APRIL 2022 Ghost Towns and History of Montana Newsletter From the Searchlight, April 8, 1910 FIRST DISCOVERY OF GOLD IN MONTANA IN 1858 (An excerpt from the unpublished memoirs of the late Granville Stuart) In the spring of 1858 John Powell, Fred Burr, Thomas Adams, Rezan Anderson, James Stuart and myself camped on Flint Creek just above the forks and just below where the town of Hall now is, and built and Indian-proof corral, as we were much harassed by a war party of Blackfeet, who made nightly attempts to steal our horses. Photo by Jolene Ewert-Hintz The principal object of our visit to the Deer Lodge country was to kill and dry meat enough to last us to Fort Bridger and to do a little prospecting, rumors having reached us that a half-breed from the Red River of the North had found gold on Benetsee Creek. On May 2nd, 1858, James Stuart, Rezan Anderson, Thomas Adams and myself packed up what tools we had, which comprised of an old square-ended spade with the hand-hold broken out of the top of the handle, a blunt old States pick with an ill-fitting willow handle which Adams had found in his wagon when he bought it in Salt Lake, and a tin bread pan that we had brought with us from California, and we started for Benetsee Creek on a prospecting trip. Accessed via: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov We followed up the creek about five miles, carefully searching for any signs of prospecting having been done, but found nothing. We tried the gravel
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