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.
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