MAY 2024 Ghost Towns and History of Montana Newsletter From The Harlem News, May 11, 1934 RIVER OF GOLD In July 1863, hard rock gold was discovered nearly eight miles above Virginia City and the town of Summit soon grew. By fall of 1863, an estimated 10,000 people were living in Alder Gulch and the towns of Junction, Adobetown, Nevada City, Central City, Virginia City, Highland, Pine Grove, and Summit formed a nearly continuous settlement eleven miles long. Through the later 1860's placer claims were consolidated and hydraulicking began to replace shaft and drift placer operations. A complex and expensive system of dams and ditches brought water from the mountains to hydraulic mines near Nevada City. High up Alder Gulch, several lucrative hard rock mines operated stamp mills. Four Chilean mills brought at tremendous labor over the Bozeman trail operated at Union City. But the hard rock gold was richest near the surface, and ore values lessened as the shafts deepened. After the territorial capital moved to Helena in 1875, Virginia City slowly lost population. Hydraulic mining and several large hard rock mines continued to operate into the early 1890's. In 1897, The Conrey Placer Mining Co. began using the new placer mining technology of dredging. Four huge dredges were eventually built and the installation of high voltage power lines, brought in to power the dredges, made electrical history in Alder Gulch. Dredging continued into the 1930s. At the beginning of World War II, however, gold was declared a "nonessential mineral", and dynamiting was discontinued. Accessed via: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/ Photo Courtesy of the MT Heritage Commission
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 While a few small placer and hard rock operations continue even today, Virginia City's economy has depended upon tourism since the beginning of the Bovey's restoration efforts in the 1940s. The area near Virginia and Nevada Cities in Alder Gulch held the richest placer gold deposits in Montana, and some say richer than anywhere else on Earth. According to research done in the 1920s, over one hundred million dollars worth of gold had been removed from the gulch. At today’s prices, Alder Gulch has yielded something closer to two and a half billion dollars worth of gold! -Courtesy of the Montana Heritage Commission The River of Gold Mining exhibit and gold panning experience is a tribute to the gold rush days in Alder Gulch. It is located at 1559 MT Hwy 287 between Virginia City and Nevada City. Look for the big mining dredge on the west side of the road. For more information call 406-843-5247 or visit: https://virginiacitymt.com/ Photo by Jolene Ewert-Hintz The Old Lexington Stamp Mill was Butte's first stamp mill. It began as a five stamp mill and was erected by Charles Hendrie in 1867. A stamp mill is an ore crushing machine that pounds rock into fine sand. Soon after the mill's construction, Hendrie left Butte and never returned. A.J. Davis held the lien on the property and took over the mill. It laid idle for 9 years until a process to extract the minerals out of Butte's complex compounds was discovered. Because of the newly discovered metal extraction process, the mill was enlarged to ten stamps, and first blew it's work whistle on January 23, 1877. Eventually enlarged to a twenty stamp mill, it operated around the clock until Davis' death in 1890. In 1881 Davis sold the mill along with The Lexington Mine to a French Syndicate for $1 million (about $15 million in today's money). This was the largest transaction in Butte up to that time. Eventually, the mill processed about $45 million of wealth in today's money. –Courtesy of Interpretive Sign at Site Photo by Jolene Ewert-Hintz Photo by Jolene Ewert-Hintz
P a g e 3 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 Historic Mining on the Helena National Forest In the 1860’s, miners combed the mountains of southwestern Montana for gold, silver and other precious metals. Their simple pick, shovel and pan technology soon gave way to more aggressive hydraulic mining involving water, ditches, flumes and hoses. Gold mixed in stream (placer) deposits was washed free of gravel and sand, and collected in rocker and sluice boxes. Entire streambeds became fields of waste rock. The economic trade-off was millions of dollars worth of gold and precious metal. Colorful but short-lived mining camps sprang up in mountain gulches surrounding the diggings. Abandoned mining camps were washed away by subsequent placer and dredge mining or became ghost towns. When the rich placers played out in the 1870’s, the search for the “mother lode” began. This hailed the advent of hardrock lode mining and laid the economic foundation of many Montana communities. Lode mining involves excavating