MT Central Rockies

The unfortunately named Big Dick Mine is on an unnamed stream draining into the Blackfoot River above Elliston, Montana. This district was generally known as the Elliston Mining District, and saw most of its activity from around 1900-1930. The largest nearby mines were the Monarch, Julia, Charter Oak, Lily, and

The Golden Age Mine has several names including Callahan, Deer Horn, and Pataloma. It was really a group of mines, located around 1910. In 1921 the mine was located as the Golden Age and went into production under the Callahan Gold Mining company (unrelated to the great Callahan Mining co

During the summer of 2017, we visited a few cabins and mills in Montana. While tiring, we covered a lot of ground, and it was a great trip! I was a bit surprised about how many mill ruins are left. This one, the Forest Rose, is almost completely ruined, but

I couldn’t find much history on this spot, only that it was worked on in 1907 for silver, lead, zinc, and some copper. Reportedly, it was an underground hydraulic operation to wash ore out of the vein. That must have been something to see. On the surface, you can

The Algonquin is an old mine. It was one of the earliest mines in Montana’s Philipsburg district. By 1877, it was being worked by a 10-stamp mill for silver with minor amounts of gold. The mill proved inefficient, and a new 20-stamp mill was soon installed. Reportedly, there was