Lucy Davis Maggard Coberly

Pioneers who traveled the wagon trails to the West braved many dangers and to survive the trip one had to be fearless. Their adventures inevitably became mixed with fiction in “tall tales” of the wagon trains. Consider this tale of screaming, disembodied teeth in "Bravos of the West" by John M. Meyers.

The Flint of Flint Creek

In Flint Chips No. 3, Dan Meschter related a story of a Hudson Bay Company prospecting expedition to Henderson Creek in 1849, long before the settlement of the Flint Creek Valley. Meschter's source was a letter to the "New Northwest" newspaper in 1875 by William Graham, a pioneering prospector who heard the tale from the H.B. Co. manager, Angus McDonald. Angus' geographic reference is "Arrow Point". That must have been the huge flint quarry at the "The Eyebrow", which seems to have been a major flint source for millennia. The Eyebrow first appears as a geographic name in this spot on the 1958 topo map of the area. We continue that usage (for now) while recognizing that earlier geologic work by Pardee uses "Eyebrow Hill" to denote a different topographic feature, a hill near the mouth of Douglas Creek on the east side of the highway. 

The Eyebrow is one of the archaeological sites covered by Patricia Flint in her excellent UM master's thesis on local archaeology. This quarry is no doubt the reason the creek just to the east is called Flint Creek, and that the Hellgate River was called the Arrowstone by early geographers.
The term "flint" is a slight misnomer, as "flint" is a variety of chert, a sedimentary form of silica, while the silica at the Eyebrow is hydrothermal in origin, and would better be described as chalcedony. Nonetheless, since "Chalcedony Creek" doesn't have the same ring as "Flint Creek", we will refer to the stone at the site as "flint" for historical reasons. 

Garnet Mining District

In the usual version told of the discovery of the great placer mines of the Garnet Range, gold was discovered in the area then known as Bear.  The mouth of Bear Gulch is located about eleven miles west of Drummond and the first discovery is credited to the Jack Reynolds party, in October of 1865 in Elk Creek Gulch.  Reynolds' discoveries led to a rush of miners into Bear Gulch  (the upper part of which is called First Chance gulch), Elk Creek Gulch, Deep Creek Gulch and Bilk Gulch. It is known because of Leeson (1885) and the Morse Family descendants that Colonel George W. Morse and partners took about $250,000 worth of Gold out of Bilk Gulch. But perhaps the role of John Lannan in these events has been overlooked.

Where are Kirkville, Clark, and Stuart Gulch?

Copied below is part of the topographic map from USGS Professional Paper 78, focusing on Philipsburg and vicinity. The surveying for this map was done in 1905, on horseback and using plane table methods, and is a classic example of the fine work of the early US Geological Survey. But perfect it is not. 

Henderson Gulch (Emmetsburg)

Henderson Gulch, located on the west side of Highway One between Maxville and Hall, was named after the miners who discovered gold there in 1865. An uncle, nephew and unrelated Henderson were called "Big Joe", "Little Joe" and "Young Joe."

Granville Stuart's Sketch of Philipsburg, 1867

There are no known photos of Philipsburg that date from the 1860's. There is, however, a remarkable and detailed sketch made by Granville Stuart on September 6, 1867, which first came to our attention via Terrence Delaney's dissertation on James Stuart.

First Discovery of Gold in Montana

The credit for the "first discovery of gold in Montana" has long been a source of controversy, partly deriving from a campaign by Granville Stuart to get the legislature to declare him to be the discoverer and to grant him a pension for this signal service to the State. (See Delaney, P. 296, fn 74).

Fred H. Burr

Residents of  Southwest Montana are likely quite familiar with Fred Burr as a place name. Googling "Fred Burr" and "Montana" gives over ten thousand hits for the numerous locales in Granite, Powell, and Ravalli counties named for Burr - indeed, there are three "Fred Burr" creeks, one in each county. Our object in this post is to tell the story of the man who is honored whenever we drink tap water in Philipsburg from Fred Burr Lake, cross the pass from Red Lion to Racetrack Lake over Fred Burr Pass, or take a dip in the swimming hole in Fred Burr Creek.  

Major William Y. Graham

Among Hector Horton's partners on the first claim in Philipsburg, was William Graham, a famed explorer and prospector in territorial Montana and a founder of the Montana Historical Society. He was also one of Philipsburg's first school teachers. 

Kate Perry: First woman in camp

On August 11, 1905 the Philipsburg Mail published the following letter: 

Lewiston, Illinois, July 31, 1905; I have been contemplating to write you for some time. You of course will not know me but I hope some of the old settlers will, if any are left after years of toil. I made quite a little money there.  When I went up to Philipsburg, it was not much of a town, nothing but a mining camp. There were no women there. I had some cows and a horse.

The James Stuart/Hope Mill

James Stuart - A Founder of Philipsburg

James Stuart, detail of mural in Deer Lodge P.O.

Due to various circumstances, history does not always credit individuals with their accomplishments. James Stuart was among the greatest of southwest Montana's pioneers - a founder of Philipsburg and an original incorporator of Deer Lodge. He was also a key player in the establishment of mining and ranching in the region.

Hector Horton: Biographical Details

The story of Hector Horton and the discovery of silver ore in the Philipsburg area requires some historical housekeeping. 

Hector Horton

History accords the honor of the discovery of the silver mines of the upper Flint Creek Basin to one Hector Horton. Let us permit his contemporary, pioneering journalist Frank D. "Sandbar" Brown, to set the scene.

Philipsburg's namesake

Philipp Deidesheimer