P a g e 4 C h a r t e r O a k , M o n t a n a G h o s t T o w n s a n d H i s t o r y Chuckwagon Etiquette 1. Dismount and take care of your horse away from the wagon. 2. Fill your plate and move on, so there’s room at the pot for the next cowboy in line 3. Be careful where you set the lid down and dish up on the lee side of the wind, so’s nobody gets a helpin’ of dust with their grub. 4. Put the pot back on the fire and make sure all the boys have eaten before you go back for seconds. 5. Eat what you take and scrape the scraps into the “squirrel can” so’s not to attract flies. 6. If you are pouring a second cup of coffee for yourself and you hear “man at the pot!”, you’re obliged to serve refills. 7. Throw your dirty dishes in the “wreck pan”. 8. Make a stranger feel welcome and point him to a set of “eatin irons”. Photo by Jolene Ewert-Hintz Charter Oak was a lode mine and mill active off and on from 1916 to 1955. The Hopkins family ran the first Charter Oak operation as a stamp mill until the stock market crash of 1929. The mine was inactive during the first years of the Great Depression. In 1942, the Hopkins & Sons Mining Company developed the 50-ton flotation mill you see today. The Hopkins brothers and leaseholder James Bonner operated the mine throughout World War II and into the 1950s. World War II brought great productivity to the mine. Designated a strategic metals mine by the federal government, Charter Oak produced lead and zinc essential to fighting the war. Toxic waste rock and mill tailings were removed from Charter Oak from 19961998. The historic mine has been stabilized and interpreted by the Forest Service with the invaluable assistance of Passport in Time program volunteers and Helena High School X-CEL program students. Charter Oak is one of a handful of standing World War II-era lode mines still in existence on public land in the West. For this reason, the Charter Oak mine was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2001. The remains of the Charter Oak operation are located near the Little Blackfoot River south of Elliston. TO REMOVE FRECKLES Put half a pound best Windsor soap scraped fine into a half a gallon boiling water; stir it well until it cools, add a pint of spirits of wine and a half an ounce of oil of rosemary; stir well.
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