MINES & MINING CAMPS
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Also, see links at the bottom of the page for other Montana Mine & Ghost Town links AJAX MINE, Hassel area Often believed in the past to be an extension of the Diamond Hill lead mine because of the striking similarities between the two ores found in both places.ADA MINE, Giant Hill area ANTELOPE CREEK MINE, Casey Peek area ARGO MINE, Hellgate Gulch area Operated before 1918 & produced about 3 million pounds of copper worth about a half a million dollars in this lode mine.BC No. 2 MINE, Giant Hill area BADGER GULCH MINE, Giant Hill area BAKER MINE, Diamond City area BEAUTY MINE, Radersburg area BIG CHIEF MINE, Winston area BIG HILL MINE, Hassel area One of the Park MinesBLACK FRIDAY MINE, Radersburg area One of the mines that kept producing later than most. In 1910 it was still producing.BLACK HAWK MINE, Radersburg SW area BLACKSMITH MINE, Giant Hill area BLUEBIRD MINE, Radersburg & Giant Hill areas BONANZA MINE, Radersburg & Crow Creek Falls areas BONANZA CHIEF MINE, Radersburg area One of the late mines in the Radersburg area. Discovered by Boyd & Rader after most of the other mines in the area had played out.BOOM MINE, Diamond City area BOULDER BAR (an area where gold was discovered) Approximately 2 million dollars worth of gold was found here. It was discovered in 1865 & was at the junction of Montana Gulch & Confederate Gulch.BUCKEYE MINE, Giant Hill area BULLION KING MINE, Giant Hill area BUNKER HILL MINE, Hassel area One of the Park Mines.CENTRAL MINE, Giant Hill area CONFEDERATE GULCH (area with mines in it) The rich gold deposits of this area were supposedly discovered by some prisoners of Sterling Price's Confederate troops after being given the choice by their Union captors of surrendering & going home or being released in Montana Territory. The ones who chose Montana were released in the territory close to the headwaters of the Missouri River. The released prisoners left Fort Benton on foot & headed off for the Last Chance area where they had heard gold was being found in large amounts. Three of the men reached the mouth of the gulch in 1864. These were Pomp Dennis, Jack Thompson & Washington Baker. They found a small amount of gold in the sand, but it was further up that they really struck pay-dirt. Needless to say, this discovery brought a lot of others to the area. This led to the mining camp called Diamond City, with hundreds of miners there within a couple of weeks of the initial discovery. The name, Confederate Gulch, either came from these Confederate soldiers who discovered it or from Jack Thompson (one of them) who believed that the Confederacy would win & hence named it such. Throughout 1865, many other discoveries were made along this area: Boulder bar, Gold Hill, Diamond Bar, Greenhorn Gulch, Montana Bar, at the foot of Gold Hill, were all upstream from Diamond City. Montana & Cement Gulch's gold was orignially found by a group of Germans which caused a rush into those areas. A few of the many miners in these areas were Thomas M. Brown, Worcester Fox & 4 Germans: John Shonneman, Alex Campbell, Charles Fredericks & Judson.CONGRESS MINE, Radersburg area Opened by James A. Keating & his partners, Blacker & Oldham, after their success with the original Keating mine.COPPER CITY I MINE, Butte South area COPPER CITY II MINE, Three Forks area COPPER QUEEN MINE, Radersburg area COPPER QUEEN MINE, Hellgate Gulch area CRASS MINE, Giant Hill area CROW CREEK PIT MINE, Giant Hill area CUSTER / HYANATHA MINE, Winston area DANDY MINE, Radersburg area DEVIL'S BOTTOM MINE, Toston area DEER LODE MINE, Radersburg area One of the late mines in the Radersburg area. Discovered by Boyd & Rader after most of the other mines in the area had played out.DIAMOND BAR (an area where gold was found) A part of Confederate Gulch, directly above & north of Diamond City. Boulder Ditch Co. built a long ditch to supply this area with water to work the claims.DIAMOND HILL MINE, Giant Hill area About 1/2 mile above Hassel, was considered the "Mother Lode" because of the enormous amount of ore found there.DIAMOND CITY (a mining camp in Confederate Gulch) Diamond City today is a ghost town, but it has an interesting past. It was originally the county seat of Meagher Co. The town was considered a "boom-town" from 1865-68 while the large amounts of gold were being pulled out of the ground. It was named Diamond City because the layout of the first 4 counties formed a diamond. It was originally