Bannock, gave a company the sole right to mine coal from Cinnabar mountain. It was under the name of the "Red Streak Mountain Coal Company,'' and was taken from the Devil's Slide about a mile below the present townsite. Its development at this point finally ceased to occupy the mind of the public, and in 1875 G. W. Reese discovered the more favorable croppings at the present workings. He was returning home from a hunting trip, and, although much fatigued, lost no time in returning to the site where he staked out a claim of 160 acres. After developing this property to a satisfactory extent it was sold to Major J. L. Horr in 1883, who still retains the ownership of five-sixths of this mine, together with that of some three hundred more acres of coal land. In 1887 the Park Coal and Coke company was formed for the improvement and development of these mines on a more extensive scale than previously. The enterprise was set on foot by H. F. Brown, the president of the company. He believed that the extent of the measures and the excellent coking qualities of the coal justified the expenditure necessary in erecting coke works. This move was gradually strengthened by the enlistment of a number of local capitalists. The original ovens were what are known as “bank ׉ 7cassandra://kOa455nZ43lnksb5rW3QUr-gs-e5T62w4z-5oCTlarw!/`fXkVfXkU(בCט(u׉׉ 7cassandra://If0m1JAVXYusvdkwO7rjJZTJwGYE_dZ9VMG3U5B8v34׶`׉ 7cassandra://wJlAYMcbuUziTv8FZXkGJ226jR_4huVOH165YCuaZ6I͂`s׉ 7cassandra://dZSxQnilR5lRb8GuoZIdlBk8ZSWs1Dy-hsfV1JaEgmE#|`fXknט(u׉׉ 7cassandra://YK9xJsikNZbTqEGx-YfHg8sLHe7rNFEibTrzIdVaKqgQ`׉ 7cassandra://iKlWY2Vpy6whlfo3f5kvCcSOVX0DSlBdklxtIlgYjEA͝V`s׉ 7cassandra://dpkuEd_HXpMkAuJXEu8jA0rqkWbu3SRoZEj8ojz2OpA*`fXkoנfXkkZiN9׉HFhttps://ellenbaumler.blogspot.com/2013/10/buttes-house-of-mystery.htmlGׁ ׁ rנfXklB'*9׉H0http://ellenbaumler.blogspot.com/p/my-books.htmlGׁ ׁ rנfXkmD89׉H0http://ellenbaumler.blogspot.com/p/my-books.htmlGׁ ׁ rנfXku̎9ׁHmailto:tana@gmail.comׁ ׁ ЈנfXkt9ׁH$mailto:ghosttownsofmontana@gmail.comׁ ׁ ЈנfXksD9 9ׁH%http://ellenbaumler.blogspot.com/p/myׁ ׁ Ј׉E P a g e 6 ovens,” being a combination of rock and brick, with the lower portion built of fire rock, while the crowns were constructed of fire brick, shipped from Pennsylvania for that purpose. G h o s t T o w n s a n d H i s t o r y o f M o n t a n a N e w s l e t t e r The first series of operations consisted of twenty ovens at the base of the mountains, just above the present site of Horr. Owing to the increasing demand for coke an addition of twenty ovens was made soon after, thus demonstrating the successful coking character of the coal. Mammoth Hot Springs In August, 1889, the management of the company was bestowed upon J. H. Conrad, who was now the heaviest shareholder. Under his administration additional ovens were erected and improved machinery introduced. Butte, East Helena, Great Falls and Anaconda were the main shipping points for the coke, while they also supplied the demand upon the company for fuel coal. The mines of the company are situated some distance back from the ovens and are developed by over a mile of tunnels through the coal, exposing an apparently inexhaustible supply. At first the coal was delivered to the bunkers by cars drawn by mules, but this method becoming inadequate a large stationary engine and hoist were put in position to furnish the motive power. The coal bunkers are situated near the mines and have a capacity of many hundred tons. From these bunkers the coal used in the ovens was conveyed by means of a tramway to the bunkers in use at that point, while another tramway furnished transportation to the railroad for the fuel coal, delivering it directly into the cars. By the mule and tramway method the cost of transporting the coal to the ovens was from twenty five to thirty cents per ton, while the additional incidental expense made it practically impossible to reap a dividend on capital invested. In 1892 J. J. Howell, George Welcome and J. J. Rhoads proposed and constructed a flume from the mines to the oven vats, said flume being 10x12 inches and carrying a full head of water on an incline of four inches in eight feet. The chutes were so arranged at the mines that the coal entered this flume and was carried to the vats at the ovens by a current of water, and at the same time subjected to a thorough washing, thus performing this double office at the average cost of three cents per ton. –Read more in next month’s issue! Accessed via: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/ ׉ 7cassandra://dZSxQnilR5lRb8GuoZIdlBk8ZSWs1Dy-hsfV1JaEgmE#|`fXkZ׉E PP a g e 7 G h o s t T o w n s a n d H i s t o r y o f M o n t a n a N e w s l e t t e r Butte's House of Mystery The Montana Standard of September 2, 1936, reported on the demolition of a mysterious building on the corner of Galena and Wyoming in the heart of Butte’s historic red light district. 