Pa g e 9 Gho s t T o w n s a n d Hi st o r y o f Mo n t a n a N e w s l e t t er tures in Europe and Asia. Following the war, the lumber industry, now fitted with machines that enabled loggers to reach previously inaccessible timber, took off again. Another new industry also flourished. In the regrowth that followed the logging of the previous decades came an abundance of Douglas fir trees that found a market as Christmas trees. Through the 1950s and 1960s Christmas trees left the valley by the train load, so many that Eureka became known as the Christmas tree capitol of the world. The next change to be wrought on Eureka and its surrounds was the flooding of the Kootenai River Valley by Libby Dam. The railroad now reaches Eureka as a spur line and though the production of timber flourished into the first years of the 21st Century, the major mills eventually closed. Eureka and the Tobacco Valley now depend largely on the influx of tourists who come to enjoy its relatively unspoiled environment. –Gary Montgomery Gary Montgomery is a local historian and publisher who found a home in the Tobacco Plains country many years ago. For the last 29 years he has published The Trail, a quarterly magazine that features interviews with old-timers, vintage photographs, diaries and other tidbits of northwest Montana history. His book, "Tobacco Valley", appeared as part of the Images of America series by Arcadia Publishing. Although The Trail is no longer in publication, you can request past issues at: trail@interbel.net THE LOST MINE OF THE YELLOWSTONE A golden secret lies in the shadow of Emigrant Peak south of Livingston. Somewhere along the trail to Yellowstone Park, among the gulches where countless winter snows and spring floods have scoured the landscape, lies the fountain of gold, the mother lode, the source of the golden veins that brought miners by the hundreds to Yellowstone City and Emigrant Gulch. David Weaver panned the first gold in Emigrant Gulch—Montana’s fih great gold discovery—in 1864. He, David Shorthill, Frank Garre, and others from the States named Emigrant peak, creek, and gulch. These early miners found Jim Bridger’s calling card: twenty elk antlers stuck in a lone pine tree. They assumed that these meant Bridger had been there at some me in the past. Two years later, with a party of other miners, Weaver made an incredibly rich find in the mountains near Emigrant Peak. But the danger of Indian aack made the miners’ work extremely hazardous, and so when the first snow began to fall, the miners were forced to abandon their diggings. Two years later, two of the men returned to find their discovery, but two winters and springs had erased all familiar traces. The miners francally searched and searched, but the mine was not to be found. Weaver had taken samples of the ore and had them assayed. They proved to be worth $5,000 to the ton, a spectacular amount. Over the years, members of Weaver’s party returned to search the area, but the mine was never found. It is remembered today as the “Lost Mine of the Yellowstone.” -Ellen Baumler Ellen Baumler is an award-winning author and Montana historian. A master at linking history with modern-day supernatural events, Ellen's true stories have delighted audiences across the state. She lives in Helena in a century-old house with her husband, Mark, and its resident spirits. To view and purchase Ellen’s books, visit: http:// ellenbaumler.blogspot.com/p/my-books.html Courtesy RootsWeb
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