P 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 USED GOLD HANDBALL The gold found in all of the western diggings was coarse at the upper part of the gulches, gradually becoming finer when near the mouth. Nuggets were reported to have been as common as gold dust in Blackfoot territory. At Pence's Discovery, a group of miners, when playing handball, substituted a nugget weighing $11,880 for a ball. California gulch, once entirely abandoned, was held to be one of the richest gulches in Montana. Of lesser importance but classified as “good diggings” were the Bailey, Hero, Eliza Smith, Homer Dick Mason, Blucher and the Phil Sheridan. In these were an immense amount of quartz. Small towns sprang up at many of the bars and gulches for the accommodation of miners, who Photo by Jolene Ewert-Hintz found it too inconvenient to ride in to Blackfoot City as often as they needed supplies. There were many stores, some in small lean-tos and some simply set up in the brush. One of the smallest, but most flourishing, businesses was “Whisky Keg Store,” located at McClellan gulch. As the name implied, the store itself was nothing more than a large whisky keg from which supplies were handed out as customers demanded them. Blackfoot residents possessed a deep loyalty to their gulch or bar in which their claims were located. A miner of Poor Man's gulch in describing his fellow workers said, “Poor Man's gulch Is full of real prospectors, not green puny men from the states, but stout, hard working men, mostly of middle age who have served long apprenticeships; men who work more and swear less than our eastern frontier men and a great majority are very strong for the union.” A clannish spirit existed between the so-called Pikes Peakers and the Californians. Reported a miner from Jefferson gulch, “A Californian is broad shouldered, bronzed, and exceedingly intelligent looking and Godlike in appearance.” Needless to say, the describer was a Californian. AN INDIAN MASSACRE As in other mining towns, Blackfoot occasionally experienced troubles with the Indians, the first and probably the most serious, occurring on June 25, 1865, when Captain Burns, Frank Angevine, John Alley, the Kings brothers and several others whose names are unknown, were attacked and killed by Indians who resented the white men using too much timber and wild game. A meeting of citizens was called with Judge Brond presiding. In a war speech, he declared it necessary for the governor to declare martial war throughout the territory for 30 days and that all able bodied men fight the disturbers of peace. Remarks were made by Judge Parrott and Colonel Bagg, the latter reading resolutions which were adopted by the meeting, petitioning men to raise companies and fight the Indians to the death. The following Monday and Wednesday rumors were afloat of prospectors being found dead and that freight lines were corralled by Indians who were camped in large numbers along the side of Sun river. Orders were immediately dispatched by the governor to organize a force of 500 men to dispel the Indians. This seemed to discourage the Indians who evidently considered theirs a lost cause and disbanded.
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