Flint Chips

Flint Chips was a history column by the late Dan Meschter, a geologist and historian, that ran in the late 1980's in the Philipsburg Mail.
The coverage of early Granite County History was thorough and excellent. Here's a list of the Flint Chips columns by topic. We have obtained permission from Catherine Meschter to use these columns on our blog. She retains the copyright.


1. Montana exploration through the time of DeSmet
2. Gold legends and Benetsee
3. Tale of Wm. Graham
4. The Stevens Expedition
5. Gold Creek and Bannack
6. Hector Horton, Virginia City
7. Discovery of the Flint Creek Mines
8. continued
9. Organization of the St..Louis and Montana Mining Company
10. More on Flint Creek Mines
11. Emmettsburgh
12. Flint Creek described, 1866-67
13. Philip Deidesheimer
14. Birth of Philipsburg
15. James Stuart and mill construction
16. Philip Deidesheimer biography
17. Philipsburg described, 1867
18. continued
19. Mill construction and dedication
20. Discovery of the Cable Mines
21. The Masonic Lodge
22. Bear Creek discovery, settlement described
23. Lovejoy murder in Beartown
24. Philipsburg stories, 1867
25. continued
26. Philipsburg decline
27. Financing of the St.Louis and Montana Mining Company
28. Other operators
29. Cole Saunders Mining Company
30. Fires and the Tale of Jake Schlottner
31. The tale of Horace Countryman
32. continued
33. Toll roads
34. The Tale of Lucy Ann Coberly, Indians, spring of 1868
35. The Tale of Gus Gird
36. continued.
37. Decline of Philipsburg and activity at Boulder Creek
38. “The deserted village”
39. The Tale of James Stuart
40. St. Louis Company developments, the Purvine lease
41. The return of Cole Saunders
42. Rebirth of Philipsburg and the death of Fullerton
43. Henderson Gulch and the Tale of Ella Corella
44. Dan Berry at Bear Gulch
45. More on the St. Louis Company, Felix McArdle
46. Emmettsburg described
47. Emmettsburg and Dingwall biography
48. The Wallwork-Cartwright shooting in Emmettsburg
49. The Bitterroot Road
50. Railroad survey party  poisoning
51. Land surveying and entries, Wight, McRae, et
52. Prospecting, Boulder Creek, Rock Creek, Winchell mines
53. End of St. Louis Company and the beginning of the Speckled Trout story.
54. The Imperial Company and the Freiberg or Reese River Process
55. Imperial Company operations at the St. Louis Company mill
56. Organization of the Hope Company
57. Lower valley settlers: C. M. Douglass, Oscar Gruwell
58. The birth of New Chicago and John Featherman
59. Philipsburg and New Chicago schools.
60. Beartown stories
61. More Beartown stories, Dutch Henry-Pat Dooley fight at New Chicago
62. Philipsburg stories
63. More Philipsburg stories and the birth of the Northwest Company
64. Death of Felix McArdle
65. Continued
66. continued
67. Beginning of the Northwest Company
68. continued
69. Biography of Charlie Frost
70. Moses Cox and the Belmont Company
71. B. F. Tilden and the Hope Company
72. L. W.O'Bannon and the Hope Company
73. Philipsburg described, 1875
74. Trout mill described
75. Economy and town described, January 14, 1876.
76. Death of John Brown
77. Problems in Trout mill and beginning of the Algonquin
78. The Tale of John Silverthorne
79. Mail service and the death of Hugh Bell
80. Philipsburg townsite story
81. The silver bullion tax
82. Reorganization of the Northwestern Company
83. W. S. Mills letter from Town, June 6, 1876
84. Resumption of operations in Summer 1877 and Philipsburg economy
85. Schools, churches, and Father DeRychere
86. Organization of the Algonquin Company
87. More fatalities in the mines
88. New Chicago
89. End of Emmettsburgh
90. Buz Caven Story I
91. Buz Caven Story II
92. Gold Creek Indian story
93. Nez Perce Indian story of 1877
94. continued, the Philipsburg battalion
95. Edwardsville
96. continued.
97. The Good Templars
98. Sandbar  Brown
99. Indians on Bear Creek, 1878
100. Indians on Rock Creek, Murders and Nez Perce Jones, 1878
101. History of Butte
102. Miners Unions and strikes
103. Failure of the Northwestern Company
104. Silver legislation and Hope vanners
105. New Chicago and the McPhail Hotel
106. The McPhail Hotel continued
107. Quinlan-Davis shooting and the Tale of Felicite Sanchez
108. The Algonquin Company and mill
109. continued, Yandell-Harty shooting in Hasmark
110. Philipsburg and the visit of Bishop Seghers
111. Philipsburg matters, 1879
112. Degenhart-Carpenter shooting
113. continued
114. The telephone and telegraph
115. Seizure of the Sharktown mine, 1879
116. continued
117. Tale of Hugh O'Neil
118. continued
119. continued
120. Fahey-Wadd dispute
121. The Tale of Charles D. McLure
122. Trout Mine seizure
123. continued
124. continued
125. The Hope Company and Charles Clark
126. Buildings, the Kaiser House
127. Bear Creek lodes
128. Garnet and the Minnie Palmer
129. Hyde's trip across the Flint Creek range
130. Legend of Beaver Tail Hill
131. Bishop Daniel Tuttle
132. The Reed-Garland murder
133. continued.
134. The story of Granite
135. continued
136. continued
137. continued
138. Irish and Jews
139. The failure of the Algonquin Company
140. Pat Dooley shoots Ehrich
141. The Brown Brothers and the Boulder Mines
142. continued
143. The Tale of Mary Nierling
144. continued
145. continued
146. Philipsburg growth
147. continued
148. The Durfees
149. continued
150. The Philipsburg Pioneer Association
151. Lower Valley Economy
152. The  lower valley, Dan Berry stories
153. New   Chicago Economy, 1884-1885
154. Tour of lower Flint Creek Valley, 1885
155. Philipsburg described , 1885
156. Granite development
157. continued
158. continued
159. continued.
160. Post offices and mail routes
161. Estill, Holland, and Merrill
162. continued.
163. continued.
164. The Tale of Charles D. McLure
165. continued.
166. continued.
167. continued.
168. Stage coach robberies
169. The Tale of Henry Schnepel
170. continued.
171. The coming of the railroad
172. Black Pine
173. continued
174. The murder of Chris Gaffney
175. continued.
176. The murder of Mike Dooley
177. The Tale of Miss Kate beginning with the San Francisco Mine