and processing of an ore body in order to free the gold and other precious metals embedded in its matrix. Once hauled from underground tunnels, the ore was crushed in stamp and ball mills. The crushed ore concentrate was transported to smelters in Anaconda, East Helena and far away Wales for final processing. Lode mines were dirty, noisy and dangerous places to work. Photo by Jolene Ewert-Hintz By the turn of the 20th century, lode mines of varying scale and fortune operated throughout southwestern Montana. Especially productive mines produced millions of dollars worth of precious metals. Flotation cell technology became the economic salvation of mining in Montana and the West in the late 1920’s. It allowed the mining of low-grade ore bodies after the richer deposits were exhausted. During the Great Depression, some mines remained solvent while others were operated at a subsistence level or went belly-up. World War II gave the mining industry a much-needed economic boost. The machinery of modern warfare depended on metal. In 1943, the Government passed an order that closed all mines not engaged in the production of strategic metals such as lead, copper, and zinc. This wartime order and ensuing economic speculation led to a period of unparalleled productivity at many southwestern Montana mines. Photo by Jolene Ewert-Hintz In the 1950’s, mining in the West changed. Open-pit mining was more cost efficient and safer. Ore concentrating and processing technology evolved. Corporate capital was needed to keep operations afloat. Most small corporate and family mining operations could not compete. Many are now historic mining ruins. – Courtesy of https://www.fs.usda.gov/
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 Early Montana Pioneers: The Story of William & Clara Dalton, and their daughter Matilda Dalton –Continued Main street of Virginia City in the early 1860s. On To Virginia City In May of 1863, gold was struck at Alder Gulch, about 80 miles east of Bannack. This discovery changed the course of history not only for Montana, but also for the Daltons. As did many of the residents of Bannack, the Daltons “followed the gold” and quickly moved to Alder Gulch, where the brand new mining camp by the name of Virginia City awaited them. History was unfolding, but of course no one at the time was aware of it or even thought about it. They were simply chasing their dreams for a better life. And as one might expect, Virginia City immediately became a classic Old West gold rush town just as Bannack did, with all that comes with that: miners, merchants, blacksmiths, missionaries, gamblers, gunfighters, claim jumpers, ladies of the night... and of course murderers and thieves. Gunfights were a daily occurrence in the middle of main street, and thieves were busy robbing and killing innocent people of their gold. Sheriff Henry Plummer and “The Innocents” The acting sheriff of Virginia City was reportedly very meek, quiet and ineffective in curbing the lawlessness. Then in May of 1863, a charming, well-refined 27 year old New England man glowing with charisma by the name of Henry Plummer, road into Virginia City via California, and quickly stepped in as the new sheriff of Virginia City. Soon after Henry Plummer became sheriff, the town of Virginia City as well as the stagecoach road between Virginia City and Bannack, became terrorized by a ruthless gang of road agents who called themselves “The Innocents”. They were responsible for over 100 murders in a single year (1863) as they robbed people of their gold. William Dalton’s Encounter With Henry Plummer on Virginia City's Main Street Matilda Dalton recalls that her father William was walking across the street of Virginia City in the fall of 1863, and encountered Sheriff Henry Plummer. William and his family lived next to the Plummer Farm near Portage City, Wisconsin for 8 years and were not only neighbors but were also friends of the Plummer Family. Henry was just a boy at the time and William remembered him well. On the main street of Virginia City, William spoke to Plummer and talked of their neighboring family farms near Portage City, Wisconsin. Plummer immediately denied knowing William and claimed he had never lived in Wisconsin. Matilda recalled that at dinner that night, her father William told the family that he was completely puzzled why Plummer denied knowing him and why he claimed he’d never lived in Wisconsin. William was 100% pos
