Last Chance Gulch Helena Montana
ITW 77 - 76
Tracks of the StoneBear Copyright MCMLXIII Uncle Hargus ALL Rights reserved
ROF= Ring of fire Odyssey MEF-H = Marine Expeditionary Force- Hargus
ITW= Into The West Journey
July 14, 2010
Helena, Montana Last Chance Gulch
Helena, Montana is a fantastic town of a rich western history. A couple of days here is not enough. A western mining town... a boom town... and some busts. An earlier road trip through the west , went to Virginia City, Montana... the provisional territory capitol of Montana , until it was wrestled away by Helena.
They called it the "Last Chance" gulch... ...the creek / stream that ran through the main street of what was Helena, Montana. Story was... all the Gold prospectors were ready to give up on a worthless claim. They had prospected and panned for months w/ minimal results on this worthless creek. Ready to throw in the towel,... give up... move on to more promising gold prospecting streams.
And one guy said... well,... Let's give it one Last Chance.... my Last chance. ... and he hit a vain of gold. Found a nugget strike that was like no other. And the gold rush was back on.
The life of the gold miners was a rough tumble life. They'd be up at dawn, working their claim; 10 feet of dirt riverbank that was theirs and anything they could pan out of it. Typical day was to pan gold all day from dusk 'til dark.... or late eve when they'd take their Gold-dust into the saloons and "weigh out"... tally their daily Gold weight for dollars... most of the time on a credit ledger in the saloon. .... then for the rest of the night spend it on whiskey and saloon women... until dawn. ... then get up and do it again. WHAT a life to be a gold prospector in Helena Montana!!!
Wait a minute!!! ... men that would work hard all day and cavort into the night.... I know these guys; I worked with these guys. I knew Marine buddies that did the same thing. ... I worked with shipyard Cajuns that did this.... i worked with stockbrokers that did this... I worked with construction workers that did this. .... Dad ! .... I know these guys; I worked and lived with them... god I love 'em!!! These are the guys that lived life to the fullest and built America!
There are hundreds of tiny shanty / shack homes still along Last Chance Gulch. Homes now renovated over the years and still lived in from the original claims on the property by these prospectors.
Claims to the 10feet creek-banks were sold,... claims were traded.... worthless claims were sold to greenhorn tin-pan newcomers,... claims were jumped by cutthroat scoundrels, ... men / prospectors were killed / beaten to death for worthless claims ... right here on the "Last Chance " Gulch. And it has now transformed through Helena's history to be one of the old main attractions.
*** a sidetrack here---
--- Also see Virginia City, Montana on the sbtyellowstone blog --
http://sbtyellow.blogspot.com/2011/01/virginia-city-montana.html -- another mining boom-town with rich history... notably... the origin of the 3 - 7 - 77 Logo that is still on the present Montana State Troopers cars.
Legend is ... Virginia city, MT an old somewhat ghost town of the old west mining boom-towns where 1,860s the vigilante law was --3-- , --7--, --77--. If you were a thug, robber, scoundrel.... the -3- -7- -77- was painted on your door.... on your linen tent,... your number was up. --you have been found out for the riff-raff you are. It meant... the stage leaves town at 3, the sun sets at 7, & it's 77 miles to Bozeman... the territorial capitol where you might could get a fair trial by official law. Otherwise,... take your chances here w/ the vigilantes western justice of a noose. The vigilantes hung about 24 thugs(most notably the elected sheriff Henry Plummer and associates) in a couple of months when they cleaned up the town. god I love Montana and their people! --- They understood how to govern!
You never drink twice from the same stream.
StoneBearTracks Copyright Uncle Hargus MCMLXIII ALL blog posts/photographs/video ALL Rights reserved
*******************
ITW 77 - 76
Tracks of the StoneBear Copyright MCMLXIII Uncle Hargus ALL Rights reserved
ROF= Ring of fire Odyssey MEF-H = Marine Expeditionary Force- Hargus
ITW= Into The West Journey
July 14, 2010
Helena, Montana Last Chance Gulch
Helena, Montana is a fantastic town of a rich western history. A couple
of days here is not enough. A western mining town... a boom town... and
some busts. An earlier road trip through the west , went to Virginia
City, Montana... the provisional territory capitol of Montana , until it
was wrestled away by Helena.
They called it the "Last Chance" gulch... ...the creek / stream that ran
through the main street of what was Helena, Montana. Story was... all
the Gold prospectors were ready to give up on a worthless claim. They
had prospected and panned for months w/ minimal results on this
worthless creek. Ready to throw in the towel,... give up... move on to
more promising gold prospecting streams.
And one guy said... well,... Let's give it one Last Chance.... my Last
chance. ... and he hit a vain of gold. Found a nugget strike that was
like no other. And the gold rush was back on.
The life of the gold miners was a rough tumble life. They'd be up at
dawn, working their claim; 10 feet of dirt riverbank that was theirs and
anything they could pan out of it. Typical day was to pan gold all day
from dusk 'til dark.... or late eve when they'd take their Gold-dust
into the saloons and "weigh out"... tally their daily Gold weight for
dollars... most of the time on a credit ledger in the saloon. .... then
for the rest of the night spend it on whiskey and saloon women... until
dawn. ... then get up and do it again. WHAT a life to be a gold
prospector in Helena Montana!!!
Wait a minute!!! ... men that would work hard all day and cavort into
the night.... I know these guys; I worked with these guys. I knew Marine
buddies that did the same thing. ... I worked with shipyard Cajuns that
did this.... i worked with stockbrokers that did this... I worked with construction workers that did this. .... Dad ! .... I know these guys; I
worked and lived with them... god I love 'em!!! These are the guys that
lived life to the fullest and built America!
There are hundreds of tiny shanty / shack homes along Last Chance Gulch.
Homes now renovated over the years and still lived in from the original
claims on the property by these prospectors.
Claims to the 10feet creek-banks were sold,... claims were traded....
worthless claims were sold to greenhorn tin-pan newcomers,... claims
were jumped by cutthroat scoundrels, ... men / prospectors were killed /
beaten to death for worthless claims ... right here on the "Last Chance
" Gulch. And it has now transformed through Helena's history to be one
of the old main attractions.
*** a sidetrack here---
--- Also see virginia City, Montana on the sbtyellowstone blog --
http://sbtyellow.blogspot.com/2011/01/virginia-city-montana.html --
another mining boom-town with rich history... notably... the origin of
the 3 - 7 - 77 Logo that is still on the present Montana State Troopers
cars.
Legend is ... Virginia city, MT an old still somewhat ghost town of the
old west mining towns where the vigilante law was --3-- , --7--, --77--.
If you were a thug, robber, scoundrel.... the -3- -7- -77- was painted
on your door.... on your linen tent,... your number was up --you have
been found out for the riff-raff you are. It meant... the stage leaves
town at 3, the sun sets at 7, & it's 77 miles to Bozeman... the
territorial capitol where you might could get a fair trial by official
law. Otherwise,... take your chances here w/ the vigilantes western
justice of a noose. The vigilantes hung about 24 thugs (most notably the
elected sheriff Henry Plummer and associates) in a couple of months
when they cleaned up the town. god I love Montana and their people! ---
They understood how to govern!
You never drink twice from the same stream.
StoneBearTracks Copyright Uncle Hargus MCMLXIII ALL blog posts/photographs/video ALL Rights reserved