built in the bed of Confederate Gulch, but because of the mining & constant diversions of water & piling up of gravel & mud from mining, the buildings had to be raised on stilts, many several times. The buildings were finally moved to higher ground. The town had one long street & there was a daily coach service running from Last Chance to Diamond City when the weather wasn't too bad. At one point the city was reported to have 10,000 people in it. They had a masonic lodge where the members were also members of the Vigilantes. The Good Templars Lodge in 1870 showed a membership of 70 people. The Rocky Mountain Husbandman Newspaper was in business here in 1875. Then the gold started running out. By 1880, the population had dropped to 60 & by 1883 there were only 4 families left.Some of the known people in the area during the boom-time were Jack Howard (hung by the Vigilantes for robbing in 1865), Mulk, Dick Richardson (from the Recorder), R.N.Sutherlin (of the Rocky Mountain Husbandman newspaper), Thomas H. Brown, T. Collins, Charley Smith, W.C.Landers (Collins, Smith & Landers fell down a 20' shaft in 1869 but all survived), Mr. Kelley (a school teacher) & Hanson H. Barnes, who came around the Horn (later postmaster in White Sulphur Springs). Frank Grouard also passed through here at one point, although he was less than impressed with the area & ran the pony express route from here to Fort Hall. The Germans were prominent in the population here & hence caused many to think this area was more industrious than most. The Chinese came in after the rush was over & reworked the tailings.DOLCOATH MINE, Giant Hill area DOOLITTLE GULCH MINE, Helgate Gulch area EAST PACIFIC MINE, Winston area This mine was approximately 6 miles SW from Winston & was owned by Robert A. Bell in the 1890s. It produced some great veins of lead & silver, along with a small amount of gold. The mine lasted 12 years & made Mr. Bell a very wealthy man, although he lost it all in Texas gambling on oil wells.ELDORADO MINE, Radersburg area GOLD BRICK MINE, Radersburg area GOLD BUG MINE, Giant Hill area GOLD DUST MINE, Radersburg area GOLD HILL, Confederate Gulch area At the foot of this hill was Montana Bar which contained 2 acres of a fabulous gold vein. Worchester Fox worked here for 35 years. Even when most of the bar was gone, men were still getting thousand dollar pans. The strike only lasted a few months in 1866, but over 1 million dollars was pulled out of it in that time. 4 Germans: John Shonneman, Alex Campbell, Charles Fredericks & Judson pulled between 900,000 - a million dollars worth out of here in one season which at that time amounted to 2 1/2 tons of gold.GOLDEN AGE MINE, Winston area GOPHER MINE, Radersburg area GREENHORN MINE, Radersburg area HARD CASH MINE, Radersburg area HARDMORE MINE, Crow Creek Falls area HASSEL (area with mines in it) Originally called St. Louis, Hassel sits on upper Indian Creek. Gold was first discovered here in 1866 & in 1875 35-40 men worked there. The mines continued to produce for about 20 years & over the years over 5 million dollars worth of ore was found here. A man called John Murray had a boarding house in Cheatem, 2 miles above the town, at one time which fed more than half the camp. In 1875 the St. Louis Lodge # 49 IOGT was chartered & had 18 members originally & there were anywhere from 100-300 people throughout the area. Others who mined this area were: Joseph "Joe" Hassel (who the town was named for), William Rick, Charlie Moffit, George Weston & Frank Lewery. The mines around this area were revived as quartz mines in the late 1890s.HELLGATE CANYON (an area that contained several mines) Some placer gold was found early on at the head of this canyon. In 1874, pay gravel was being worked by 2 companies here.HOG HOLLOW MINE, Crow Creek Falls area HUMMINGBIRD MINE, Whites City area IRON CROSS / R & S IRON MINE, Radersburg area IRON MASK MINE, Giant Hill area JANUARY MINE, Winston area JAWBONE MINE, Hassel area Near the Hassel mine, on Indian Creek, this was a quartz mine, owned by Tom Reece in 1870. He also had a gold mine here which he bought a stamp mill for (from a freighter, Henry Sieben). Gold from this mill netted him $50,000 in gold. Reece became very wealthy from this mine & supposedly loaned F. Augustus Heinze 1 million dollars.JO DANDY MINE, Radersburg area JOHN L. MINE, Giant Hill area JOHNNY GULCH MINE, Radersburg area JUNIPER MINE, Radersburg area KAHOKA MINE, Radersburg area KEATING MINE, Radersburg area A quartz mine