Confederate Gulch and Diamond City
Encyclopedia
Confederate Gulch
is a steeply incised valley on the west facing slopes of the Big Belt Mountains
. Its small stream drains westward into Canyon Ferry Lake
, on the upper Missouri River Valley near present day Townsend, Montana
. In 1864 Confederate
soldiers on parole
from the American Civil War
made a minor gold
discovery in the gulch
, but in 1865 the discovery of the sensationally rich Montana Bar—one of the richest placer
strikes per acre ever made—led to other rich gold
strikes up and down the gulch
, and touched off a frantic boom period of placer
gold mining that extended through 1869. From 1866 to 1869 the gulch equalled or outstripped all other Montana Territory
mining camps in gold production, producing an estimated $19 to $30 million in gold—late 1860s money. For a time, the gulch became the largest community in Montana—in 1866 Montana had a total population
of 28,000, and of these, about 10,000 (35%) were working in Confederate Gulch. The main community was Diamond City 46°35′50"N 111°25′26"W, and while gold production was at its height, Diamond City roared along both night and day. During its heyday, Diamond City was the county seat of Montana's Meagher County
, although today the area has become part of Broadwater County
. In their frantic efforts to get at more gold, the miners built ditches and flume
s that extended for miles, and employed high pressure hydraulic mining
methods which washed down whole hillsides and ate up the gulch floor. The hydraulic mining
process stripped the gulch and left huge spoil bank
s—hydraulic mining even consumed the site of Diamond City, which had to be moved to a new location. Then the gold ran out, the boom was over and the population simply picked up and left. In 1870 there were only 255 people left and a year later only about 60. Today hardly a trace remains of Diamond City or the other gulch communities. The gulch is quiet and empty, with only an occasional summer prospector, or a rare traveler using the unimproved road that still winds up the gulch from the Missouri Valley and crosses the top of the Big Belts on its way down to the Smith River Valley. Diamond City, Confederate Gulch and the Montana Bar were spectacular examples of the flash-in-the pan Montana placer gold mining camps, but what a flash.
, Confederate soldiers arrived in Montana
, prospecting
for gold
. The soldiers had been part of General Sterling Price
's Confederate army
, which had invaded Missouri
from Arkansas
in 1864. The army disintegrated after several defeats. However, the remnants of the defeated army remained in quasi-official units of a couple-of-hundred to a thousand-or-so.
Hunting these scattered units was very dangerous business. After pondering the situation the Union
commander in the area, General Alfred Pleasonton
, instituted the policy of amnesty
, offering parole
to the Confederates
captured during the 1864 campaign if they would leave the combat
area and go up the Missouri River
into the west. Pleasanton hoped that his policy for captured Confederates
would also convince the remaining free roving units to disband, and prevent them from becoming bushrangers living off the country like Quantrill
and the James Boys
.
Fighting and perhaps dying for a lost cause was discouraging. The offered parole
seemed to be the better choice. Additional motivation came from rumors of rich new gold discoveries up in the Montana
Territory. Whether due to General Pleasanton's policy or despite it, in 1864 and 1865 these rag tag Confederate units faded away, and a tough breed of Missourians began to show up in the Montana
Territory.
, Wash (Washington) Barker and Pomp Dennis, were parole
d and released at Liberty, Missouri
to the owner of a steamboat
bound up the Missouri
for the Montana
goldfields
. Steamboats had to make frequent refueling stops for wood to heat the boiler
s, but from Yankton
, Dakota Territory to Fort Benton, Montana
Territory (a distance of well over a thousand river miles), hostile Indians
controlled most of the country. The Indians had burned the few existing wood yards and steamboat
s had to stop and cut wood as they went. Rebel soldiers like Barker and Dennis could work their way to the Montana Territory
, by chopping fuel along the way.
The Missouri river
was low in 1864 and Barker and Dennis only made it as far as Cow Island, before low water forced the steamboat
to unload passengers and freight. The freight and paying passengers were carted by team and wagon the rest of the way to Fort Benton
, but the former Confederates were on their own. News had come down the river that a new gold strike had been made at Last Chance Gulch (present day Helena
), at the foot of Mullan Pass
, but by the time Barker and Dennis walked there from Cow Island
, the good ground was taken, no jobs were to be had, and the price of everything was high.
Smoke from prospectors' camps
could be seen all along the foothills and so Barker and Dennis set out up the Missouri
from Last Chance Gulch
, (present day Helena Montana), prospecting here and there, living off the country. Here the Missouri
was a large mountain river, cold and clear, bordered on each side by high ranges, with vast alluvial fans running out from steep gulches down to the river. Good color could be found in these gravels, but so far there were no rich strikes.
While prospecting and living off the country Barker and Dennis were joined by Jack Thompson, and John Wells, who had also been rebel soldiers. They eventually wandered into a gulch on the west side of the Big Belt Mountains
. Late fall was at hand, and they determined to stay for the winter—there was a good creek, and wild game. At one place near the mouth of the Gulch, east of the creek, Thompson sunk a hole and found the first pay dirt, a piece of gold
about the size of a grain of wheat. Prospecting up the canyon they found more gold in small quantities. Eventually they established a modest discovery of placer gold in gravels of the little creek, where a day’s hard work could produce enough to pay for a few pounds of beans.
was small, but hard work produced enough gold so that word spread. Other southern sympathizers showed up in late 1864, and the area became known as Confederate Gulch.
During the winter of 1864-65 four log cabins were built equidistant around a large rock obstruction on the narrow floor of the gulch. The paths from cabin to cabin made a perfect diamond in the snow, as seen from the slopes above, and so the cabins in the gulch were named Diamond City. The "city" part of the name was a joke, comparing this poor settlement of southern sympathizers to the booming mining camps of Helena
and Virginia City
.
Valley up over the Big Belt Mountains
to the Smith River
Valley, where game was abundant and there was available land that could be farmed.
In late 1865 a group of newcomers arrived, referred to as "The Germans". They were led by an old time Colorado
prospector named Charles Fredericks. He liked the looks of things and prospected up the stream in an area that later became known as Cement Gulch. Cement Gulch area later became one of the richest discoveries of Confederate Gulch, but the Germans didn't get down to bedrock and so they decided to move on to look elsewhere.
Fredericks led his group back down the main gulch, through timber
and sank a prospect hole in a clearing on a shelf up from the gulch floor, at the foot of a small tributary
. In the prospect hole, the group literally "struck it rich". The tributary became famed as Montana Gulch, and the shelf became doubly famed as the Montana Bar of the Montana Gulch.
The Montana Bar was only about two to 3 acres (12,140.6 m²) in extent, but it was one of the truly spectacular placer gold discoveries in terms of yield per unit area. The Bar was also unique in that the gold
wasn't located on bedrock
at the bottom of the gulch, but was in a shelf of gravel
located up on the side of the gulch.
The Montana Bar gravel
s were saturated with gold
from the surface down to the bedrock
, which was a dense blue gray limestone
. Depressions in the bedrock trapped gold, and when washed over by water, the gold in these depressions was so thick it could be seen from a distance as glowing metal
. The gold bearing gravel deposit was about 8 feet (2.4 m) deep in most places, but thickened to thirty or forty feet against the mountain
.
The few acres of the Montana Bar were freakishly rich in gold
. It was claimed that the gravel
s of the Montana Bar were some of the richest every washed, anywhere. It was not uncommon to get $1,000.00 of gold from a pan of gravel and dirt, and this was at a time when gold was worth less than $20.00 an ounce. The record pan, according to witnesses, was $1,400.00, or roughly 7 pound
s of gold
in 15 pounds (two shovelfuls) of gravel. At the first cleanup of the sluice box
es on the Bar, the riffles were clogged with gold
. One week’s production of gold on Montana Bar was $115,000.00.
A popular legend
grew up around the discovery
of the Montana Bar. According to popular account, the Germans were greenhorn
s, and did not know the habits of gold
to sink to the lowest levels of bedrock in a gulch, due to the forces of erosion
and gravity. In response to their earnest, repeated (and annoying) requests to the more experienced Confederate boys for directions to "the good claims", they were told (with a wave of the hand at the sides of the gulch) to "go up yonder". According to legend, they dutifully went "up yonder" and discovered the Montana Bar.
Rich finds were developed along Confederate Gulch proper. Two miles up Confederate Gulch, claims in Cement Gulch proved very rich and productive. Prospecting up Montana Gulch new discoveries were made. Good placer deposits were found along Greenhorn Gulch and Boulder Gulch.
