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
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