P a g e 7 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 The above comments leads one to believe that John Lannan (Lannon) may have been with Mullan and then went back to get his family and returned to Montana. It is documented that the Lannan family arrived at Bannack then moved to Helena and Bridget and Edward spent the winter in Helena before moving to the mouth of Bear. If John had set up a camp at the site while building the Mullan Road during the winter of 1861-62 he certainly would have felt comfortable returning to the area to mine, earn a grubstake and then settle down with his family. Hopefully more information will be discovered in the census records about the family in 1860. Mining Camps The camp named Bear grew around mining claims in the narrow gulch above Bearmouth. Bed rock was 70 feet below the surface and the streak of placer gold was very narrow. Water was necessary for placer mining and even when the miners made reservoirs and let water flow only limited hours a day, the season for washing the diggings was very short. Phil Newman’s Sawmill at Garnet As more miners came into the area they moved up the gulches and Yreka, Silver City, and Reynolds City were populated. There are frequent references in the early newspapers about Reynolds City in 1865. Half of the camp burned in a fire on July 18, 1867. The camp was named after the discoverer of the first gold, Jack Reynolds'. The mining camp had a population of about 500 people during the two years it was active. Another camp named Top O' Deep had a post office from 1893 to 1894 with Tillie Kreuzberger as post master. When stamp mills became popular the mining had a resurgence and the camps of Garnet and Coloma sprang up. Garnet's post office was established in 1897 under the name of Mitchell and changed later that year to Garnet. It served 100 addresses and about 1,000 miners. Coloma is located about three miles over the ridge from Garnet and is now located in Powell county. An in depth discussion of the camps and mines is available at the Montana Department of Environmental Quality http:// www.deq.mt.gov/abandonedmines/linkdocs/62tech.mcpx . Garnet is now Unknown residents walking the Garnet main street 1902 on the National Register of Historic Places and managed by the BLM. Frank Davey and Sam Ritchie (Ritchey) are the two most prominent pioneers in the area and detailed in depth in readily available publications so will not be discussed in this blog.
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