The Montana Bar strike motivated prospectors to prospect the sides of Confederate Gulch mining district. Gold is heavy, and the sorting process from water and glacier flow usually results in concentrations of gold down on bedrock along the gulch bottom. Confederate Gulch was the exception. Some of the richest gold concentrations were found in benches of gravel along the hillsides.
On the same hillside level as the Montana Bar the Diamond Bar was discovered. It was as rich in yield per acre as the Montana Bar, though not as extensive. Gold Hill and other gravel shelves at the same level along the gulch and its tributatries yielded good gold production.
The Boulder Bars were in Boulder Gulch. These benches rested on shelves of bedrock. They posed a special problem. The surface of these hillside benches were littered with large boulders even though underneath were well sorted stream gravels with streaks and pockets of gold. The underlying gravels were hard to work because the surface boulders settled in heaps as the underlying lighter gravel was carted away or washed away by hydraulic methods.
Within a few months after the Montana Bar strike of 1865 Confederate Gulch and its tributaries were an antihill of activity with gold miners swarming over the ground, digging and working on their claims.
The initial strike on Montana Bar set records for gold production. The best of the 200 feet (61 m) claims along the shelf yielded $180,000.00, or about $900 per running foot of width. The total production from the Montana Bar alone is estimated at $1 million to $1.5 million.
Confederate Gulch proper was mined for a distance of five miles (8 km). When properly worked the Confederate Gulch claims were all rich. The rich stretches along the bottem of the Gulch were very rich. The gold production ran from $100.00 to $500.00 per running foot, and produced $20,000 to $100,000 per claim.
Cement Gulch and Montana Gulch were highly productive, but Cement Gulch was in a class by itself. Some of the claims in Confederate Gulch were true bonanzas. They produced more gold than comparable claims of the fabulous Montana Bar, though requiring movement of a much larger tonnage of gravel, boulders and dirt.
No one knows how much gold was taken from the Boulder Bars. Because of the boulders strewn across the surface of the bars, they were worked by many different operators, some mere pocket hunters and others operating with teams of men and equipment.
The gold production of Confederate Gulch created massive gold shipments from the gulch, starting with the spectacular production of Montana Bar. A single shipment of gold in 1866, representing a short run of gold bearing gravel through the sluice boxes weighed two tons and was valued at $900,000.00. In the late 1860s two and a half tons of gold were produced in a final clean up of the sluice boxes.
In September 1866 the steamboat Luella piloted by Captain Grant Marsh took 230 miners back down the Missouri River to the states. Between the gold carried by individual miners and consigned gold shipments, the Luella had a cumulative two and a half tons of gold on board, conservatively valued at $1,250,000. This was the richest cargo ever carried down the Missouri River by steamboat. The bulk of this gold reputedly represented production in 1866 from the Confederate Gulch area.
There are varying estimates of the total gold production from the Confederate Gulch Mining District during the boom years—1866 to 1869. The estimates run from $16 million to an estimate of $10 to $30 million. These estimates could fall far short of the total gold volume that was actually produced. The total production will never be known. Businesses which transported gold, as well as individual miners took out their gold secretly, in order to mislead highwaymen and prevent robbery.
All of the estimates of gold production are in 1860's dollars. In addition, this is when gold was worth less than $20 an ounce. Were the values of total production be stated in today's dollars, the figures would be much higher than the estimates.
A feature of Confederate Gulch is the abrupt jump into high production of gold in 1866, the continued intensity of the production through 1867 and 1868, and its abrupt end in 1869/70. Gold production from the Confederate Gulch mining district started at a high level in 1866 because of the sheer opulence of the Montana Bar strike. Production was maintained at a high level as numerous fresh strikes were made and brought on line. The intense utilization of hydralic mining kept the production levels high from 1866 onward until the gold ran out in 1869/70.
. Hydraulic mining methods in Confederate Gulch used the force of water to wash down banks of gravel bars and terraces located on the sides of the gulches, as well as the beds of gravel on the gulch floor. The earth and fine gravel was then flushed through sluice boxes where the heavier gold was extracted from the lighter gravel.
Hydraulic mining
was particularly applicable in Confederate Gulch because gold bearing gravels lay on terraces high up on the hillsides above the gulch. In addition, the water sources and gradients supported the development of hydraulic mining.
Water from sources high up the gulch were tapped and fed into flumes or ditches that ran along the sides of the gulch. The ditch/flume was kept at a much shallower gradient than the floor of the gulch. Eventually the water in the flumes and ditches was high above the mining sites down on the floor of the gulch. The water was then released from the high ditch down through several hundred feet of pipe, and emerged through huge nozzles that resembled small cannon. The massive jets of water from these nozzles reputedly had such force that they could smash down a brick building in one pass. The most powerful hydraulic hoses required six men to control.
Building the ditches and flumes that hydraulic methods required large amounts of capitol. This brought outside investors into the business of removing gold from the gulch. They wanted the quickest return possible on their investment and they encouraged unrestricted use of hydraulic methods.
The powerful jets of water used in hydraulic mining
washed down whole hillsides and simply ate up the floor of the gulch. The dirt and fine gravel was then washed through the sluices, and the silt was carried off down the gulch. The gravel tailings produced by hydraulic mining were left behind as spoil bank
s, piled along the bottom of the gulch for long intervals. Hydraulic mining methods and the resulting spoil bank
s obliterated all the remains of the original Diamond City, as well as the other small communities in the gulches. Hydraulic mining was very damaging to the environment on the gulch. It changed the appearance, geography and ecosystem of Confederate Gulch.
After 1870 some sporadic hydraulic operations continued in Confederate Gulch and its tributaries for many years. A company based in Milwaukee worked some old ground briefly in 1899. About nine years later, a company worked gravels in the lower end of the gulch using a Risdon dredge, but it shut down operations after three months when it found no values in the gravels. Placering continued off and on during the late 1910s and 1920s, with at least two operations in 1928; lack of water frequently hampered success.
Gold activity often works inversely to economic health. In the booming 1920's mining activity fell off. As a worldwide depression developed after 1928, gold production increased. The federal government moved to establish the price of gold, which rose to about $35.00 per ounce. The increased price of gold, combined with lower wages and material costs prevailing during the Depression, caused gold mining to become attractive again.
Dredging companies moved into Confederate Gulch in a big way in the 1930s, using power shovels and a variety of other equipment, including a stationary washing plant, dry-land dredge, and drag-line dredge. The best returns came in 1939 when two dredging operations recovered 2,357 fine ounces of gold. One company had 16 to 18 men on the payroll that season. A single dry-land dredge worked the ground in 1942, after which operations shut down for the duration of World War II.
The reported 1939 year's production of 2,357 ounces of gold was worth $82,495.00 at the then current price of $35.00 per ounce. This is but a small patch on the boom days of 1866 to 1869, when tons of gold were produced yearly from Confederate Gulch, and one week on the legendary Montana Bar produced $115,000.00 of gold at under $20.00 per ounce.
.
Though no mother lode was found, there were some lode operations in the Confederate Gulch district but they never measured up to the standard set by the rich placer mines. The most important mines, including the Hummingbird, Slim Jim, Schabert, Baker Group, and Three Sisters, are all located along the divide between Confederate Gulch and White Creek, principally on Miller Mountain. Lode mines produced only $100,000 in gold, while the placers of Confederate Gulch yielded this sum one hundred and fifty times over. The Philadelphia Mill, with a capacity of 15 tons per day, operated briefly at Diamond City around 1889.
From a small collection of cabins and shacks Diamond City was instantly transformed into a crowded boom town that roared along both night and day. Satellite communities sprouted up on the Gulch—El Dorado, Boulder, Jim Town, and Cement Gulch City. At the crest of the boom ten thousand people lived and worked in Confederate Gulch, but Diamond City dominated the area, and when Meagher County was formed Diamond City was named the county seat.
Between 1866 and 1869, when Diamond City and Confederate Gulch had ten thousand people grubbing for gold, federal estimates put Montana's total population at twenty eight thousand. In these years, roughly 35% of Montana's population was working in Confederate Gulch.
Placer gold discoveries, like Confederate Gulch, attracted a diverse and cosmopolitan population. While many came from the Midwest and border states like Missouri, many also came from mining areas in California, Idaho and Nevada. Because they moved about so constantly, they cared little about background or status. The use of casual nicknames predominated over proper names. A roster of Confederate Gulch citizens could include names like Wild Goose Bill, Black Jack, Nubbins, Roachy, Steady Tom, Workhorse George, Dirty Mary, Whiskey Mike, and Lonesome Larry.