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 itive this was the Henry Plummer from Portage City. It was later discovered that William was correct… Vigilante Justice The Vigilantes of Virginia City and Bannack swiftly put an end to the lawlessness by taking the law into their own hands. After over 100 people had been robbed and murdered during the last year, Nathanial P. Langford and a host of other Freemasons, secretly formed what was known as “The Vigilance Committee” in Virginia City. On December 22, 1863, these Freemasons took a formal oath, and began “cleaning up” the town. (It is not known if William Dalton was a member of the Vigilance Committee, as he was indeed a Freemason by this time.) In just the first two months following taking this oath, the Vigilance Committee hanged 24 men. Soon after William Dalton spoke with Plummer on the main street of Virginia City in the late fall of 1863, where Plummer denied knowing William and denied ever living in Wisconsin, it was discovered that Henry Plummer was not the “good sheriff” everyone thought he was. Several days before the January 13, 1864 hanging of Frank Parish, Boone Helm, Jack Gallagher, Haze Lyons and George Lane (Clubfoot George) on the main street of Virginia City in an unfinished, open-beamed building, the Montana Vigilantes hit “pay dirt”. While sitting in a jail cell, Clubfoot George ratted out his accomplices with the hope of avoiding being hanged. Clubfoot George's accomplices then ratted out Henry Plummer as the secret leader of “The Innocents”. Plummer and his deputies were quickly arrested and hanged on January 10, 1864 in Bannack, on the gallows that Henry Plummer himself ordered to be built prior to being caught. (By the way, of all the road agents who were hanged in Virginia City and Bannack, it was reported that Plummer was the only man who cried and begged for his life.) It was also learned that Plummer was wanted for the murder of his business partner John Vedder in California years earlier and was hiding from his past in the Territory of Montana. Following these January hangings, the rest This wagon and blacksmith shop was where the Vigilantes would hold their secret meetings in 1863 and 1864 on the main street of Virginia City. This building still stands today. This is the building where Frank Parish, Boone Helm, Jack Gallagher, Haze Lyons and George Lane (Clubfoot George) were hanged on January 13, 1864. This building, known as "The Hangman's Building", still stands on the main street of Virginia City, and the rope marks on the support beam from which they were hanged are still visible. of the road agents who didn’t die at the end of a rope, fled the area, never to be seen or heard from again.
P a g e 6 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 Typhoid Fever Outbreak: The Deaths of William and Clara Dalton During the exact same time as the January 1864 hangings, Matilda at the age of 19, contracted typhoid fever as did many of the residents of the Virginia City gold camp. Many people died, but Matilda survived. William and Clara cared for Matilda during her illness, where they both contracted typhoid fever and died within 2 weeks of each other in January of 1864. They were buried beside each other in the Virginia City cemetery that was located on a hill directly above the town. As earlier stated, according to Matilda Dalton, William Dalton’s funeral was the second Masonic funeral in the Territory of Montana. The first Masonic funeral was that of William H. Bell, who died in the fall of 1862 in Bannack Montana of “mountain fever”, which was actually typhoid fever. Road Agents and Boot Hill Henry Plummer, the sheriff of Virginia City, and the secret leader of the road agent gang known as "The Innocents". The Boot Hill grave markers of the 5 road agents who were hanged on January 13,1864 on the main street of Virginia City. Their names are Frank Parish, Boone Helm, Jack Gallagher, Haze Lyons and George Lane, a.k.a. Clubfoot George. The Daltons' graves are located just to the left of these road agents' graves. Days after William and Clara’s death, following the hanging of Helm, Lane, Gallagher, Parrish and Lyon in that unfinished building on the main street of Virginia City on January 13, 1864, the Vigilantes buried these road agents in unmarked graves in the Virginia City Cemetery with their boots on, right next to Clara and William Dalton’s graves. Several years later, the residents of Virginia City felt that they did not want their relatives buried next to notorious Road Agents, so they moved their relatives’ graves to another location above Virginia City. The only residents left behind were William and Clara Dalton, because there were no family members present to move their grave site. So for over 110+ years, William and Clara Dalton laid next to the Road Agents graves on what became known as “Boot Hill”. For many years, most visitors to Boot Hill did not know why the Daltons were buried along side murderers. Most visitors simply assumed that the Daltons were road agents just like the others buried there. This bothered my Mother, Doris Jeanne Thibadeau Biegel and her sister Noreen Thibadeau Swanz
