Paddy Ward and the Senate Mine

Published in “Gold on a Shoestring” is a poem by Rev. John G. Hay (1979) 

                                                           THE MINER 

The Senate was God’s copper rainbow 

That prospectors left behind 

High in the mountains, it exacted a toll, 

A will to believe in the sign. 

Paddy Ward said “yes” to fifty years

Of snow, cave-ins and water, 

Drilling, mucking, cursing, freezing, 

Matching the strength of the mine. 

Veins vanished-but, like old friends, 

Who leave without a good-bye, 

They reappeared unceremoniously ¬ 

Renewing the hopes that bind. 

Late, but not too late, 

The Company arrived ¬ 

 Piercing veins with diamond bits, 

 Marking every slender core; exposing 

 A giant of low grade ore. 

 And Paddy, the clown of the mountain ¬ 

 Weathered, old and worn, retired to a place 

 In the valley -not rich, but strangely warm. 

 Paddy died on Independence Day in 1979; 

 His ashes were spread where he labored ¬ 

 Near the tunnel that followed the sign 

 In the hope, that years and years from now, 

 When the copper is scarce and the price is high, 

 Something of Paddy will be waiting there… 

 Mixed with the earth when the blasting begins 

 To reopen the old Senate Mine. 

 Paddy Ward was another visitor at my grandparent's ranch during haying season and when the need to replenish his staples in the winter was crucial. His attire was in sharp contrast to Price Townsend. During the winter I doubt that he could sneak up on anyone as he had a very distinct odor that encircled his being and as a small child I made comments that were shushed by my grandmother and mother. I remember a tiny person but what sparkling blue eyes he had. He had a dream that the Senate mine had value and that someday it would pay off. How much money he put into it is anyone’s guess. 

The 1934 patent has the names Martin (Moose Lake) Johnson, Patrick E. Ward, Elizabeth Rood, and Cathie Leary as the owners. Although Paddy lived at Moose Lake, the Senate mine is located in the Pintler foothills about ten miles south of the lake. Prior to patenting the Senate Mine, Paddy had worked with his uncle at the Senate group of claims. His uncle John Ward’s obituary on May 22, 1914 stated he was: “a pioneer miner and prospector of the state, 46 years old [and]died at …his cabin at the Senate group of claims about 5 miles from Moose Lake. For 20 days he and his nephew Patrick Ward, had been snowed in and during most of this time Ward had been sick. The snow in the mountains was too deep for the nephew to get out and summon a doctor. The nearest people were at Moose Lake. Ward’s condition became serious Friday morning and Patrick left him alone, to try and get a doctor. Saturday, Ward was removed by ox team to Moose Lake, and Sunday morning medical assistance arrived from Philipsburg, but it was too late. The miner died in the afternoon.” The body was taken to Anaconda to be shipped to his old home in Hazelton, Pennsylvania. Wards Peak near DeBorgia, [Montana] was named for John F. Ward who discovered and owns a number of mining claims there. For 25 years Ward had been a miner in Idaho and Montana… "

During WWI Paddy fought in France, under General George Mac Arthur and returned to Montana on April 4, 1919. But I found no reference of Paddy being enlisted or drafted from Granite county so he must have enlisted from another location. After the War he went to work in the copper mines in Butte and found himself a wife named Minnie. The story goes that his health was too poor to work underground so he and Minnie moved to a small cabin on the Middle Fork of Rock Creek and he began prospecting. Records reveal that Paddy and Minnie filed the first mining claim and named it “Boots” in 1932.  

Then in the summer of 1933 Minnie sold her sewing machine to Pauline Carpp for $5 and her rocker for $1 and was gone. Pauline remembered her as a very nice woman. The story continued on to say that he had become a hard drinker then was in a car accident and supposedly got his ear bitten off in a fight before he quit drinking liquor. He never lost his thirst though and always stopped at Porter’s Corner when he went to town for an “Orange Crush.” The Orange Crush I know to be true, as he was the person that introduced me to my first taste during haying season at Granny’s. Oh, such a biting sharp flavor it had and to be given an entire bottle for my own, was just grand. 