Placer gold strikes were "poor man's diggings". Placer gold is formed by erosional forces which slowly break down gold veins embedded in bed rock and over geologic time leave the gold in the gravels and sands of ancient or presently flowing river beds. The gold is in a natural state in the form of gold dust, flakes or nuggets. Such deposits required no special processing, except the hard grueling work to dig out and sort through tons of gravel, dirt, sand and boulders. Newly discovered deposits like Confederate Gulch attracted young footloose men, motivated by a desire to get rich quickly.
Towns that sprang up at placer gold strikes were jerry built, ephemeral and hectic places and Diamond City and the other Confederate Gulch communities were no exception. As long as gold was produced they boomed along. When the mining stopped, the prospectors left as suddenly as they came.
During the boom years, Diamond City seethed with excitement and activity. It provided entertainement and commercial goods for the miners and for the crews that labored night and day to build a 7 miles (11.3 km) ditch/flume for hydraulike work. When the ditch/flume was completed, full scale hydraulic mining began. At the height of the mining activity, between 1866 and 1869, hydraulic mining led to the displacement of Diamond City. The approaching hydraulic mining undercut the town, and spoil banks began to pile up against buildings. The merchants first propped their buildings on stilts. Eventually the stilts reached fifteen feet, and finally the town was simply removed to a nearby location in Confederate Gulch where it roared on with business as usual. Meanwhile the hydraulic mining process ate its way through the former town site.
Mining production from 1866 through 1869 was intense—the rich deposits encouraged quick exploitation, and the shift to hydraulic mining kept production in high gear. This led to record production, but it also shortened the life expectancy of the community. In 1869 and 1870 the gold ran out and so did the population. They simply picked up and left. By 1870 the population of Diamond city was down to 225 people, and a year later only about 64 people remained; by the 1880s 4 families were left.
From nothing in 1864, and from a few cabins in 1865, Diamond City became the county seat of Meagher County and the center of most populous camp in Montana in 1866. Diamond City boomed along for 3 years until 1869. Then the party was over, almost everyone left and Diamond City sank not just into obscurity but into oblivion. Unlike other boom-bust areas, Diamond City did not even remain as a picturesque ghost town. The rapacious search for gold consumed Diamond City, and hardly a trace now remains. Relfecting this meteoric rise and fall, Diamond City has been aptly described as "the most spectacular of Montana's boom and bust gold towns" by the authoritative text, "Montana: A History of Two Centuries", by Michael P. Malone, Richard B. Roeder, William L. Lang, 1991, University of Washington Press, p. 67.
The principal rocks underlying the placer gold deposits of the Confederate Gulch district are the shales of the Spokane and Greyson formations, as well as limestones of the Newland formation. These are cut by diorite and quartz diorite dikes, stocks, and sills. Narrow quartz veins, found along fractures in the diorite and along bedding planes in the shale, contain most of the high grade gold ore. Ore values decrease with depth, and few mines have been developed deeper than 150 feet. In addition to the quartz veins in the shales, the diorite contains "low grade mineralized shear zones".
These Spokane, Greyson and Newland formations have been uniformly considered to be in the Middle Proterozoic Belt Supergroup. In this classification these formations would be much older than the overlying Flathead sandstone from the Middle Cambrian era, and the division between the older Proterozoic rocks, and the newer Cambrian rocks was considered to be a significant disconformity. New field work in the in the Big Belt Mountains, suggests that some rocks mapped as the Spokane Formation are conformable with overlying Middle Cambrian strata, and are not part of the Middle Proterozoic Belt Supergroup, but are part of strata that may be younger Late Neoproterozoic.
The rich placer gravels of the drainages were deposited during the interglacial stages of the Pleistocene period. Confirmation of concentration of the placer gold deposits in relatively recent times is indicated by the bones of mastodons and elephants that were dug out of the gravels.
The distribution of the Placer gold concentrations suggests that the common source of most of the placer gold in Confederate Gulch and White Creek was a series of quartz lodes on Miller Mountain on the divide between the two drainages. These gold bearing quartz lodes were consumed by the erosion that produced the placer gold deposits in Confederate and White Gulch.
Confederate Gulch is unlike other boom and bust mining districts in Montana, because no ghost town was left at the site. The hydraulic mining during the boom years, and the reworking of the site since has obliterated the sites of the earlier mining communities. Along the bottem of the gulch are spoil banks overgrown with brush. Occasional pieces of timber appear in these areas to show that once there were towns and buildings in the gulch.
One thing alone remains. On a cliff overlooking the Confederate Gulch and Boulder Gulch from the south is the graveyard for Diamond City and Confederate Gulch. About 65 people are reportedly buried there. This site is marked on Wikimapia.
One can drive to and through Confederate Gulch. Go east on U.S. Highway 12 from Townsend for about 3 miles (4.8 km). Turn north on Montana county road 284. After about 16 miles (25.7 km) a dirt road goes up Confederate Gulch. In good weather this road can be followed over the Big Belts into the Smith River valley where improved roads lead on to White Sulphur Springs, Montana. It would be best to travel in a vehicle with high clearance, but the grades do not require four wheel drive. Do not try this road in winter or in bad weather.
Gulch
A gulch is a deep V-shaped valley formed by erosion. It may contain a small stream or dry creek bed and is usually larger in size than a gully. Occasionally, sudden intense rainfall may produce flash floods in the area of the gulch....
is a steeply incised valley on the west facing slopes of the Big Belt Mountains
Big Belt Mountains
The Big Belt Mountains are a section of the Rocky Mountains in the U.S. state of Montana. Situated mainly in the Helena National Forest, the mountains are used for logging and recreation for the surrounding residents. Nearby is Helena, Montana, Canyon Ferry Lake, the Missouri River, Townsend,...
. Its small stream drains westward into Canyon Ferry Lake
Canyon Ferry Lake
thumb|Canyon Ferry LakeCanyon Ferry Lake is a reservoir on the Missouri River near Helena, Montana and Townsend, Montana. It is Montana's third largest body of water, covering 35,181 acres and 76 miles of shore . The dam was completed in 1954 and has been used for...
, on the upper Missouri River Valley near present day Townsend, Montana
Townsend, Montana
Townsend is a city in and the county seat of Broadwater County, Montana, United States. The population was 1,867 at the 2000 census.-History:...
. In 1864 Confederate
Confederate States Army
The Confederate States Army was the army of the Confederate States of America while the Confederacy existed during the American Civil War. On February 8, 1861, delegates from the seven Deep South states which had already declared their secession from the United States of America adopted the...
soldiers on parole
Parole
Parole may have different meanings depending on the field and judiciary system. All of the meanings originated from the French parole . Following its use in late-resurrected Anglo-French chivalric practice, the term became associated with the release of prisoners based on prisoners giving their...
from the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
made a minor gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
discovery in the gulch
Gulch
A gulch is a deep V-shaped valley formed by erosion. It may contain a small stream or dry creek bed and is usually larger in size than a gully. Occasionally, sudden intense rainfall may produce flash floods in the area of the gulch....
, but in 1865 the discovery of the sensationally rich Montana Bar—one of the richest placer
Placer mining
Placer mining is the mining of alluvial deposits for minerals. This may be done by open-pit or by various surface excavating equipment or tunneling equipment....
strikes per acre ever made—led to other rich gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
strikes up and down the gulch
Gulch
A gulch is a deep V-shaped valley formed by erosion. It may contain a small stream or dry creek bed and is usually larger in size than a gully. Occasionally, sudden intense rainfall may produce flash floods in the area of the gulch....
, and touched off a frantic boom period of placer
Placer mining
Placer mining is the mining of alluvial deposits for minerals. This may be done by open-pit or by various surface excavating equipment or tunneling equipment....
gold mining that extended through 1869. From 1866 to 1869 the gulch equalled or outstripped all other Montana Territory
Montana Territory
The Territory of Montana was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 28, 1864, until November 8, 1889, when it was admitted to the Union as the State of Montana.-History:...
mining camps in gold production, producing an estimated $19 to $30 million in gold—late 1860s money. For a time, the gulch became the largest community in Montana—in 1866 Montana had a total population
Population
A population is all the organisms that both belong to the same group or species and live in the same geographical area. The area that is used to define a sexual population is such that inter-breeding is possible between any pair within the area and more probable than cross-breeding with individuals...
of 28,000, and of these, about 10,000 (35%) were working in Confederate Gulch. The main community was Diamond City 46°35′50"N 111°25′26"W, and while gold production was at its height, Diamond City roared along both night and day. During its heyday, Diamond City was the county seat of Montana's Meagher County
Meagher County, Montana
-National protected areas:*Gallatin National Forest *Helena National Forest *Lewis and Clark National Forest -Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 1,932 people, 803 households, and 529 families residing in the county...