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 (Matilda Dalton’s great granddaughters) to no end. So my mother and aunt, both of Harlowton, Montana, contacted the Montana Historical Society, and together erected an interpretive sign exGrave site of William and Clara Dalton on Boot Hill in Virginia City Montana, with the interpretive sign telling their story. David's mother and aunt were an integral part of getting this sign erected. Interpretive sign by William and Clara Dalton's grave telling their story. plaining the Daltons’ story. This all happened in the late 1970’s, and my mother and aunt were very proud of being an integral part of this project. Both my mother Doris Jeanne Thibadeau Biegel and my aunt Noreen Thibadeau Swanz (who have both since passed) are official members of “Sons and Daughters of Montana Pioneers”, and were extremely proud of her deep Montana pioneer heritage to the day they died. Below is my mother’s certificate.... My mother's Certificate of Membership of the Sons and Daughters of Montana Pioneers. William and Clara's gravesite on Boot Hill, overlooking Virginia City. Matilda Marries Count Zebulon Bonaparte Thibadeau Following the death of William and Clara Dalton in January of 1864, Matilda was left with three younger siblings to care for, which was a near impossible task for a young 19 year old girl in a wild gold rush town. However Matilda was not just any 19 year old girl... -Be sure to catch our next newsletter for the conclusion of the Dalton story! A big Thank You to David and Shannon Biegel at www.enjoyyourparks.com for sharing their amazing family history with us!
P a g e 8 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 Pictograph Cave Cannibals English professor H. Melville Sayre of the Montana School of Mines at Butte led the first archaeological excavations at Pictograph Cave, a National Historic Landmark, near Billings. Under foreman Oscar T. Lewis, a Glendive rancher and self-taught archaeologist, the dig was funded by the Depression-era New Deal Works Progress Administration of the 1930s. It put numerous crew members to work. According to locals who frequented the excavation site as visitors in 1937 and 1938, both Sayre and Lewis told fantastic tales. They claimed to have found evidence that Ice Age occupants practiced cannibalism. They backed up their story with the supposed discovery of human teeth, a human skull with knife marks consistent with removal of the tongue, and butchered human rib bones bearing human teeth marks. While Sayre’s formal report to Governor Roy Ayers is considerably less flamboyant, he does mention that some items yielded evidence consistent with cannibalistic activity. Lewis further speculates in his notes that notched bone projectile points found in the caves came from Inuits in the Arctic. He figured that the Inuits harpooned buffalo that did not die, but migrated south where they were eventually killed by the early inhabitants of the Yellowstone Valley. Writer Glendolin Damon Wagner, who wrote about evidence of cannibalism among other indigenous peoples, painted a vivid picture of the finds in Pictograph Cave in the Rocky Mountain Husbandman of May 3, 1938. But when professional archaeologist Dr. William Mulloy took over the Pictograph Cave excavations in 1941, these tales died a swift death. If evidence of cannibalism existed, it has been lost along with many of the artifacts discovered under Lewis and Sayre. Most scientists discount cannibalism among Montana’s first peoples as nothing more than bunk. - Ellen Baumler Bill Browne, photographer, Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives, PAc 90-96 P3 #18 Archaeologists Gus Helbronner (left) and Wahle Phelan during excavation of Pictograph Cave, c. 1937 Ellen Baumler was 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. The legacy she left behind will be felt for generations to come and we are in debt to her for sharing her extensive knowledge of Montana history in such an entertaining manner. To view and purchase Ellen’s books, visit: http:// ellenbaumler.blogspot.com/p/my-books.html My/Donor Information: SUBSCRIBE TO THE GHOST TOWNS AND HISTORY OF MONTANA NEWSLETTER! Renewal? Y/N Send a Gift to: NAME____________________________________ NAME___________________________________ ADDRESS__________________________________ ADDRESS_________________________________ CITY______________________________________ CITY_____________________________________ STATE__________________ZIP________________STATE_________________ ZIP________________ Yearly subscriptions are $19.95 (published monthly). Please make checks payable to Ghost Towns & History of MT, LLC and send with this clipping to P.O. Box 126, Warm Springs, MT 59756
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