When Emil Jarvi died in 1942 Paddy became caretaker at Moose Lake and from then on lived in a cabin on the Dunn-Musselman land along the eastside road. The Forest Service bought the Musselman property where Paddy’s cabin was located in 1966. They promised Paddy that he could live in his cabin until he died then they burned all of the other cabins. He soon became confused and forgetful and after some stays in Granite County Memorial Hospital and Fort Harrison, Paddy was placed in a Nursing Home in Deer Lodge, Montana at the age of eighty-five. Paddy died there a few days after his ninety-first birthday and his ashes were scattered on each lot around Moose Lake and at the Senate Mine according to Elizabeth Hauck in “Gold on a Shoestring.”

The Early History of Moose Lake

Much was written in the early newspapers about the Moose Lake district. The Mail on February 5, 1897 stated: “The Moose Lake sector of Granite County is destined to attract considerable attention during the coming season owing to the rich discoveries made in gold bearing quartz, which have been made in the past few months….and during the winter months a number of men have been proving up their claims…Messrs. Casper, Kramer and Company, of Anaconda, who own some of the valuable quartz claims in the district are sacking ore for shipment which is said to run $300 on average in gold per ton… The owners contemplate shipping their ore to Anaconda as soon as the roads are in sufficiently good condition for travel.” 

On March 4. 1897, the headlines are: “IT PUZZLED THEM”. Followed by this account: “…To build a six stamp quartz mill, putting everything into position for operation, tear it all down and haul it out of the camp, all inside of eight or ten weeks, is a feat that razzle-dazzles the modest population of Moose Lake mining district, says the Standard. That is part of the Lake’s history of very recent date. During the winter Hicks, Highland & Troy agreed to build a mill at the Lake and treat ores from then Cadle, Dunn and adjacent lodes. The mill, a six stamp affair, was erected and only a few weeks ago it was announced that all was in readiness for the start. A few tons of Hopkin’s samples were run through it, but the result of the test is unknown. However, none of the ore for which the mill was built to treat was tested in the mill. Mr. Hicks, the reputed backer of the enterprise, has been for some time and is still in the east. On last Saturday the whole outfit was loaded on several six-horse wagons and taken out of the camp…the destination of the machinery is not known by men who have just arrived from the lake. The mill referred to arrived in Philipsburg last Tuesday and is now in the possession of the Wilson Mercantile Company who attached it for a debt and at once took possession of the property. In June of 1897 the miners in the Moose Lake camp held a meeting and decided to ask Anaconda to help them build a road to the lake from Anaconda. At the present time they were traveling forty miles across a private ranch that forced them to open and close eleven different pairs of bars (gates). The rancher was not very happy about them using his property for a road either according to Harry Conn of Meadow Creek near Moose Lake.” (excerpted by the Mail from the Anaconda Reporter June 18, 1897.) 

The article continued stating the miners would ask Deer Lodge county commissioners to help them build it but that six miles of the road needed to be built is in Granite County. Over forty miners agreed to contribute money and believed it would cost them about $300 to $400 in cash. The Philipsburg people recognized that Moose Lake is rapidly coming to the front and with considerable enterprise made a proposition to the miners to build them a good road to that town free of charge provided the miners will agree to trade in that city. “The miners however, many of whom are old residents of this city [Anaconda] would prefer coming here if it can be arranged.” At that time it was forty miles from Moose Lake to Anaconda by the route they were taking or fifty miles if they used the highway to Philipsburg.” 

On December, 24, 1897, Messrs. George W. Smith and M.F. Kent, produced five samples of ore from their claim The Look-out, about ten miles west of Moose Lake. When assayed by W. Kroger they showed: No. 1: silver 142.6 ounces, gold $44; No.2: silver 65 ounces, gold $56.80; No.3: silver 38 ounces, gold $24.80; No.4: silver 290.3 ounces, gold $42.40; No.5: silver 3203 ounces, gold $52.40; with the explanation that numbers 1,4, and 5 were taken from the ore pile and numbers 2 and 3 from the waste dump. During the fall the Anaconda Company sought to bond the property for $150,000 and the deal was about consummated “...but when they got to Anaconda with the intention of signing the bond…they found the terms so rigid and one sided that they refused to sign it and the deal was declared off…in addition to the samples noted above Mr. Smith showed us one that was literally covered with silver and gold. He put it in a stove and large blisters of the precious metals bubbled out all over it.” 

