Montana: Virginia City, Nevada City, Alder, Alder Gulch, Ruby Lake, Adobe City

July 30-31, 2007.

We are staying in Cameron RV-Park & Store in Cameron, Montana. Cameron is a STORE located 10-miles south of Ennis in the Madison Valley. The Cameron RV-Park is about 12 sites located behind the Store & Saloon (the social gathering place for miles around). The PPA campground is nothing fancy but for the PPA price of $12.50 for FHU it is just fine. The view over the Madison Valley and mountains surrounding Virginia City is worth the $12.50.

For those of you that are not familiar with PPA (Pass Port America) it is an organization you can join for less than $50 per-year. Campgrounds that belong to PPA offer 1/2 price discounts. That kind of savings can quickly add up. While participating PPA parks generally have some restrictions on dates the PPA offer is valid, or possibly days of the week the discount is valid, or perhaps the number of days that the PPA discount will be honored the discount is genuine. Many times PPA campgrounds are new campgrounds that need help in getting established. Other times PPA campgrounds may be on the outskirts of town instead of in the "prime" location thus they need to provide an incentive for campers to stay with them. Whatever the reason PPA campgrounds generally provide a much cheaper option. PPA is the only campground organization that I think is worth the cost. PPA does not have a gimic. What you see is what you get. Once you join they send you a directory listing all participating campgrounds. The PPA directory is the FIRST directory we check when trying to locate a place to spend the night. You can join PPA by calling 228-452-9972. If you decide to join PPA, it would be nice if you gave them my number "R-0156251" as the PPA member that told you about PPA. In return PPA will give me a years membership free. I will thank you in advance for that kindness. Thank you.

We visited Virginia City located 14-miles west of present day Ennis several times. Virginia City is a city that has literally stood still in time. Virginia City IS Montana history! Virginia City was making history long before Montana was a state, even before Montana was a "Territory" it was what attracted white men to present day Montana. It was here before the LAW arrived, before government.

Now that I have hopefully, gotten your attention let's visit Virginia City.

Prospectors found placer gold (gold dust in stream beds) along a streambed choked with alder trees in May, 1863. Remember that this was in the middle of the Civil War (1861 - 1865). Thousands came from every corner of the world to try their luck in the placer mines and, perhaps, to garner a piece of the "gold" treasure. A brief but turbulent period of lawlessness and vigilante justice existed during the Civil War Years. Take a moment and ponder the fact that Virginia City (east end of Alder Gulch) was here as a gold mining Mecca a full year before the Montana Territory was created.

Virginia City became the Territorial Capital, but Virginia City's glory faded when placer gold played out and the people moved on.

The gold rush in Alder Gulch produced the largest amount of placer gold in the Northwest an estimated $120 million. Placer gold mining, or free gold prospecting, should not be confused with hard rock gold mining. Placer mining involves dust, flakes, and nuggets, while hard rock mining involves veins of ore.

Bypassed by the railroad, Virginia City struggled. Gold dredging operations from the 1890's to the 1940's saved the town from total abandonment. Then, Charles and Sue Bovey began buying the dilapidated gold-rush era buildings in the 1940's. Virginia City became one of the first preservation efforts in the West and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1961. The gold rush-era false-fronts and territorial-period landmarks reflect the optimism of Virginia City's early residents, providing a unique window to the past.

This is what Virginia City looks like today. Other than the paved road I suspect much of the remainder is as it was long ago.

This young fellow was 9-years old and was in town on his horse. He said he lived 9-miles west of Virginia City so that put him out Alder Gulch somewhere between Nevada City and Alder. He told us his family kept horses in town. His parents may be the ones running the stage coach or possibly the riding stables at the west end of Virginia City.

He told us he was a year older than his horse.

We never saw him with the people running this stage coach but there was a good chance he was in town with them. This stage coach is a popular way to learn the history of Virginia City.

The only paved road in Virginia City is the highway through town. Side streets are much as they were over 100 years ago.

Many of these old buildings have false fronts just like they did back in the 1860s.

Horses are tied to a hitching post on main street. Look closely and see if you can spot the light colored cowboy hat on the little fellow tying that horse to the hitching post. Obviously there was more than one "little-man" visiting town on this day.

The young lady that owned Ruby Chang was an angel. Between 5:30 & 6:00 PM we went to start the Saturn and NOTHING. Not a click, NOTHING. Cell phones don't work in Virginia City, -totally useless they are! I went in her shop to ask if I could borrow her telephone and phone book. When she learned what my problem was she right off said "do you need a jump", of course I did but I had no idea this young lady was going to give me one. Immediately she said "lets jump it" and started out the door. She locked the door as we were leaving then went around behind the store and was back with her car and jumper cables in a flash. We connected her jumper cables to my battery. With her jumper cables connected we did get the solenoid to click, but that was all. We left it connected for 15-minutes hoping to charge my battery enough to get us started. It never got any better. Around 7PM she closed her shop and drove us back to our motorhome which was 25-miles east of Virginia City. She lived 15-miles in that direction but it was a super nice thing for her to do. Between 6PM and when we headed back to our motorhome in this ladies car we used her phone to try and find some place with a new battery and someone who would deliver it. Virginia City does not have a gas station, mechanic or auto parts store. When Virginia City residents need anything they have to drive 14-miles east to Ennis or a little further than that to the west to Sheradin.