916 Sanborn-Perris map of Butte shows the House of Mystery on the corner of Galena and Wyoming. Note the label “Female Boarding” on neighboring buildings denoting prostitution. The long-abandoned building had been slated for demolition before, but the owner had always managed to avoid it. This, time, however, the public eyesore was coming down. As WPA workers began to gut the interior, they discovered the secrets it had long disguised. From the street it appeared to be a two story structure with street entrances to a dozen cribs—tiny offices where the women of the neighborhood had once plied their trade. In one of the crib windows, a display of women’s underwear lay in a pile, its fabric rotting and threadbare. But deeper within the building, workers discovered a threestory maze of hallways that criss-crossed each other, hidden passageways, false floors, tiny closets, and trick wiring. Electrical wires passed through the closets in such a way that the lights could be stealthily switched off from inside. Why would someone need to suddenly and clandestinely throw the building into darkness? When workmen pulled up the flooring with their crowbars, they exposed another dark secret in the basement: a buried room dug out of the bedrock with three filthy beds where someone, at some point in time, had obviously hidden. On one of these beds lay a faded photograph, taken by an Oakland, California, photographer, of two young Chinese boys, one dressed in a traditional embroidered tunic and trousers, the other boy in early nineteenth century American dress. Tunnels from this dugout room ran beneath Wyoming and Galena streets, but bedrock stopped both midway. Today a parking lot sits on this corner, and while the house is long gone, its mystery lingers in the tall tales of Butte. –Ellen Baumler Ellen Baumler was an award-winning author and Montana historian. A master at linking history with modern-day supernatural events, Ellen's true stories have delighted audiences across the state. The legacy she left behind will be felt for generations to come and we are in debt to her for sharing her extensive knowledge of Montana history in such an entertaining manner. To view and purchase Ellen’s books, visit: http:// ellenbaumler.blogspot.com/p/my-books.html Please be sure to share this newsletter with a friend! To receive it monthly, send an email with NEWSLETTER in the subject line to ghosttownsofmontana@gmail.com Would you like to receive our digital quarterly magazine for free? Just send an email with MAGAZINE in the subject to ghosttownsofmontana@gmail.com ׉ 7cassandra://dpkuEd_HXpMkAuJXEu8jA0rqkWbu3SRoZEj8ojz2OpA*`fXk[fXkZ(בCט(u׉׉ 7cassandra://jQSDPQGVctxjawcvkFgL-PIveeKxsZ-RlpZQ-9J9FUs`׉ 7cassandra://gVoW2gBuareqACMw6hKUAlm6qV5W99KpvLmSNJHX35g͌`s׉ 7cassandra://Puet0Db8XQ3KAjfWbhP0PTuJpRtl2jQmi4JYsKJfAes)d`fXkvנfXkq]9׉Hhttps://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fchroniclingamerica.loc.gov%2F%3Ffbclid%3DIwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR0pkVjNvsVoiNDeccJanMQAH5Wzxc8DJC0_kSbkiRJINkneAcHQr1EexJc_aem_HIqi748zlJ84EOvK-Cwjpw&h=AT0URIisJ7NtmHdtLEhvOcyAnU8wPzKvMePpjTtWFBJr6pwEXHLVCYXv9jntJJVgTolGׁ ׁ rנfXkxb9ׁH!http://chroniclingamerica.loc.govׁ ׁ Ј׉E EP a g e 8 G h o s t T o w n s a n d H i s t o r y o f M o n t a n a N e w s l e t t e r "Although this camp is not so large as Butte, what there is of it is lively and the present prospects are that at no distant day we can take our place in the front ranks of Montana's important mining districts. The camp is composed of four saloons and two boarding houses. Our two friends Capt. Parkison and W.W. Dailey are running the boarding houses." -From an excerpt in the Semi-Weekly Miner (Butte) referring to the mining camp of Comet on Dec. 12, 1883, Accessed via: chroniclingamerica.loc.gov Photos: One of the boarding houses in Comet, MT, taken by Jolene Ewert-Hintz It was a hot August afternoon in 1916 when a few girls from Bannack decided to go wading in nearby Grasshopper Creek to cool themselves. Sixteen year old Dorothy Dunn, Fern Dunn and Ruth Wornick chatted merrily while splashing around in the refreshing water until they stepped off a ledge and found themselves in an old dredge hole and, nine feet of water. Joy turned to panic as none of the girls were swimmers. A young lad by the name of Smith Paddock happened to hear their screams and jumped in to rescue the trio. Just 12 years old, he was able to save both Fern and Ruth. Sadly, Dorothy was lost that day. The town took it hard, especially Bertie Matthews, a close friend of Dorothy’s. Bertie’s parents managed the Hotel Meade at the time of Dorothy’s death and Bertie was quite shocked when she saw the ghost of Dorothy, wearing a blue dress and her long locks flowing, at the hotel. Over the years, countless others have also seen Dorothy at the hotel. Is she lost, looking for Bertie, or just stuck in time?? Photo by Jolene Ewert-Hintz, model: Kaitlin Keele My/Donor Information: SUBSCRIBE TO THE GHOST TOWNS AND HISTORY OF MONTANA NEWSLETTER! Renewal? Y/N Send a Gift to: NAME____________________________________ NAME___________________________________ ADDRESS__________________________________ ADDRESS_________________________________ CITY______________________________________ CITY_____________________________________ STATE__________________ZIP________________STATE_________________ ZIP________________ Yearly subscriptions are $19.95 (published monthly). Please make checks payable to Ghost Towns & History of MT, LLC and send with this clipping to P.O. Box 126, Warm Springs, MT 59756 ׉ 7cassandra://Puet0Db8XQ3KAjfWbhP0PTuJpRtl2jQmi4JYsKJfAes)d`fXk]׈EfXk^fXk](,&Ghost Towns & History of MT- Aug. 2024[Join us for stories and photos on the ghost towns and history of big sky country, Montana! f}\?