Much was written in the early newspapers about the Moose Lake district. The Mail on February 5, 1897 stated: “The Moose Lake sector of Granite County is destined to attract considerable attention during the coming season owing to the rich discoveries made in gold bearing quartz, which have been made in the past few months….and during the winter months a number of men have been proving up their claims…Messrs. Casper, Kramer and Company, of Anaconda, who own some of the valuable quartz claims in the district are sacking ore for shipment which is said to run $300 on average in gold per ton… The owners contemplate shipping their ore to Anaconda as soon as the roads are in sufficiently good condition for travel.” 

In the Mail on May 6, 1898 was a column dedicated to Moose Lake and signed with the name “Senority” that stated: “Charles Hardtla who has been amalgamator in the new mill, has gone to Anaconda; Harry Coleman, the Philipsburg engineer, is running the engine in the new mill…; Will Calhoun was to the Lake this week, collecting bills for his father; Thomas McGraw has gone to Anaconda to purchase some grub for the summer; Quincy Murley has gone home to Anaconda for a few days. He is going into the “shop” for general repairs; Mr. Coyle has gone to the Smelter City for general repairs and to see a physician; Ben Morgan is leaving Moose Lake. He intends to join the commissary department of the United States Army if he can secure a position; William Stevens came in with “Seniority”. He has gone home to Chicago. He has been in at Moose Lake about eight months. . 

The Mail on March 22, 1906 wrote an extensive article concerning another big mining deal at Moose Lake. A gentleman named Stillman from New York had taken over legal possession of the Senate group of claims and posted bond in the amount of $130,00 to be dispersed in payments of $20,000 in ninety days; $30,000 by one year; and $80,000 in eighteen months. These claims were known to be high in copper but because they were located more than thirty-five miles from the nearest railroad had been unable to find funding for the operation. The claims had been located at least twelve years prior and were owned by Thomas Leary and several other Anaconda residents. The article went on to describe the other mining operations in the area: J.P. Dunn and Company were engaged in shipping high grade gold ore from the Lincoln Group of claims to Philipsburg, about thirty miles away. There the ore is loaded onto railroad cars and shipped to the smelter. The Moose Lake Mining Company had property the adjoined the Lincoln Group of claims and they had a small crew digging a tunnel and drifting on a vein at the present time. A number of Anaconda people were interested in the property and it was believed a large amount of ore would be removed from the area in the coming summer. 

In November 1925, there was a gas tank explosion at the Montana Prince, injuring Marcus Nevling. He died from the injuries three hours later. Marcus was operating a gasoline hoist and it is believed that he used a match to investigate the fuel supply which became ignited, as he was heard to call for help, a short time before the explosion took place. After calling for help it is thought he went back into the engine room to try to extinguish the blaze and he received the full effects of the explosion which completely demolished the engine and engine room and hurled him some distance from the building. Marcus born August 29, 1883 was always a miner and spent most of his life in Granite County. Survivors were: an uncle in Pennsylvania, a niece Mrs. Montana (Walters) Zbinden and a nephewGeorge Walters of Butte. The funeral was held from the Red Men’s Hall with Rev. Fred Anstice conducting the service. Judge D.M. Durfee and Fred Rickard conducted the Red Men’s service at the grave site. Pallbearers were: John M. Warner, Charles Sprague, Emmett Hoehne, Frank Beley, George Scheiffle and Rod McRae. 

Published in “Gold on a Shoestring” is a poem by Rev. John G. Hay (1979) 

                                                             THE MINER 

The Senate was God’s copper rainbow 

That prospectors left behind 

High in the mountains, it exacted a toll, 

A will to believe in the sign. 

Paddy Ward said “yes” to fifty years 

Of snow, cave-ins and water, 

Drilling, mucking, cursing, freezing, 

Matching the strength of the mine. 

Veins vanished-but, like old friends, 

Who leave without a good-bye, 

They reappeared unceremoniously ¬ 

Renewing the hopes that bind. 

Late, but not too late, 

The Company arrived ¬ 

Piercing veins with diamond bits, 

Marking every slender core; exposing 

A giant of low grade ore. 