, although today the area has become part of Broadwater County
Broadwater County, Montana
-Economy:Agriculture is one of the primary industries in Broadwater County. RY Timber and Wheat Montana Bakery were the largest private employers according to the 2000 Census.-Demographics:...
. In their frantic efforts to get at more gold, the miners built ditches and flume
Flume
A flume is an open artificial water channel, in the form of a gravity chute, that leads water from a diversion dam or weir completely aside a natural flow. Often, the flume is an elevated box structure that follows the natural contours of the land. These have been extensively used in hydraulic...
s that extended for miles, and employed high pressure hydraulic mining
Hydraulic mining
Hydraulic mining, or hydraulicking, is a form of mining that uses high-pressure jets of water to dislodge rock material or move sediment. In the placer mining of gold or tin, the resulting water-sediment slurry is directed through sluice boxes to remove the gold.-Precursor - ground...
methods which washed down whole hillsides and ate up the gulch floor. The hydraulic mining
Hydraulic mining
Hydraulic mining, or hydraulicking, is a form of mining that uses high-pressure jets of water to dislodge rock material or move sediment. In the placer mining of gold or tin, the resulting water-sediment slurry is directed through sluice boxes to remove the gold.-Precursor - ground...
process stripped the gulch and left huge spoil bank
Spoil bank
The term "spoil bank" refers to a pile of refuse, created by excavation of earth materials from a site, or by removing excess surface materials from a site.- Common usages of the term :...
s—hydraulic mining even consumed the site of Diamond City, which had to be moved to a new location. Then the gold ran out, the boom was over and the population simply picked up and left. In 1870 there were only 255 people left and a year later only about 60. Today hardly a trace remains of Diamond City or the other gulch communities. The gulch is quiet and empty, with only an occasional summer prospector, or a rare traveler using the unimproved road that still winds up the gulch from the Missouri Valley and crosses the top of the Big Belts on its way down to the Smith River Valley. Diamond City, Confederate Gulch and the Montana Bar were spectacular examples of the flash-in-the pan Montana placer gold mining camps, but what a flash.
Confederate soldiers arrive in the Montana territory, during the Civil War, in 1864 and 1865
In 1864 and 1865, before the end of the American Civil WarAmerican Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, Confederate soldiers arrived in Montana
Montana
Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
, prospecting
Prospecting
Prospecting is the physical search for minerals, fossils, precious metals or mineral specimens, and is also known as fossicking.Prospecting is a small-scale form of mineral exploration which is an organised, large scale effort undertaken by mineral resource companies to find commercially viable ore...
for gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
. The soldiers had been part of General Sterling Price
Sterling Price
Sterling Price was a lawyer, planter, and politician from the U.S. state of Missouri, who served as the 11th Governor of the state from 1853 to 1857. He also served as a United States Army brigadier general during the Mexican-American War, and a Confederate Army major general in the American Civil...
's Confederate army
Army
An army An army An army (from Latin arma "arms, weapons" via Old French armée, "armed" (feminine), in the broadest sense, is the land-based military of a nation or state. It may also include other branches of the military such as the air force via means of aviation corps...
, which had invaded Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
from Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
in 1864. The army disintegrated after several defeats. However, the remnants of the defeated army remained in quasi-official units of a couple-of-hundred to a thousand-or-so.
Hunting these scattered units was very dangerous business. After pondering the situation the Union
Union (American Civil War)
During the American Civil War, the Union was a name used to refer to the federal government of the United States, which was supported by the twenty free states and five border slave states. It was opposed by 11 southern slave states that had declared a secession to join together to form the...
commander in the area, General Alfred Pleasonton
Alfred Pleasonton
Alfred Pleasonton was a United States Army officer and General of Union cavalry during the American Civil War. He commanded the Cavalry Corps of the Army of the Potomac during the Gettysburg Campaign, including the largest predominantly cavalry battle of the war, Brandy Station...
, instituted the policy of amnesty
Amnesty
Amnesty is a legislative or executive act by which a state restores those who may have been guilty of an offense against it to the positions of innocent people, without changing the laws defining the offense. It includes more than pardon, in as much as it obliterates all legal remembrance of the...
, offering parole
Parole
Parole may have different meanings depending on the field and judiciary system. All of the meanings originated from the French parole . Following its use in late-resurrected Anglo-French chivalric practice, the term became associated with the release of prisoners based on prisoners giving their...
to the Confederates
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
captured during the 1864 campaign if they would leave the combat
Combat
Combat, or fighting, is a purposeful violent conflict meant to establish dominance over the opposition, or to terminate the opposition forever, or drive the opposition away from a location where it is not wanted or needed....
area and go up the Missouri River
Missouri River
The Missouri River flows through the central United States, and is a tributary of the Mississippi River. It is the longest river in North America and drains the third largest area, though only the thirteenth largest by discharge. The Missouri's watershed encompasses most of the American Great...
into the west. Pleasanton hoped that his policy for captured Confederates
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
would also convince the remaining free roving units to disband, and prevent them from becoming bushrangers living off the country like Quantrill
Quantrill's Raiders
Quantrill's Raiders were a loosely organized force of pro-Confederate Partisan rangers, "bushwhackers", who fought in the American Civil War under the leadership of William Clarke Quantrill...
and the James Boys
Jesse James
Jesse Woodson James was an American outlaw, gang leader, bank robber, train robber, and murderer from the state of Missouri and the most famous member of the James-Younger Gang. He also faked his own death and was known as J.M James. Already a celebrity when he was alive, he became a legendary...
.
Fighting and perhaps dying for a lost cause was discouraging. The offered parole
Parole
Parole may have different meanings depending on the field and judiciary system. All of the meanings originated from the French parole . Following its use in late-resurrected Anglo-French chivalric practice, the term became associated with the release of prisoners based on prisoners giving their...
seemed to be the better choice. Additional motivation came from rumors of rich new gold discoveries up in the Montana
Montana
Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
Territory. Whether due to General Pleasanton's policy or despite it, in 1864 and 1865 these rag tag Confederate units faded away, and a tough breed of Missourians began to show up in the Montana
Montana
Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
Territory.
Paroled Confederate soldiers make a minor strike in the Big Belt Mountains
In 1864 two Confederate prisonersPrisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
, Wash (Washington) Barker and Pomp Dennis, were parole
Parole
Parole may have different meanings depending on the field and judiciary system. All of the meanings originated from the French parole . Following its use in late-resurrected Anglo-French chivalric practice, the term became associated with the release of prisoners based on prisoners giving their...
d and released at Liberty, Missouri
Liberty, Missouri
Liberty is a city in Clay County, Missouri and is a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri. At the 2007 population estimate, the city population was 29,993...
to the owner of a steamboat
Steamboat
A steamboat or steamship, sometimes called a steamer, is a ship in which the primary method of propulsion is steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels...
bound up the Missouri
Missouri River
The Missouri River flows through the central United States, and is a tributary of the Mississippi River. It is the longest river in North America and drains the third largest area, though only the thirteenth largest by discharge. The Missouri's watershed encompasses most of the American Great...
for the Montana
Montana
Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
goldfields
Gold mining
Gold mining is the removal of gold from the ground. There are several techniques and processes by which gold may be extracted from the earth.-History:...
. Steamboats had to make frequent refueling stops for wood to heat the boiler
Boiler
A boiler is a closed vessel in which water or other fluid is heated. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications.-Materials:...
s, but from Yankton
Yankton, South Dakota
Yankton is a city in, and the county seat of, Yankton County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 14,454 at the 2010 census. Yankton was the original capital of Dakota Territory. It is named for the Yankton tribe of Nakota Native Americans...
, Dakota Territory to Fort Benton, Montana
Fort Benton, Montana
Fort Benton is a city in and the county seat of Chouteau County, Montana, United States. A portion of the city was designated as a National Historic Landmark District in 1961. Established a full generation beforethe U.S...
Territory (a distance of well over a thousand river miles), hostile Indians
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
controlled most of the country. The Indians had burned the few existing wood yards and steamboat
Steamboat
A steamboat or steamship, sometimes called a steamer, is a ship in which the primary method of propulsion is steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels...
s had to stop and cut wood as they went. Rebel soldiers like Barker and Dennis could work their way to the Montana Territory
Montana
Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
, by chopping fuel along the way.
