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The following information has been compiled from the Department of Environmental Quality Montana State with regards to mining districts in the area. It is organized with information as follows: Central to Sheridan, North, West, and South. Mining districts in the eastern Tobacco Roots Range are accessed from the Madison Valley and are not referenced here but can be found on the DOE Site. P.S. Click on the links for more detail.
More on Mines and Photos in the Sheridan area
CENTRAL The Sheridan district, in the heart of the Ruby Valley, includes the smaller sub-districts of Wisconsin Creek, Indian Creek, Brandon (near mouth of Mill Creek), Mill Creek (near the upper portion of Mill Creek), Quartz Hill (between Mill and Indian Creeks), and Ramshorn and Bivins gulches (Winchell 1914; Sahinen 1935).
Twin Bridges
NORTH Renova (North Slope Tobacco Roots) Renova, a station of the Ruby Valley branch of the Northern Pacific was developed as a result of mining in the foothills of the north slope of the Tobacco Root Mountains. The district was not very active prior to the discovery of the Mayflower mine in 1896. The ore of the Mayflower mine lay in a deep chimney, but from 1896 until 1904 the Mayflower led all other properties in the district in production. From 1905 to 1911, gold, silver, and small amounts of copper and lead were recovered from the mines of the district (Sahinen 1935; Wolle 1963).
The Whitehall or Cardwell district, located on the south slopes of the Bull Mountains just northeast of Whitehall, was not an early producer. In 1890 the Mayflower mine was discovered across the Jefferson River in Madison County; this spurred the development of the Whitehall district. The first mine to be claimed on the Jefferson County side of the Jefferson River was the Golden Sunlight in April of 1890. Its discoverer, Anthony H. Hedly, who located the leached outcrop of the Sunlight vein, had located several other claims there including the Sunlight, Golden, and Last Chance. At about the same time the Buffalo and Telluride claims were also located. Leading producers in the district include the Golden Sunlight - Ohio group, Burlington and Columbia mines (Earhart 1939; Roby et al. 1960).
The Silver Star district, on the southeast slopes of the Highland Mountain range, is one of the oldest lode mining districts in Montana. Many of the mines of the district were well known in the 1860s and for the next decade the town of Silver Star was the most important community between Virginia City and Helena. The district's first mine, the Green Campbell, was opened in 1867. Green Campbell discovered the gold lode and worked his property so effectively that by 1870, it was known as the most valuable quartz mine in the county and was one of the first quartz claims to be patented in Montana. In 1871 the mine and mill are credited with $96,000 of production (Sahinen 1939; Wolle 1963).
WEST McCartney Mountain is an isolated uplift about eight miles south of Melrose, east of today's Interstate 15 in the benchlands north of the lower Big Hole River. The highest elevation in the district is approximately 7,900 feet at McCartney Mountain. The Big Hole River forms the southern boundary of the district. By 1885 several relatively rich silver and lead lodes carrying some gold had been developed, but all or almost all shut down after the repeal of the Sherman Purchase Act in 1892 led to greatly lowered silver prices. Most of the mines were worked again as the price of silver rose, but only one continued to operate after World War II. As of 1935, the two most productive mines were the Mueller and the Monte Clark (Sahinen 1935).
SOUTH The first discovery of placer gold in Alder Gulch occurred on May 22, 1863, when a small group of prospectors, including William Fairweather, Henry Edgar and Barney Hughes, panned the creek while on their way back to Bannack. The party had discovered what would become the richest placer strike in the history of the Montana Territory. The prospectors, however, had lost most of their supplies in an encounter with the Crow Indians and had to return to Bannack following the initial strike. They tried to keep the discovery a secret, but word inevitably got out and a horde of some 200 men followed them back to Alder Gulch. As word of the rich diggings along Alder Gulch became known, there was a general exodus from Bannack where the placer workings were starting to play out. Miners swarmed up and down Alder Gulch and within a year the population would swell to an estimated 10,000 people, and the Virginia City mining district and its sub-districts were established. Settlements were established along the gulch with Alder at the mouth, Summit at the head, Virginia City in the middle and Adobetown, Central City, Junction and Nevada City scattered in between resulting in a rambling, ramshackled continuous settlement extending up and down the gulch for 14 miles (Figure 1). For this reason the early settlement was also known as Fourteen-mile City. In 1865 the territorial seat of government moved from Bannack to Virginia City which remained the territorial capital until 1875 when the capital was moved to Helena (Malone and Roeder 1976; Wolle 1963).
The Ruby Mountains, while active as a talc producer in recent years, has had no metallic ore production. Indeed, the district has seen only a few mineral prospects claimed for copper and iron and none for precious metals
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