Ghost Towns and History March 29, 2020 Ghost Towns and History of Montana Newsletter G L E N D A L E , M O N T A N A Crumbling walls from a former company office, a now smokeless stack, an old wooden storefront and some charcoal kilns resting on nearby Canyon Creek are the bits and pieces left to mark the once thriving camp of Glendale. A 10-ton lead smelter was built here in 1875 following the first lode discovery a few years prior by William Spur and then rediscovered by James Bryant. Local legend says the town site of Glendale could just have easily been named Clifton. Both names were written on a wooden chip, it was thrown into the air and when it landed with Glendale face up, lady luck had decided on the name Glendale. Or, was that just a story passed down through the years? Glendale would grow to a population of 2,000. Photo by Jolene Ewert-Hintz From The Dillon Tribune Newspaper, April 5, 1912 Accessed at montananewspapers.org Photo by Jolene Ewert-Hintz The Hecla Mining
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 District spread out for miles along the gulches of Lion Mountain. Why Mountain? Well, when prospector Joe McCreary mistook a white mule for a mountain lion, his fellow miners razed him so badly, they called the whole mountain “Lion” to pick on their buddy so he could never live it down. Or, is that another tall tale? Following the first discoveries, 10 tons of high grade silver-lead ore was shipped to Swansea, Wales for smelting. Towns included in the district were Trapper City, Lion City, Glendale and Hecla. Trapper City was the first settlement of the group but was short lived and abandoned as larger ore bodies were found on the mountain. Lion City sprouted up and grew to 500 people. The original smelter at Glendale which produced one million ounces of silver and thousands of tons of lead and copper annually, succumbed to a fire in 1879. The Hecla Consolidated Mining Company built a new, larger one in its place under the direction of Henry Knippenberg. Knippenberg had the town of Hecla built about a mile from Lion City and it grew to a population of about 1,500 and included a church and a school. It was to be a less rowdy gathering spot than Lion City turned out to be. Knippenberg added the Greenwood concentrator halfway down the mountain a year later. Supplying charcoal to the smelting furnaces at Glendale was a large job as they were using 100,000 bushels of charcoal a Photo by Jolene Ewert-Hintz Photo by Jolene Ewert-Hintz month. To help power the nearby operations, Hecla mining ran its own 38 kiln charcoal plant at Canyon Creek north of Glendale. When railroad services arrived in nearby Melrose, this greatly benefited the Hecla Mining operations by bringing many ore deposits within economical distance to the smelters and reduction works. Like so many others, the Bryant District was hit hard by the devastating drop in the price of silver. Production started to slow down and the smelters at Glendale were forced to close in 1900. But over the years, the local mines produced a whopping $22 million in silver and other metals.
G h o s t T o w n s a n d H i s t o r y P a g e 3 Memorable Montanans- Gwenllian Evans: Montana's first female homesteader. Gwenllian was born April 15, 1802 in Wales. She came to Montana in 1869 with her son and daughter-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Morgan Evans. Shortly after her arrival, Gwenllian filed and enPhoto by Jolene Ewert-Hintz try on 160 acres of land that would later be known as Opportunity and, an opportunity it was. She lived on her land the required length of time and received a government patent. This place would also become one of the state's earliest post offices known by the name of Gwendale (later changed to Morristown as not to be confused with Glendale). Gwenllian acted as one of the territory's first post mistresses. Her son, Morgan Evans served as Marcus Daly's land agent. Gwenllian passed away in 1892 and is buried in a local Anaconda cemetery. Pipestone Hot Springs- Montana’s hot springs were a great way to relax and socialize. Some waters even claimed to cure such ills as bad kidneys, rheumatism and paralysis. Pipestone Hot Springs located between Butte and Whitehall was discovered in the 1860s by John Paul who had homesteaded in the area. Pipestone supposedly got its name from the material found in the area that was used to make clay pipes. Legend tells us the area was once dotted with wickiups and served as a meeting spot for local tribes under truce. Ollie Barnes became the first postmistress of Pipestone in the 1880s and under her management of the springs, a hotel, barn and guest house were constructed. The post office closed but would open again in 1887 with John Paul once again serving as owner. The cost to enjoy the springs and all of its amenities was $2 a day. Ollie and her husband, Charles Bucket, would take over yet again in the 1890s. John Paul passed away in 1913. Pipestone Springs became a station on the Northern Pacific’s main line. The property was acquired around 1918 by a consortium of Butte businessmen and with that, the hotel was joined by a bathhouse and 100 canvas-roofed cottages. The businessmen offered a sanitarium, an indoor swimming pool known as “the plunge” and for a time, a golf course. Croquet games in the afternoon and dances in the evenings followed by a good soak were enjoyed by many in the area. The resort closed in 1963. Photo by Jolene Ewert-Hintz
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 Simple grave markers pay a humble tribute to the miners buried at the Sand Park Cemetery between 1898 and 1914. Little more is known than their names and the year of death. Most of the other hard-rock-era miners who had family and means chose to be buried in "consecrated ground" in metropolitan areas like Missoula or Deer Lodge. We can only surmise that these men died far from family in their quest for gold. They rest close to the source of their dreams of wealth, in the heart of the Garnet Mountains. Photo by Jolene Ewert-Hintz Photo by Jolene Ewert-Hintz When driving through prime wheat country, it’s hard to imagine that the townsite of Carlyle was once home to some two hundred souls, lumberyards, a blackFrom The Madisonian (Virginia City, MT) April 16, 1886 Would you like to receive our digital quarterly magazine for free? Just send an email with MAGAZINE in the subject to ghosttownsofmontana@gmail.com smith, restaurant, barber shop and hardware store. Located near the North Dakota border, it was named for the son of Arthur C. Knutson, who had a store and was postmaster when the office opened in 1907. The school closed in the 1970s and the post office saw its last letter in 1986. Photo by Jolene Ewert-Hintz Please be sure to share this newsletter with a friend!
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