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Originally Posted by bobabode
On my bucket list. I've never been to Glacier National Park. I'll throw my old gold dredge in the back of my pick up, I hear there's sapphires to be found, too. Come on over to Cali, I would be honored to show you around Yosemite. I remember the "Firefalls over Glacier Point", yeah- I'm that old with a bum knee but I'm still moseying along.
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Oh yeah. Actually some of the largest concentrations of gold in the nation were found right here near Helena. Last Chance Gulch, Marysville and Confederate Gulch. Confederate Gulch was placer gold and yielded 19 million dollars in gold at $20/ounce in the three or four years it operated. I think 1864-67. It was literally the most productive mine in the nation and the most populated area in Montana with 30,000 people at the time. The gold was discovered by a couple Confederate POW soldiers who were pardoned under one condition- they had to move west of the Mississippi to settle in this territory. To get here, they traveled by steamboat and earned their keep by chopping wood for the steam paddle wheel engines. I believe they were Hessians. All the structures in Confederate are gone now but the true source of the gold was never found. Sapphires can be had locally near Helena at the Spokane Bar mine.
I would love to visit Bob. Maybe someday- thanks for the invite. That is a beautiful photo.