And Paddy, the clown of the mountain ¬ 

Weathered, old and worn, retired to a place 

In the valley -not rich, but strangely warm. 

Paddy died on Independence Day in 1979; 

His ashes were spread where he labored ¬ 

Near the tunnel that followed the sign 

In the hope, that years and years from now, 

When the copper is scarce and the price is high, 

Something of Paddy will be waiting there… 

Mixed with the earth when the blasting begins 

To reopen the old Senate Mine.

Price Townsend: Forest ranger and Miner

                                   Price Townsend photo from "The Philipsburg Story"

A personality worth mentioning is Price Townsend. One of ten children, he was born Augustus Price Townsend October 23, 1887 in Luray, Missouri and arrived in Montana in the early 1900’s where he attended the University of Montana Forestry School. An article in the Mail, December 31, 1920 stated that Price received an “assignment to Mather Field Sacramento, California for a course of instruction on aerodynamics and radio aerial observation.” Then a second article on February 25, 1921, stated Price returned from Mather Field February 22 and reported he had successfully passed the test for liaison officer and got through the “stunts” without mishap. Next, in September, 1921, “Price who was in charge of the local office of the Missoula National Forest left for Missoula where he would be headquartered while doing grazing survey work for the northwestern part of the state.” 

The next week’s paper stated: “Deputy Forest Supervisor A. Price Townsend, who has been in charge of the Philipsburg District for the past 18 months has been selected as an aid to prepare sample reports and instruct the various rangers of the Missoula Unit regarding this grazing reconnaissance work. He will be occupied with his new duties for an indefinite period of time.” 

Photographs of Price show a very handsome bareheaded, light-haired young man. Bus Hess believed Price lost his forest service job because he took off for the Dempsey-Gibbons fight in Havre while there was a fire he should have been present at. This caused the Supervisor to become aware of his absence. The Dempsey-Gibbon’s fight was the fourth of July 1923, in Shelby, Montana. The chapter about Price in “The Philipsburg Story” described his employment period as 1920 through 1924 for the Forest Service. Price probably did attend the fight, but that is not the likely reason he left the forest service. An article in the Mail on May 8, 1925 that described mining operations in the Frog Pond Basin stated “Mr. Townsend, until the first of the year was district ranger at Philipsburg for the forest service but resigned to go into the mining business.” He was now president of the Frog Pond Development Company, backed by capital from South Dakota. Two other companies: Montana Prince, a New York Syndicate and Miller Brothers backed by local capital were mining in the basin at this time and the groups hoped to be able to build a road “…under the supervision of the government on the Granite county side as a continuation of the road from Moose Lake. It is understood that another road is to be completed into the Basin country from the Ravalli side.” 

In September, 1904, there had been “BIG STRIKE AT FROGPOND A mammoth gold lead, said to be 1200 feet in width, is reported to have been discovered in Frogpond Basin, near the Moose Lake District, by Dave, Lou and Ed Miller. Some samples from the lead run as high as $100, but the average is about $7 a ton.” This strike had continued to be mined at intervals every since. By March,1929 Price was involved with A.D. Stoddard in mining operations at Black Pine with the great development in Frog Pond Basin put on hold. Then in July,1935, when his sister Greta Settle arrived from Rapid City, to visit with Price, he was back in Frog Pond Basin. 

“The Philipsburg Story”, stated Price ran for Sheriff of Granite county but got drunk on Election Day and: “Even up there they got so disgusted with him for getting pie-eyed right before election that he lost out.” Research of the 1920’s failed to identify Price ever running for office. 

My first memories of Price were in the early 40’s and he was a very handsome man who wore light colored well pressed trousers and a narrow brimmed hat. He was a hermit that would come out in the summer to help my family hay. 

Price had many little lean-to’s throughout the Ross Fork and South Fork areas plus his cabins in Frog Pond Basin and Table Mountain. Price liked to be called “Table Mountain Townsend.” He became disoriented from so many years without social contact in about 1950. Someone contacted one of his sisters and he was taken back east until he recovered. In 1953 Price returned to Philipsburg and became the liquor vendor on January 1, 1960. Bus recalled that Price was removed from that position when he began sampling the wares and was serving the customers in an inebriated state, clad only in his long-handled underwear. 