was opened here in 1866 by James A. Keating & his partners, Blacker & Oldham, & continued very successfully until 1877. Later, George G. Griswold of Butte reopened the mine & continued to run it with newer technology.KEATING TAILINGS, Radersburg area KEATINGSVILLE (a mining camp) A small short-lived camp that was set up approximately 1/2 mile from the original Keating mine to supply shelter & food for the miners there.KELLY GULCH MINE, Winston area KEYSTONE MINE, Radersburg area KIMBER GULCH MINE, Winston area KLEINSCHMIDT MINE, Winston area LEVIATHAN MINE, Radersburg area Opened by James A. Keating & his partners, Blacker & Oldham, after their success with the original Keating mine.LITTLE ANNIE MINE, Giant Hill area LITTLE BONANZA MINE, Winston area LITTLE GIANT MINE, Giant Hill area Owned & operated by William Roberts. He worked it alone & in 6 months had made $2500 in that short amount of time.LITTLE HOGBACK MINE, Townsend area LONE STAR MINE, Hassel area One of the Park Mines.LOOKOUT MINE, Giant Hill area LOOMIS MINE, Crow Creek Falls area LUCKY FRIDAY MINE, Radersburg area MABEL MINE, Radersburg area MAINE MINE, Winston area MAMOUTH MINE, Giant Hill area MARION MINE, Winston area MILLER MINE, Diamond City area MONARCH MINE, Radersburg area MONTANA BAR, Gold Hill area see Gold HillMONTANA REGENT MINE, Diamond City area MONTANA SILVER STAR MINE, Radersburg SW area MONTE CRISTO MINE, Winston area MOUNTAIN VIEW MINE, Winston area MUD SPRING GULCH MINE, Three Forks area NE NE SECT. 14 MINE, Giant Hill area NE NE SECT. 17 MINE, Radersburg SW area NE NE SECT. 21 MINE, Radersburg area NE NE SECT. 35 MINE, Giant Hill area NE NW SECT. 25 MINE, Diamond City area NE NW SECT. 3 MINE, Wnston area NE NW SECT. 33 MINE, Radersburg area NE NW SECT 5 MINE, Gurnett Creek West area NE NW SECT. 6 MINE, Giant Hill area NE SE SECT. 17 MINE, Radersburg area NE SE SECT. 8 MINE, Radersburg SW area NE SW SECT. 26 MINE, Diamond City area NE SW SECT. 4 MINE, Radersburg area NW NW SECT. 14 MINE, Radersburg area NW NW SECT. 26 MINE, Winston area NW SE SECT. 28 MINE, Winston area NW SE SECT. 5 MINE, Gurnett Creek area NW SE SECT. 6 MINE, Gurnett Creek West area NW SW SECT. 4 MINE, Radersburg area NW SW SECT. 6 MINE, Giant Hill area NEW ERA MINE, Hassel area Was sold to F. Longmaid of Marysville for $25,000. It was a quartz mine in the Park Mining District.OHIO MINES, Radersburg area OHIO / KEATING MINE, Radersburg area Opened by James A. Keating & his partners, Blacker & Oldham, after their success with the original Keating mine.ORPHAN BOY MINE, Winston area PARK MINE, Giant Hill area PARK MINES (area with several mines) Located 6 miles to the northwest of Hassel. Included the mines: New Era, Lone Star, Bunker Hill & Big Hill.PARKER MINE, Giant Hill area PARKER (a mining camp by Toston) This area is 8 miles west of Toston on Johnny Creek. It was named for John Parker who operated 8 mines and a mill here.PHOENIX MINE, Giant Hill area POE LEAD MINE, Radersburg area POWERLINE MINE, Radersburg area QUARTZITE MINE, Radersburg area QUEEN BEE MINE, Giant Hill area RADERSBURG (an area that had several mines) Radersburg was named for Ruben Rader who donated the land for the town. At one time Radersburg was the county seat for Jefferson Co. (the courthouse was moved to Boulder in 1883). It boasts of being the home of Myrna Loy, although that was her stage name. She was originally Myrna Williams. James Waters made the first gold discovery in this area in the early 1860s. A quartz mine was opened here in 1866 by James A. Keating & continued very successfully until 1877. In 1868 the population was approximately 600 & had 2 1st class hotels, the Tremont House & the Planters House, along with the Quartz Hotel. Quartz mining began in 1870 here. William Quinn came through this area & dug ditches to divert water through the various mines surrounding this area. Payton & Co. dug ditches in other areas around the Crow Creek mines in the Faith, Hope & Charity Gulches which provided for the various bars in the area including Rabbit, Badger, Greyhound & Bay Horse. The Charity & Hope Gulches were the best paying in the district in 1868. Bay Horse & other bars were also turning out ore in this year. Joe Poe was a water hauler in the camp during the winter. Thomas R. Moore who lived there as a small child said there were more women there than in most other camps. T.F.Bramhall, D.R.W. for the IOGT organized a lodge there which in 1868 had 36 charter members. It was reorganized in 1869 with 12 