The Missouri river
Missouri River
The Missouri River flows through the central United States, and is a tributary of the Mississippi River. It is the longest river in North America and drains the third largest area, though only the thirteenth largest by discharge. The Missouri's watershed encompasses most of the American Great...
was low in 1864 and Barker and Dennis only made it as far as Cow Island, before low water forced the steamboat
Steamboat
A steamboat or steamship, sometimes called a steamer, is a ship in which the primary method of propulsion is steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels...
to unload passengers and freight. The freight and paying passengers were carted by team and wagon the rest of the way to Fort Benton
Fort Benton, Montana
Fort Benton is a city in and the county seat of Chouteau County, Montana, United States. A portion of the city was designated as a National Historic Landmark District in 1961. Established a full generation beforethe U.S...
, but the former Confederates were on their own. News had come down the river that a new gold strike had been made at Last Chance Gulch (present day Helena
Helena, Montana
Helena is the capital city of the U.S. state of Montana and the county seat of Lewis and Clark County. The 2010 census put the population at 28,180. The local daily newspaper is the Independent Record. The Helena Brewers minor league baseball and Helena Bighorns minor league hockey team call the...
), at the foot of Mullan Pass
Mullan Pass
The Mullan Pass is a mountain pass in the Rocky Mountains of Montana in the United States. It sits on the continental divide on the border between Powell County, Montana and Lewis and Clark County, Montana, west of Helena, Montana in Helena National Forest at a height of .The Northern Pacific...
, but by the time Barker and Dennis walked there from Cow Island
Cow Island
Cow Island is a island in Casco Bay, Maine off Great Diamond Island, about northeast of downtown Portland. A non-profit youth development organization called Rippleffect owns the island and has the responsibility to protect the island's natural ecosystem as well as the island's public access....
, the good ground was taken, no jobs were to be had, and the price of everything was high.
Smoke from prospectors' camps
Prospecting
Prospecting is the physical search for minerals, fossils, precious metals or mineral specimens, and is also known as fossicking.Prospecting is a small-scale form of mineral exploration which is an organised, large scale effort undertaken by mineral resource companies to find commercially viable ore...
could be seen all along the foothills and so Barker and Dennis set out up the Missouri
Missouri River
The Missouri River flows through the central United States, and is a tributary of the Mississippi River. It is the longest river in North America and drains the third largest area, though only the thirteenth largest by discharge. The Missouri's watershed encompasses most of the American Great...
from Last Chance Gulch
Four Georgians
The Four Georgians were a group of gold prospectors that are traditionally credited for opening the Last Chance Placer of Helena, Montana. They were John Cowan, D. J. Miller, John Crab, and Reginald Stanley. Of the four, the only actual Georgian was Cowan, who hailed from Acworth, Georgia. The...
, (present day Helena Montana), prospecting here and there, living off the country. Here the Missouri
Missouri River
The Missouri River flows through the central United States, and is a tributary of the Mississippi River. It is the longest river in North America and drains the third largest area, though only the thirteenth largest by discharge. The Missouri's watershed encompasses most of the American Great...
was a large mountain river, cold and clear, bordered on each side by high ranges, with vast alluvial fans running out from steep gulches down to the river. Good color could be found in these gravels, but so far there were no rich strikes.
While prospecting and living off the country Barker and Dennis were joined by Jack Thompson, and John Wells, who had also been rebel soldiers. They eventually wandered into a gulch on the west side of the Big Belt Mountains
Big Belt Mountains
The Big Belt Mountains are a section of the Rocky Mountains in the U.S. state of Montana. Situated mainly in the Helena National Forest, the mountains are used for logging and recreation for the surrounding residents. Nearby is Helena, Montana, Canyon Ferry Lake, the Missouri River, Townsend,...
. Late fall was at hand, and they determined to stay for the winter—there was a good creek, and wild game. At one place near the mouth of the Gulch, east of the creek, Thompson sunk a hole and found the first pay dirt, a piece of gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
about the size of a grain of wheat. Prospecting up the canyon they found more gold in small quantities. Eventually they established a modest discovery of placer gold in gravels of the little creek, where a day’s hard work could produce enough to pay for a few pounds of beans.
Naming Confederate Gulch and Diamond City in the winter of 1864-65
The initial strike of Barker, Dennis and Thompson on the gulch in the Big Belt MountainsBig Belt Mountains
The Big Belt Mountains are a section of the Rocky Mountains in the U.S. state of Montana. Situated mainly in the Helena National Forest, the mountains are used for logging and recreation for the surrounding residents. Nearby is Helena, Montana, Canyon Ferry Lake, the Missouri River, Townsend,...
was small, but hard work produced enough gold so that word spread. Other southern sympathizers showed up in late 1864, and the area became known as Confederate Gulch.
During the winter of 1864-65 four log cabins were built equidistant around a large rock obstruction on the narrow floor of the gulch. The paths from cabin to cabin made a perfect diamond in the snow, as seen from the slopes above, and so the cabins in the gulch were named Diamond City. The "city" part of the name was a joke, comparing this poor settlement of southern sympathizers to the booming mining camps of Helena
Helena, Montana
Helena is the capital city of the U.S. state of Montana and the county seat of Lewis and Clark County. The 2010 census put the population at 28,180. The local daily newspaper is the Independent Record. The Helena Brewers minor league baseball and Helena Bighorns minor league hockey team call the...
and Virginia City
Virginia City, Montana
Virginia City is a town in and the county seat of Madison County, Montana, United States. In 1961, the town and the surrounding area was designated a National Historic Landmark District, the Virginia City Historic District...
.
The discovery of the fabulous Montana Bar in Confederate Gulch in 1865
Diamond City and the associated prospecting camp grew slowly. In the winter/spring of 1865, many prospectors passed through Confederate Gulch, since it was on one of the few trails that led from the MissouriMissouri River
The Missouri River flows through the central United States, and is a tributary of the Mississippi River. It is the longest river in North America and drains the third largest area, though only the thirteenth largest by discharge. The Missouri's watershed encompasses most of the American Great...
Valley up over the Big Belt Mountains
Big Belt Mountains
The Big Belt Mountains are a section of the Rocky Mountains in the U.S. state of Montana. Situated mainly in the Helena National Forest, the mountains are used for logging and recreation for the surrounding residents. Nearby is Helena, Montana, Canyon Ferry Lake, the Missouri River, Townsend,...
to the Smith River
Smith River (Montana)
Smith River is a tributary of the Missouri River, in central Montana, in the United States. It rises in southern Meagher County in the Castle Mountains and flows northwest in the valley between the Big Belt and Little Belt mountains, past White Sulphure Springs and past Smith River State Park...
Valley, where game was abundant and there was available land that could be farmed.
In late 1865 a group of newcomers arrived, referred to as "The Germans". They were led by an old time Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
prospector named Charles Fredericks. He liked the looks of things and prospected up the stream in an area that later became known as Cement Gulch. Cement Gulch area later became one of the richest discoveries of Confederate Gulch, but the Germans didn't get down to bedrock and so they decided to move on to look elsewhere.
Fredericks led his group back down the main gulch, through timber
Timber
Timber may refer to:* Timber, a term common in the United Kingdom and Australia for wood materials * Timber, Oregon, an unincorporated community in the U.S...
and sank a prospect hole in a clearing on a shelf up from the gulch floor, at the foot of a small tributary
Tributary
A tributary or affluent is a stream or river that flows into a main stem river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean...
. In the prospect hole, the group literally "struck it rich". The tributary became famed as Montana Gulch, and the shelf became doubly famed as the Montana Bar of the Montana Gulch.
The Montana Bar was only about two to 3 acres (12,140.6 m²) in extent, but it was one of the truly spectacular placer gold discoveries in terms of yield per unit area. The Bar was also unique in that the gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
wasn't located on bedrock
Bedrock
In stratigraphy, bedrock is the native consolidated rock underlying the surface of a terrestrial planet, usually the Earth. Above the bedrock is usually an area of broken and weathered unconsolidated rock in the basal subsoil...
at the bottom of the gulch, but was in a shelf of gravel
Gravel
Gravel is composed of unconsolidated rock fragments that have a general particle size range and include size classes from granule- to boulder-sized fragments. Gravel can be sub-categorized into granule and cobble...
located up on the side of the gulch.
The Montana Bar gravel
Gravel
Gravel is composed of unconsolidated rock fragments that have a general particle size range and include size classes from granule- to boulder-sized fragments. Gravel can be sub-categorized into granule and cobble...
s were saturated with gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
from the surface down to the bedrock
Bedrock
In stratigraphy, bedrock is the native consolidated rock underlying the surface of a terrestrial planet, usually the Earth. Above the bedrock is usually an area of broken and weathered unconsolidated rock in the basal subsoil...
