Neihart, Montana Territory Rare Ephemera documents 1887 to 1898 Cascade County

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Three documents from Neihart, Cascade County, Montana. One document dates 1887 for William Muller, General Merchandise, another dated 1896, Carr & Warmbrod of Neihart Transfer and Baggage Express. The last document dated 1898. (Wikipedia) On October 20, 1879, [14] E.A. "Buck" Barker and Patrick Hughes, two prospectors , discovered silver ore on Galena Creek in the Little Belt Mountains. [15] The mining towns of Barker, Galena Creek, and Hughesville soon sprang up in the area. [14] [15] Among the many small mining camps which were erected was Jericho, which soon went bust. [16] In July 1881, three prospectors from Barker—James LeRoy Neihart, John O'Brien, and Richard Harley [4] —discovered silver near the present-day town of Neihart [14] and established the Queen of the Mountains Mine. [17] When the news reached Barker, several parties of prospectors headed for the area [18] and established a new mining camp on Belt Creek named Canyon City. [5] The camp was renamed Neihart after James LeRoy Neihart, one of the miners who discovered the silver there. [18] (His uncle was the noted poet John Neihardt .) [10] The mining district was never formally organized, but for many years was called the "Montana District". [18] More than 40 mines operated in the area over the next 75 years. [10] In 1882, the town was large enough for the United States Post Office Department to establish a post office there. [5] A road to White Sulphur Springs was constructed shortly thereafter, although ore was packed out by mule to Barker and smelted there. [5] [18] When the Barker smelter closed in 1883, a new smelter was built close to Neihart at the Mountain Chief Mine in 1885. [19] By this time, the town boasted a blacksmith's shop, a boarding house, restaurants, two saloons , and stables. [19] About 50 houses had been built in Neihart, although many residents still lived in tents. [19] From 1882 to 1929, about $16 million in silver was taken out of the area around Neihart. [4] [19] The Galt and Broadwater mines were dug in 1883, and a year later the Ball and Mountain Chief mines were in operation. [20] The M and I, Rochester, and Silver Dyke mines also opened near Neihart. [10] Despite the area's rich ore deposits, investment in mining in the Neihart region remained low because it was too expensive to get ore out. [19] [21] In 1887, these early mines largely shut down, as most of the richest and easy-to-reach veins of ore had been exhausted. [21] By 1890, Neihart was almost deserted.On November 15, 1891, a spur of the Montana Central Railway reached Neihart, and a strong mining boom began. [19] Now even low-grade ore could be easily and cheaply shipped to the huge smelter in Great Falls .[21] The Panic of 1893 wiped out the area's mining economy, but the town continued to exist. [19] This was largely because some mines, such as the Benton, Big Seven, and Florence, continued in operation. [21] Neihart went through a series of booms and busts over the next half-century. Mining booms occurred during and after World War I , in 1929, and in 1935. [19] The 1935 boom was built primarily around zinc mining. [10] In 1939, the town's population was 168. [10] During World War II , Neihart was a major source of zinc mining. [4] After the war, the rail spur was abandoned and the track removed.Portions of Neihart have been abandoned, and ghost town ruins can be seen in the city's outer limits. [12] Among the more famous is Wu Tang's former laundry and drug store. [12] The remains of Jericho can also still be found in Neihart. [16] read more

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