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 RED MOUNTAIN CITY- RIVAL CAMP Photo by Jolene Ewert-Hintz Old Cabin in the Highland Mining District Butte once had a populous and promising rival camp which was the scene of many rich placer “strikes” and great activity. It was in the late sixties that a few roving prospectors made a “strike” on Silver Bow creek and up towards the old Butte townsite, in the neighborhood of the present gas plant. The stampede which followed resulted in the building of cabins, sawmills, blacksmith shops, stores, saloons, dance halls, and all the requisites of a thriving little town, which they named Red Mountain City. At the first Silver Bow county election, there were a thousand voters at Red Mountain City—a sizeable settlement. At one time, after that outside capital had been interested, wild-cat ideas were promoted in a somewhat “ shady” manner, and the town assumed an apparent air of stability and future, for extensive operations were started on one or two of the properties. However, the bubble burst, and the placers being worked out, the town began to dwindle. Somewhere, on the old townsite of Red Mountain City lies buried a large fortune. It was the property of a man known as Beastly Butler. He was so called because of his extreme carelessness in dress and of his person. This was all the more noted and criticized because of the fact that he was a man of unusual mind and education. He worked diligently upon a placer claim and made a lot of money, which he put into tin cans and buried somewhere near his cabins, it was supposed. One day he was killed by a fall of earth on his claim. His fellow citizens searched in vain for the cache, but the gold was never found. This is another of the many secrets which lie buried with those Montana mining camps which used to be but are now no more. -The Choteau Acantha Newspaper, October 1, 1942, Accessed via: www.montananewspapers.org THE FIRST HOUSE IN BUTTE It’s fairly common knowledge that the first home built in Butte was located on what is now East Quartz Street. For me, at least, that was all I knew. But the special edition of The Butte Bystander newspaper for April 15, 1897, recounts stories of “old timers” and Butte history that is lost, including this sketch of that first house.
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