members, H.C.Powell as lodge deputy. Most of the mines had shut down by 1878 & the town reported a total population of 69 this year (down from 250 the year before). About $6,130,000 was pulled from the Radersburg mines through 1928. For a short time in 1933 there was a revival of the mines in the area due to high metal prices. Miss Mary Gilman was the first school teacher in the area & when the new school building was built in 1872, there were 62 children enrolled. Charity Jane Dillon ran an inn outside of town at Crow Creek Crossing & was found dead under mysterious causes in her bed. She's buried there.RALLS MINES, Radersburg area RENA MINE, Radersburg area RIBEDEAU MINE, Giant Hill area RUBY MINE, Radersburg area S & S MINE, Giant Hill area SE NE SECT. 18 MINE, Devils Face area SE NE SECT. 31 MINE, Devils Face area SE SE SECT. 26 MINE, Whites City area SE SE SECT. 31 MINE, Devils Face area SE SE SECT. 7 MINE, Giant Hill area SE SW SECT. 33 MINE, Radersburg area SW NE SECT. 16 MINE, Winston area SW NE SECT. 27 MINE, Giant Hill area SW NW SECT. 13 MINE, Giant Hill area SW NW SECT. 3 MINE, Winston area SW SE SECT. 21 MINE, Radersburg area SW SE SECT. 9 MINE, Radersburg area SW SW SECT. 27 MINE, Winston area SAINT LOUIS (the area where several mines were located) This area was renamed Hassel - see info under that listing.SAINT LOUIS MINE, Giant Hill area SAN ANITA MINE, Radersburg area SCHABERT MINE, Whites City area SHAFT NEAR LOMBARD MINE, Lombard area SHEP MINE, Giant Hill area SHINNEMAN MINE, Montana & Cement gulch area Employed nearly 100 men as shovelers. Thomas Brown was one of the employees. The mine owners would set the gold every Sunday for the workers to see. $25-50,000 worth of gold was recovered. This mine was operating in 1866.SILVER SNOWFLAKE MINE, Diamond City area SILVER STAR MINE, Radersburg SW area SILVER WAVE MINE, Giant Hill area A quartz mine that was located in the Park Mining District which was sold to an Omaha company.SMALL ADIT MINE, Lombard area SPRING HILL MINE, Giant Hill area STAUBACH TRAIL MINE, Winston area STRAY HORSE MINE, Winston area Billy Slater, Dave & Charlie Cona worked this mine in 1896 & eventually sold it for over $70,000, after working it for several years. Dave Cona moved to Boulder Valley & started raising stock, whereas Charlie Cona kept prospecting.SUMMITT / LODE STAR MINE, Radersburg area SUNRISE MINE, Radersburg area THOMPSON CREEK MINE, Radersburg area TIDAL WAVE MINE, Radersburg area TOSTON (an area around where mines were) Had a blast furnace back in the boom days that was used to treat the ores from Radersburg. It's now a small agricultural town.TOSTON MINE, Toston area TOWNSEND (area with several mines in it) The present county seat of Broadwater Co.UPPER NO. 2 GULCH MINE, Diamond City area VERMONT MARBLE QUARRY, Radersburg area VOSBURG MINE, Winston area VULTURE MINE, Giant Hill area W. A. CLARK MINE, Giant Hill area WHITE'S GULCH (an area where mines were found) White's Gulch is between Hellgate Canyon & Confederate Gulch. It was discovered by a Mr. White who it was named for on May 2, 1865. The streambed of this gulch was once one of the best placer fields in Montana which continued to produce results for about 20 years after its discovery. A store in the area was owned by S.E.Stager. Capt. Stafford built a wagon road in 1873 for the 6 families & other miners in the area. In 1878 there were only 30 voters here & by 1882 that number was down to 19.WHITEHEAD RANCH MINE, Winston area WILD TURKEY MINE, Townsend area WINSTON (area with several mines in it) Named for P.B.Winston Brothers, RR contractors & owners of the East Pacific Mine. Most of the mines for this area were in the mountains, 6-8 miles to the west. There was once a newspaper here, The Prospector. Some of the miners from this area are: Billy Slater, Dave & Charlie Cona (Strayhorse mine in 1896), Robert A. Bell (1890s). Winston is now a ranching area. Most of the mines here were not discovered until the 1890s & the total amount pulled out of this area amounted to about 3 million dollars worth.
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Mines in
& Around Broadwater played an important part in the settlement of the
area. The following are some histories of some of the mines & areas,
combined with a list of all the known mines in the county. There are 2
major types of mines in this area. Placer mines are mines that are close
to the surface & lodes are mines which you have to use some type of
equipment to get to & actually "mine" it.