, which was a dense blue gray limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
. Depressions in the bedrock trapped gold, and when washed over by water, the gold in these depressions was so thick it could be seen from a distance as glowing metal
Metal
A metal , is an element, compound, or alloy that is a good conductor of both electricity and heat. Metals are usually malleable and shiny, that is they reflect most of incident light...
. The gold bearing gravel deposit was about 8 feet (2.4 m) deep in most places, but thickened to thirty or forty feet against the mountain
Mountain
Image:Himalaya_annotated.jpg|thumb|right|The Himalayan mountain range with Mount Everestrect 58 14 160 49 Chomo Lonzorect 200 28 335 52 Makalurect 378 24 566 45 Mount Everestrect 188 581 920 656 Tibetan Plateaurect 250 406 340 427 Rong River...
.
The few acres of the Montana Bar were freakishly rich in gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
. It was claimed that the gravel
Gravel
Gravel is composed of unconsolidated rock fragments that have a general particle size range and include size classes from granule- to boulder-sized fragments. Gravel can be sub-categorized into granule and cobble...
s of the Montana Bar were some of the richest every washed, anywhere. It was not uncommon to get $1,000.00 of gold from a pan of gravel and dirt, and this was at a time when gold was worth less than $20.00 an ounce. The record pan, according to witnesses, was $1,400.00, or roughly 7 pound
Pound (mass)
The pound or pound-mass is a unit of mass used in the Imperial, United States customary and other systems of measurement...
s of gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
in 15 pounds (two shovelfuls) of gravel. At the first cleanup of the sluice box
Gold mining
Gold mining is the removal of gold from the ground. There are several techniques and processes by which gold may be extracted from the earth.-History:...
es on the Bar, the riffles were clogged with gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
. One week’s production of gold on Montana Bar was $115,000.00.
A popular legend
Legend
A legend is a narrative of human actions that are perceived both by teller and listeners to take place within human history and to possess certain qualities that give the tale verisimilitude...
grew up around the discovery
Discovery (observation)
Discovery is the act of detecting something new, or something "old" that had been unknown. With reference to science and academic disciplines, discovery is the observation of new phenomena, new actions, or new events and providing new reasoning to explain the knowledge gathered through such...
of the Montana Bar. According to popular account, the Germans were greenhorn
Greenhorn
Greenhorn is slang for an inexperienced person. It may also refer to:* Greenhorn, California, United States* Greenhorn, Oregon, United States* The Greenhornes, a rock band from Cincinnati, Ohio...
s, and did not know the habits of gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
to sink to the lowest levels of bedrock in a gulch, due to the forces of erosion
Erosion
Erosion is when materials are removed from the surface and changed into something else. It only works by hydraulic actions and transport of solids in the natural environment, and leads to the deposition of these materials elsewhere...
and gravity. In response to their earnest, repeated (and annoying) requests to the more experienced Confederate boys for directions to "the good claims", they were told (with a wave of the hand at the sides of the gulch) to "go up yonder". According to legend, they dutifully went "up yonder" and discovered the Montana Bar.
Rich strikes on Confederate Gulch, and its tributaries—at Boulder Bar, Diamond Bar, Gold Hill, Cement Gulch, Montana Gulch, and Greenhorn Gulch
The discovery of the fabulous Montana Bar immediately generated frantic prospecting throughout Confederate Gulch and its tributaries. This rapidly led to a multitude of strikes.Rich finds were developed along Confederate Gulch proper. Two miles up Confederate Gulch, claims in Cement Gulch proved very rich and productive. Prospecting up Montana Gulch new discoveries were made. Good placer deposits were found along Greenhorn Gulch and Boulder Gulch.
The Montana Bar strike motivated prospectors to prospect the sides of Confederate Gulch mining district. Gold is heavy, and the sorting process from water and glacier flow usually results in concentrations of gold down on bedrock along the gulch bottom. Confederate Gulch was the exception. Some of the richest gold concentrations were found in benches of gravel along the hillsides.
On the same hillside level as the Montana Bar the Diamond Bar was discovered. It was as rich in yield per acre as the Montana Bar, though not as extensive. Gold Hill and other gravel shelves at the same level along the gulch and its tributatries yielded good gold production.
The Boulder Bars were in Boulder Gulch. These benches rested on shelves of bedrock. They posed a special problem. The surface of these hillside benches were littered with large boulders even though underneath were well sorted stream gravels with streaks and pockets of gold. The underlying gravels were hard to work because the surface boulders settled in heaps as the underlying lighter gravel was carted away or washed away by hydraulic methods.
Within a few months after the Montana Bar strike of 1865 Confederate Gulch and its tributaries were an antihill of activity with gold miners swarming over the ground, digging and working on their claims.
Gold production 1866 to 1869
For a few short years Confederate Gulch boomed. From 1866 to 1869, Confederate Gulch probably equaled or outstripped other Montana Camps in gold production, chiefly because (a) the gold was course and easy to get at, (b) water was close and (c) gradients were favorable to create sluice currents and dump disposal. These conditions also allowed the transition from simpler placer operations to more efficient hydraulic mining.The initial strike on Montana Bar set records for gold production. The best of the 200 feet (61 m) claims along the shelf yielded $180,000.00, or about $900 per running foot of width. The total production from the Montana Bar alone is estimated at $1 million to $1.5 million.
Confederate Gulch proper was mined for a distance of five miles (8 km). When properly worked the Confederate Gulch claims were all rich. The rich stretches along the bottem of the Gulch were very rich. The gold production ran from $100.00 to $500.00 per running foot, and produced $20,000 to $100,000 per claim.
Cement Gulch and Montana Gulch were highly productive, but Cement Gulch was in a class by itself. Some of the claims in Confederate Gulch were true bonanzas. They produced more gold than comparable claims of the fabulous Montana Bar, though requiring movement of a much larger tonnage of gravel, boulders and dirt.
No one knows how much gold was taken from the Boulder Bars. Because of the boulders strewn across the surface of the bars, they were worked by many different operators, some mere pocket hunters and others operating with teams of men and equipment.
The gold production of Confederate Gulch created massive gold shipments from the gulch, starting with the spectacular production of Montana Bar. A single shipment of gold in 1866, representing a short run of gold bearing gravel through the sluice boxes weighed two tons and was valued at $900,000.00. In the late 1860s two and a half tons of gold were produced in a final clean up of the sluice boxes.
In September 1866 the steamboat Luella piloted by Captain Grant Marsh took 230 miners back down the Missouri River to the states. Between the gold carried by individual miners and consigned gold shipments, the Luella had a cumulative two and a half tons of gold on board, conservatively valued at $1,250,000. This was the richest cargo ever carried down the Missouri River by steamboat. The bulk of this gold reputedly represented production in 1866 from the Confederate Gulch area.
There are varying estimates of the total gold production from the Confederate Gulch Mining District during the boom years—1866 to 1869. The estimates run from $16 million to an estimate of $10 to $30 million. These estimates could fall far short of the total gold volume that was actually produced. The total production will never be known. Businesses which transported gold, as well as individual miners took out their gold secretly, in order to mislead highwaymen and prevent robbery.
All of the estimates of gold production are in 1860's dollars. In addition, this is when gold was worth less than $20 an ounce. Were the values of total production be stated in today's dollars, the figures would be much higher than the estimates.
A feature of Confederate Gulch is the abrupt jump into high production of gold in 1866, the continued intensity of the production through 1867 and 1868, and its abrupt end in 1869/70. Gold production from the Confederate Gulch mining district started at a high level in 1866 because of the sheer opulence of the Montana Bar strike. Production was maintained at a high level as numerous fresh strikes were made and brought on line. The intense utilization of hydralic mining kept the production levels high from 1866 onward until the gold ran out in 1869/70.
Technical problems from 1866 to 1869
Along Confederate Gulch and on Cement Gulch the gold claims were rich, but they demanded a great deal of labor. There were large boulders mixed with gravel along the gulch bottems. These boulders had to be moved. Cold water would flood the shafts and trenches. The hillside shelves, like Montana Bar and Diamond Bar were easier to mine, but even some of the hillside shelves had technical problems. Along the various Boulder Bars, the large boulders that littered the surface had to be drilled and blasted, or lifted and moved by rope tackle. These were dangerous projects.Hydraulic mining in Confederate Gulch
Confederate Gulch saw large scale hydraulic miningHydraulic mining
Hydraulic mining, or hydraulicking, is a form of mining that uses high-pressure jets of water to dislodge rock material or move sediment. In the placer mining of gold or tin, the resulting water-sediment slurry is directed through sluice boxes to remove the gold.-Precursor - ground...
