1. In 1883, a miner named Ed Mason picked up a 31/4-carat . diamond in a sluice box on his gold claim at Ophir Gulch. The weight and value of the stone was verified by a New York jeweler upon Mason. s subsequent visit to the east. Before his death, Mason told of a sack full of diamonds he had found and buried near his cabin in Ophir Gulch. No one knows now exactly where that cabin stood.

Ophir Gulch is about halfway between the two small towns of Garrison and Elliston in Powell County. Glacial diamonds have also been found on Nelson Hill in Glacier County. The possibilities of more being found in these two areas are very good.

2. The trading post of Fort Browning existed on its fur trade with the friendly Gros Ventre Indians. When the hostile Sioux increased their attacks on the Gros Ventre, the flow of furs to Fort Browning practically ceased. To remedy this situation and replenish their trading stock, the personnel of Fort Browning invited all the Gros Ventre Indians in the area to a Thanksgiving Day feast in 1868. The Indians arrived at the post in large numbers, including an old man known only as Neepee.

Particular attention was paid to Neepee, because it was believed he knew of a rich gold deposit in the Little Rockies, a small range of mountains on the Blaine-Phillips County line north of Landusky.

After the feast, Neepee showed his appreciation by presenting the commander of the post with a bag filled with gold dust and nuggets. When the white men tried to find out the source of the gold, the Indian would say only that death was the tribal penalty for revealing the secret to any white man.

A white man named Joseph Huntus, commonly called Buckskin Joe, is reported to have learned the mine. s location, but was killed by Indians when he went to search for it. His body was found by a party of trappers near the approaches to the Little Rockies.

Neepee died in 1876 and the secret of his gold deposit died with him. Gold was later discovered in the Little Rockies, hut not in the quantities described by Neepee, nor was it like the samples the old Indian displayed at Fort Browning.

3. Reliable geologists estimate the gold placers of Bannack in . Beaverhead County produced more than $20 million during the hectic days of the 1860s. When the placers were exhausted, there were many who believed that the mother lode source of Bannack. s rich gold had never been discovered. There were several theories as to where the mother lode was located.

Some prospectors searched for this mother lode, one of those who had faith in its existence was Jim Olafson. His trips into the hills were openly announced as searches for the mother lode. His expeditions were financed by local businessmen and ranchers.

In late 1888 Olafson returned from a trip and announced he had found the mother lode a few miles west of Bannack. To prove it he had quartz rock that was almost pure gold. He described his find as an exposed vein with gold nuggets scattered all about on the ground.

Olafson. s find created a sensation and plans were made by other miners to follow him when he left Bannack. However, he slipped out of camp and lost them. When he returned three months later, he was emaciated and raving mad. He spent the rest of his life in an insane asylum.

This is a site which would pay an interested prospector to check out.

4. The discovery of gold on Fish Creek produced the boom town of Highland City, which once outstripped Butte in population. Among the thousands attracted to the area was a man known only as Butler. He was called Beastly Butler because of his messy appearance and his filthy cabin.

In a camp known for its wild spending and scandalous living, Butler was conspicuous for his quiet behavior and frugality. Instead of throwing his money away on women and whiskey, he placed his daily accumulation of gold into the empty tin cans which he had obtained purchasing food, and then cached the tins near his one-room cabin on his claim.

One day Butler. s mine caved in and crushed him to death. His few close friends said he had at times boasted of a hundred or more cans of hidden gold. he had declared that when his mine was exhausted, he would dig up all the gold and return to the east.

Immediately after his burial, prospectors made a search for his cans of gold but found none of them. Perhaps they are still there amid the ruins of Highland City, now a ghost town in Silver Bow County, south of Butte.

5. During the summer of 1878 John Hays was working a small . placer claim about half a day. s ride west of Philipsburg. The claim was in a gulch along a small stream that emptied into Rock Creek.

Most of the miners from the initial rush had left in the belief that the stream was worked out. However, there were a few individuals who were willing to work a little harder and dream a little less than most of the other miners. These men would work streams and hit paying pockets of gold the dreamers had passed over in their rush to skim the surface and gather instant riches.

John Hays was of that breed of men who believed that hard work would be rewarded. He took his time, worked hard and covered the streams carefully. This was how he came to the old claim up the gulch from Rock Creek. The returns from his labor and perseverance were good. He lived in a small cabin near the stream that had been built then deserted by the first miners in the area.

During the late spring and early summer Hays had taken a lot of gold out of the stream. He cached it near his cabin and claim. When he was in need of provisions he would take a small amount of gold, leaving the large cache hidden, and ride into Philipsburg, in Granite County.

Hays was returning to his cabin on July 11, 1878, from Philipsburg, where he had gone to town for the Fourth of July celebrations and stayed over to visit and stock up on supplies. As he made his way up the Rock Creek Trail toward his claim, a band of renegade Nez Perce Indians were hiding near where the west fork of Rock Creek flowed into the main stream, observing him.

The Indian band consisted of 13 renegade warriors, led by Yellow Wolf, a nephew of Chief Joseph. As the Indians watched the white man ford Rock Creek, the leader decided to rob and kill him.

The next day Yellow Wolf and two braves approached Hays as he worked his claim while the rest of the warriors remained hidden in the trees. Yellow Wolf told Hays a tale of a new location of gold to gain his confidence while another Indian grabbed his pistol from its holster.

In the turmoil that followed, Hays managed to kill one warrior by crushing his skull with a rock. A few minutes later Hays died silently the same way.

The Indians then ransacked the cabin and searched for Hays. hoard of gold, but were unable to find it. The gold that Hays buried near his cabin, as far as is known, is still waiting.

6. The following lead was sent to me by now-deceased author . Thomas Penfield.

In 1865, George Keyes and John Lepley were partners in a cattle raising venture at Silver City and a paying placer claim on Silver Creek. Keyes, however, wanted a shorter road to wealth. Leaving Lepley in charge of their cattle and claim, he set out in search of gold. He was not seen again until the following spring.

Carrying with him $3,000 in gold dust, Keyes arrived at Fort Benton. There he met the Keefe brothers, old friends of his, and told them he had located very rich ground down the river. He had no trouble persuading the Keefes to join him. It was agreed the Keefes would build a large flatboat while Keyes returned to Silver City to get his partner, Lepley.

Keyes assured Lepley they would be justified in selling their cattle and silver interests at any price to devote their full time to working the gold claim. Lepley urged his partner to be content with what they had.

In the end, however, Lepley agreed to accompany his partner back to Fort Benton to see him off on his new venture. Lepley watched from the bank as Keyes and the Keefe brothers swung into the river on the flatboat. They waved farewell as the craft disappeared around a bend of the river. That was the last ever seen of them. No trace of the miners or their flatboat was ever found and their fate remains a mystery to this day.

Lepley spent almost six years in an unsuccessful search for his partner. s placer. It was his opinion, based upon information supplied by Keyes, that the placer was along the Missouri in the vicinity of Virgelle in Choteau County.

SOURCES:

Federated Writers Guide for Montana

Moore, J. M. Treasure State Treasure Tales . Montana

Penfield, Thomas. A Guide to Treasure in Montana and Wyoming

The History of Gold Dredging in Montana. U.S. Bureau of Mines Bulletin 121, Washington, D.C.

Winnsdale. Vigilantes