In 1959, at the age of seventy-two, Price was “found dead at the Geiger House” and Mortician, Roy Wilson believed he died around December 30. He was interred in the Philipsburg cemetery.

A Game Warden of Note

               

                       Al Wanamaaker and Harry Morgan on Upper Willow Creek before 1900

Harry Morgan was named frequently in the Philipsburg Mail for his Forest Service work and helping hunt down fugitives. I spoke of him  when he assisted Deputy Wyman in the case of Frank Brady.   A quote I found from Morgan in the Montana Wildlife Bulletin, August 1944 states: “In November, 1905, the officers were after Frank Brady, a notorious horse thief who took his stolen stock to Dakota. He was hiding out on Lower Rock Creek and we located him at Welcome Gulch. I was appointed to go with a marshall. I suggested that we both go inside the cabin and grab Brady but the marshall figured we would both be  killed. We stayed there all night.  At the barking of his dog Brady came out of the cabin with a gun in his arms. When the dog started barking I ran behind a tree and the marshall behind a rock. Brady pulled up to shoot but I was ready and let him have it. Brady’s shot fell 20 feet short of us. Brady tried to shoot again but I beat him to it and he died on the door steps. I looked around for the officer but he was gone. I hollered and he answered a quarter mile away.”

Born on July 6, 1863 to Captain and Mrs. John Morgan, Harry was the first white child born in Fort Benton at the old Doby Fort. His mother died in the spring of 1871 and then his father was killed by a war party of Blackfoot Indians. The story goes that after his mother died he was taken in by an Indian woman but Harry states  “Dr. J.S. Glick of Helena came to Fort Benton and took me back to Helena with him… In the fall of 1873, Henry Schniple (Schneple), a stockman from Philipsburg, made his annual trip to Helena for supplies. I went to Philipsburg to work with him on his ranch and remained there until 1876. Then I left and attended school in Philipsburg for one year.” After bouncing around working with other ranchers and trading posts Harry returned to work on ranches around Philipsburg in 1881. He also drove team for Jack Hall and then began hauling wood and railroad ties for the railroad to Philipsburg and cord wood props for the mines.  

Harry married Orphie Rider on August 27, 1885. They raised three girls and three boys. At the time of the silver crash in 1893,  Harry went to Butte and worked in the Pennslvania Mine. He then returned to Philipsburg and in 1906 was appointed Forest Guard; in 1907 was appointed Assistant Forest Ranger a post he resigned from in February, 1913. On April 1, 1913, Harry was appointed Deputy Game Warden and was assigned the northern part of Powell County and the Clearwater and Swan River drainage in Missoula County with headquarters in Ovando.

In “Cabin Fever”, by Mildred Chaffin (1988), Harry is described as “an early day game warden of note. Those who remember him well say that he tempered his method of enforcing the law with an old time consideration for those in need.” Warren Skillicorn stated: “He never snooped. He never came into anyone’s home looking into steam kettles or dipping his hands in the flour bin looking for meat like some of them did….Harry would ask peoples names and inquire about their employment situation and their families. If someone was ‘down and out’ , no job, no money and no meat, he would look the other way, saying ‘Don’t watch me, watch your neighbor. If someone reports you I have to take you in.”

Another Mildred Chaffin’s statement quotes Harriet Whitworth of Arlee: “He was my friend”. As a very small girl she accompanied her mother,  relatives and friends when the Indian Bands made their annual treks into the South Fork of the Flathead for their winter meat and buckskins to tan.” Meeting Morgan on the trail they would exchange greetings during which time Morgan would take the little girls hand, put something in it and close her fingers tightly. As soon as they were on their way she would open up her hand to find something there. ‘Maybe a dollar’, she remembered smiling.”

 Orphie died in 1943 and Harry retired in 1947. He later moved to Missoula to live with  daughter Mrs. E.G. Hough. He died in a Missoula Rest Home on August 2, 1957. The funeral was performed by Frank “Sandbar” Brown with burial in Missoula. Survivors were: daughters Mrs. E.G. Hough of Missoula and Mrs. Mary D. Johnson of Three Forks;  sons, Henry of Oregon and Ernest of Idaho; nine grandchildren, one being Herbert Abbey of Philipsburg; twenty-two great grandchildren and nine great-great grandchildren.