. Hydraulic mining methods in Confederate Gulch used the force of water to wash down banks of gravel bars and terraces located on the sides of the gulches, as well as the beds of gravel on the gulch floor. The earth and fine gravel was then flushed through sluice boxes where the heavier gold was extracted from the lighter gravel.
Hydraulic mining
Hydraulic mining
Hydraulic mining, or hydraulicking, is a form of mining that uses high-pressure jets of water to dislodge rock material or move sediment. In the placer mining of gold or tin, the resulting water-sediment slurry is directed through sluice boxes to remove the gold.-Precursor - ground...
was particularly applicable in Confederate Gulch because gold bearing gravels lay on terraces high up on the hillsides above the gulch. In addition, the water sources and gradients supported the development of hydraulic mining.
Water from sources high up the gulch were tapped and fed into flumes or ditches that ran along the sides of the gulch. The ditch/flume was kept at a much shallower gradient than the floor of the gulch. Eventually the water in the flumes and ditches was high above the mining sites down on the floor of the gulch. The water was then released from the high ditch down through several hundred feet of pipe, and emerged through huge nozzles that resembled small cannon. The massive jets of water from these nozzles reputedly had such force that they could smash down a brick building in one pass. The most powerful hydraulic hoses required six men to control.
Building the ditches and flumes that hydraulic methods required large amounts of capitol. This brought outside investors into the business of removing gold from the gulch. They wanted the quickest return possible on their investment and they encouraged unrestricted use of hydraulic methods.
The powerful jets of water used in hydraulic mining
Hydraulic mining
Hydraulic mining, or hydraulicking, is a form of mining that uses high-pressure jets of water to dislodge rock material or move sediment. In the placer mining of gold or tin, the resulting water-sediment slurry is directed through sluice boxes to remove the gold.-Precursor - ground...
washed down whole hillsides and simply ate up the floor of the gulch. The dirt and fine gravel was then washed through the sluices, and the silt was carried off down the gulch. The gravel tailings produced by hydraulic mining were left behind as spoil bank
Spoil bank
The term "spoil bank" refers to a pile of refuse, created by excavation of earth materials from a site, or by removing excess surface materials from a site.- Common usages of the term :...
s, piled along the bottom of the gulch for long intervals. Hydraulic mining methods and the resulting spoil bank
Spoil bank
The term "spoil bank" refers to a pile of refuse, created by excavation of earth materials from a site, or by removing excess surface materials from a site.- Common usages of the term :...
s obliterated all the remains of the original Diamond City, as well as the other small communities in the gulches. Hydraulic mining was very damaging to the environment on the gulch. It changed the appearance, geography and ecosystem of Confederate Gulch.
Mining operations 1870 to the mid-1940s
From 1866 to 1869 the miners swarmed over the Confederate Gulch area and skimmed the cream as well as took the milk. They got it all, or most of all. Nothing after that—neither the placer mining operations or the lode mining operations even came close to the production in the boom years.After 1870 some sporadic hydraulic operations continued in Confederate Gulch and its tributaries for many years. A company based in Milwaukee worked some old ground briefly in 1899. About nine years later, a company worked gravels in the lower end of the gulch using a Risdon dredge, but it shut down operations after three months when it found no values in the gravels. Placering continued off and on during the late 1910s and 1920s, with at least two operations in 1928; lack of water frequently hampered success.
Gold activity often works inversely to economic health. In the booming 1920's mining activity fell off. As a worldwide depression developed after 1928, gold production increased. The federal government moved to establish the price of gold, which rose to about $35.00 per ounce. The increased price of gold, combined with lower wages and material costs prevailing during the Depression, caused gold mining to become attractive again.
Dredging companies moved into Confederate Gulch in a big way in the 1930s, using power shovels and a variety of other equipment, including a stationary washing plant, dry-land dredge, and drag-line dredge. The best returns came in 1939 when two dredging operations recovered 2,357 fine ounces of gold. One company had 16 to 18 men on the payroll that season. A single dry-land dredge worked the ground in 1942, after which operations shut down for the duration of World War II.
The reported 1939 year's production of 2,357 ounces of gold was worth $82,495.00 at the then current price of $35.00 per ounce. This is but a small patch on the boom days of 1866 to 1869, when tons of gold were produced yearly from Confederate Gulch, and one week on the legendary Montana Bar produced $115,000.00 of gold at under $20.00 per ounce.
Lode mining in Confederate Gulch - the search for the mother lode
Even before the placer deposits began to run out, miners were combing the Big Belts for the "mother lode" -- that is, the rich emplacement of gold in bedrock which had, through erosion, produced all the placer gold found in the Confederate Gulch gravels. No rich "mother lode" was ever found. The general theory is that the mother lode was consumed by erosion and the gold was distributed into the gravels that lay along the sides and bottom of Confederate Gulch and adjacent gulches in the Big Belt MountainsBig Belt Mountains
The Big Belt Mountains are a section of the Rocky Mountains in the U.S. state of Montana. Situated mainly in the Helena National Forest, the mountains are used for logging and recreation for the surrounding residents. Nearby is Helena, Montana, Canyon Ferry Lake, the Missouri River, Townsend,...
.
Though no mother lode was found, there were some lode operations in the Confederate Gulch district but they never measured up to the standard set by the rich placer mines. The most important mines, including the Hummingbird, Slim Jim, Schabert, Baker Group, and Three Sisters, are all located along the divide between Confederate Gulch and White Creek, principally on Miller Mountain. Lode mines produced only $100,000 in gold, while the placers of Confederate Gulch yielded this sum one hundred and fifty times over. The Philadelphia Mill, with a capacity of 15 tons per day, operated briefly at Diamond City around 1889.
Diamond City: "The Most Spectacular of Montana's Boom and Bust Gold Towns"
Confederate Gulch and Diamond City were transformed by the discovery of the amazing Montana Bar, followed closely by the discovery of the almost equally astounding Diamond Bar. Gold was being generated and shipped in record volumes. Word flashed across the territory and miners poured into the diggings.From a small collection of cabins and shacks Diamond City was instantly transformed into a crowded boom town that roared along both night and day. Satellite communities sprouted up on the Gulch—El Dorado, Boulder, Jim Town, and Cement Gulch City. At the crest of the boom ten thousand people lived and worked in Confederate Gulch, but Diamond City dominated the area, and when Meagher County was formed Diamond City was named the county seat.
Between 1866 and 1869, when Diamond City and Confederate Gulch had ten thousand people grubbing for gold, federal estimates put Montana's total population at twenty eight thousand. In these years, roughly 35% of Montana's population was working in Confederate Gulch.
Placer gold discoveries, like Confederate Gulch, attracted a diverse and cosmopolitan population. While many came from the Midwest and border states like Missouri, many also came from mining areas in California, Idaho and Nevada. Because they moved about so constantly, they cared little about background or status. The use of casual nicknames predominated over proper names. A roster of Confederate Gulch citizens could include names like Wild Goose Bill, Black Jack, Nubbins, Roachy, Steady Tom, Workhorse George, Dirty Mary, Whiskey Mike, and Lonesome Larry.
Placer gold strikes were "poor man's diggings". Placer gold is formed by erosional forces which slowly break down gold veins embedded in bed rock and over geologic time leave the gold in the gravels and sands of ancient or presently flowing river beds. The gold is in a natural state in the form of gold dust, flakes or nuggets. Such deposits required no special processing, except the hard grueling work to dig out and sort through tons of gravel, dirt, sand and boulders. Newly discovered deposits like Confederate Gulch attracted young footloose men, motivated by a desire to get rich quickly.
Towns that sprang up at placer gold strikes were jerry built, ephemeral and hectic places and Diamond City and the other Confederate Gulch communities were no exception. As long as gold was produced they boomed along. When the mining stopped, the prospectors left as suddenly as they came.
During the boom years, Diamond City seethed with excitement and activity. It provided entertainement and commercial goods for the miners and for the crews that labored night and day to build a 7 miles (11.3 km) ditch/flume for hydraulike work. When the ditch/flume was completed, full scale hydraulic mining began. At the height of the mining activity, between 1866 and 1869, hydraulic mining led to the displacement of Diamond City. The approaching hydraulic mining undercut the town, and spoil banks began to pile up against buildings. The merchants first propped their buildings on stilts. Eventually the stilts reached fifteen feet, and finally the town was simply removed to a nearby location in Confederate Gulch where it roared on with business as usual. Meanwhile the hydraulic mining process ate its way through the former town site.
Mining production from 1866 through 1869 was intense—the rich deposits encouraged quick exploitation, and the shift to hydraulic mining kept production in high gear. This led to record production, but it also shortened the life expectancy of the community. In 1869 and 1870 the gold ran out and so did the population. They simply picked up and left. By 1870 the population of Diamond city was down to 225 people, and a year later only about 64 people remained; by the 1880s 4 families were left.
From nothing in 1864, and from a few cabins in 1865, Diamond City became the county seat of Meagher County and the center of most populous camp in Montana in 1866. Diamond City boomed along for 3 years until 1869. Then the party was over, almost everyone left and Diamond City sank not just into obscurity but into oblivion. Unlike other boom-bust areas, Diamond City did not even remain as a picturesque ghost town. The rapacious search for gold consumed Diamond City, and hardly a trace now remains. Relfecting this meteoric rise and fall, Diamond City has been aptly described as "the most spectacular of Montana's boom and bust gold towns" by the authoritative text, "Montana: A History of Two Centuries", by Michael P. Malone, Richard B. Roeder, William L. Lang, 1991, University of Washington Press, p. 67.
The geology of Confederate Gulch
Confederate Gulch is considered a separate mining district. The district includes the length of the gulch, along with the upper tributaries of Boulder Creek, Montana Gulch, and Cement Gulch.".The principal rocks underlying the placer gold deposits of the Confederate Gulch district are the shales of the Spokane and Greyson formations, as well as limestones of the Newland formation. These are cut by diorite and quartz diorite dikes, stocks, and sills. Narrow quartz veins, found along fractures in the diorite and along bedding planes in the shale, contain most of the high grade gold ore. Ore values decrease with depth, and few mines have been developed deeper than 150 feet. In addition to the quartz veins in the shales, the diorite contains "low grade mineralized shear zones".
These Spokane, Greyson and Newland formations have been uniformly considered to be in the Middle Proterozoic Belt Supergroup. In this classification these formations would be much older than the overlying Flathead sandstone from the Middle Cambrian era, and the division between the older Proterozoic rocks, and the newer Cambrian rocks was considered to be a significant disconformity. New field work in the in the Big Belt Mountains, suggests that some rocks mapped as the Spokane Formation are conformable with overlying Middle Cambrian strata, and are not part of the Middle Proterozoic Belt Supergroup, but are part of strata that may be younger Late Neoproterozoic.
The rich placer gravels of the drainages were deposited during the interglacial stages of the Pleistocene period. Confirmation of concentration of the placer gold deposits in relatively recent times is indicated by the bones of mastodons and elephants that were dug out of the gravels.
The distribution of the Placer gold concentrations suggests that the common source of most of the placer gold in Confederate Gulch and White Creek was a series of quartz lodes on Miller Mountain on the divide between the two drainages. These gold bearing quartz lodes were consumed by the erosion that produced the placer gold deposits in Confederate and White Gulch.
Confederate Gulch in the present
Today a passable but unimproved road goes up the gulch from Townsend and over the crest of the Big Belts from the Missouri River to the Smith River Valley. In the winter the road is closed by snow. In the summer individual gold prospectors can still be seen, trying their luck up and down the gulch. They dig on the sides of the gulch and bring the gravels down to the stream.Confederate Gulch is unlike other boom and bust mining districts in Montana, because no ghost town was left at the site. The hydraulic mining during the boom years, and the reworking of the site since has obliterated the sites of the earlier mining communities. Along the bottem of the gulch are spoil banks overgrown with brush. Occasional pieces of timber appear in these areas to show that once there were towns and buildings in the gulch.
One thing alone remains. On a cliff overlooking the Confederate Gulch and Boulder Gulch from the south is the graveyard for Diamond City and Confederate Gulch. About 65 people are reportedly buried there. This site is marked on Wikimapia.
Visiting Confederate Gulch
Confederate Gulch runs out of western slopes of the Big Belt Mountains to the lake that is formed behind the Canyon Ferry Dam. The dam and lake are part of the Missouri River drainage. Across the Missouri River valley from the Big Belts are Townsend and U.S. Highways 12 and 284.One can drive to and through Confederate Gulch. Go east on U.S. Highway 12 from Townsend for about 3 miles (4.8 km). Turn north on Montana county road 284. After about 16 miles (25.7 km) a dirt road goes up Confederate Gulch. In good weather this road can be followed over the Big Belts into the Smith River valley where improved roads lead on to White Sulphur Springs, Montana. It would be best to travel in a vehicle with high clearance, but the grades do not require four wheel drive. Do not try this road in winter or in bad weather.
See also
- Sterling PriceSterling PriceSterling Price was a lawyer, planter, and politician from the U.S. state of Missouri, who served as the 11th Governor of the state from 1853 to 1857. He also served as a United States Army brigadier general during the Mexican-American War, and a Confederate Army major general in the American Civil...
- Alfred PleasontonAlfred PleasontonAlfred Pleasonton was a United States Army officer and General of Union cavalry during the American Civil War. He commanded the Cavalry Corps of the Army of the Potomac during the Gettysburg Campaign, including the largest predominantly cavalry battle of the war, Brandy Station...
- Thomas Francis MeagherThomas Francis Meagher-Young Ireland:Meagher returned to Ireland in 1843, with undecided plans for a career in the Austrian army, a tradition among a number of Irish families. In 1844 he traveled to Dublin with the intention of studying for the bar. He became involved in the Repeal Association, which worked for repeal...
- Fort Benton, MontanaFort Benton, MontanaFort Benton is a city in and the county seat of Chouteau County, Montana, United States. A portion of the city was designated as a National Historic Landmark District in 1961. Established a full generation beforethe U.S...
- Helena, MontanaHelena, MontanaHelena is the capital city of the U.S. state of Montana and the county seat of Lewis and Clark County. The 2010 census put the population at 28,180. The local daily newspaper is the Independent Record. The Helena Brewers minor league baseball and Helena Bighorns minor league hockey team call the...
- Virginia City, MontanaVirginia City, MontanaVirginia City is a town in and the county seat of Madison County, Montana, United States. In 1961, the town and the surrounding area was designated a National Historic Landmark District, the Virginia City Historic District...
- Alder GulchAlder GulchAlder Gulch is a place in the U.S. state of Montana, where gold was discovered on May 26, 1863 by William Fairweather and a group of men, including Barney Hughes, Thomas Cover, Henry Rodgers, Henry Edgar and Bill Sweeney who were returning to the gold fields of Bannack, Montana...
- Big Belt MountainsBig Belt MountainsThe Big Belt Mountains are a section of the Rocky Mountains in the U.S. state of Montana. Situated mainly in the Helena National Forest, the mountains are used for logging and recreation for the surrounding residents. Nearby is Helena, Montana, Canyon Ferry Lake, the Missouri River, Townsend,...
- Placer miningPlacer miningPlacer mining is the mining of alluvial deposits for minerals. This may be done by open-pit or by various surface excavating equipment or tunneling equipment....
- Gold prospectingGold prospectingGold prospecting is the act of searching for new gold deposits. Methods used vary with the type of deposit sought and the resources of the prospector...
- Gold Prospectors Association of AmericaGold Prospectors Association of AmericaThe Gold Prospectors Association of America is an organization dedicated to finding and mining gold on a small or recreational scale. It has gold claims across America and members can work the claims for a yearly fee. The club is headquartered in Temecula, California. Most, if not all GPAA...
- Gold RushGold rushA gold rush is a period of feverish migration of workers to an area that has had a dramatic discovery of gold. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, Brazil, Canada, South Africa, and the United States, while smaller gold rushes took place elsewhere.In the 19th and early...
- MiningMiningMining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...
- ProspectingProspectingProspecting is the physical search for minerals, fossils, precious metals or mineral specimens, and is also known as fossicking.Prospecting is a small-scale form of mineral exploration which is an organised, large scale effort undertaken by mineral resource companies to find commercially viable ore...
- MontanaMontanaMontana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
External links
- Department of Environmental Quality, State of Montana, Report on the Confederate Gulch Mining District.
- "Montana, a Tale of Two Centuries" Google book results
- Confederate Gulch, Diamond City and the Montana Bar in Wikimapia
- MTLinks Diamond City
- Western Mining History, Broadwater County, Gold Production