Now that we were back at our motorhome we still had no way to purchase a battery, and get us and the new battery to our Saturn in Virginia City. Talk about a rock and hard spot.

The next morning we walked to the "store" in Cameron (Cameron really only has one business and that would be a country store, restaurant and Saloon. There is a small RV-Park and about 10-cabins that go with the store plus a United States Post Office that services a large rural area south of Cameron. When we asked the lady that was running the store if we could borrow her phone book we got to talking and when she saw that we were making NO progress with our phone calls to the parts dealers and mechanics in Ennis she offered to drive us, in her car, when she got off at 10AM which was only a few more hours. That was a deal we could not pass up.

This lady did pick us up and take us in to Ennis where we purchased a new battery then delivered us (and the new battery) to our Saturn in Virginia City. She went shopping in one of the tourist places in Virginia City while I installed the new battery. She stayed with us until our Saturn started. We took good care of both of these angels that entered our lives. Neither one of them will ever know how much they effected our lives with the kindness they showed.

With the Saturn fixed it was time to get back to enjoying Virginia City. I had to stop and get a better look at this old willow tree. It is a big one and probably very old. I can see the scar where a huge piece of it has recently broken off. What remains is still a large willow tree.

Just off main street are a number of vintage buildings like this one.

This old building has been modernized with a tin roof.

One is left to wonder just how long these buildings have been here.

This old building with a sod roof is located on the west end of Virginia City. Sod roofs were fairly common back in the late 1800s.

We spotted this "Cowboy Church" in a gravel parking lot on the west end of Virginia City. We had to stop and get a better look. Look closely at the sign out front. It says "Cowboy Church Services". We saw that sign from the highway and decided to stop and investigate.

Joyce peaked in the front door to get a better look. This appears to be the real deal complete with hay bale seating. A cowboy should feel right at home on a bale of hay. I do not think this is a Southern Baptist church since there is no organ or piano. That is a requirement; isn't it? VBG

Boot Hill

Boot Hill is located on the north side of town. Notice the remains of this old cobblestone building on the way up Boot Hill that caught our attention. A cobblestone building would be much more expensive to construct back in the 1800s and would probably belong to someone with wealth.

Road agents were the "bad guys" they were the ones that robbed travelers on roads and highways. Boot Hill is where "bad-guys" and others were buried.

We are going to visit Boot Hill and the "Road Agents Graves" because there is a lot of history that accompanies the Road Agents and how they came to be in Boot Hill.

This was Virginia City's first cemetery. At once there were many markers here, but only those of the road agents and Daltons remain. The road agents' graves, which gave the cemetery its name Boot Hill, were first marked by the city in 1907. Notice that there are 5-graves here. All 5 of them were hung on the same day by a vigilante group. This is where history and the story behind these hangings becomes interesting.

Later in this travelogue I will tell you more about the people under these grave markers and the vigilantes that put them there and discuss the role they played in the early history of Montana and possibly the Civil War.

William & Clara Dalton were no relation to the notorious "Dalton-Gang" nor connected with the road agents. They arrived in Bannack in 1862 with Captain James L. Fisk's first wagon train and moved to Virginia City in 1863. William & Clara died of natural causes in January 1864, leaving four children. The grave was marked by a Granddaughter many years later.

This is a view of main street in Virginia City as seen from Boot Hill.

Nevada City

When you head west out of Virginia City, along Alder Gulch, the next community down the way is Nevada City. It is a city that is being preserved.

Nevada City has many old historical buildings that have been preserved and more that are being restored & preserved.

Preserved buildings on main street in Nevada City.

Nine booming gold camps sprawled along the 14-miles of Alder Gulch in 1863. Nevada City and Virginia City were the largest and along with Alder are the only ones remaining.

In Nevada City dozens of stores and cabins extended back six blocks in the 1860s, but by 1876 only a few residents remained in Nevada City. Later gold dredges came through leaving piles of tailings as big as barns and by 1920, the highway had cut the town in half. By 1955, the only residents were a man and his wife.

More preserved buildings in Nevada City.

Another preserved building on Main Street" in Nevada City.

Nevada City house.

Nevada City.

This is the finest building we saw in Nevada City. I wonder what its role was in the old Nevada City.

On the eastern side of Nevada City there is an old gold dredge on display.

At one time there were 5-dredges working the stream running through Alder Gulch. These dredges removed between 150 to 200 million dollars in gold. The gold dredges operated from 1899 to about 1920.

Alder Gulch at peak population numbered ten thousand souls and was known as the Fourteen-mile City. Adobetown was one of the many settlements that lined the gulch. Centrally located a mile west of Nevada City, it took its name from the dwellings miners built of adobe bricks they fashioned from mud and grass. This small settlement lay in one of the richest sections of the gulch. In 1864 alone, it was a hub of activity that reportedly yielded $350,000 in gold. In its heyday the area around Adobetown and Nevada City supported some 75 to 100 placer claims that each employed 5 to 12 men. Salaries ranged from $5 to $8 per-day.

We could not detect any remains of those adobe buildings and we looked. I wonder what happened to them.

These large gravel piles are the tailings of those gold dredging operations. Those monster dredges literally churned the gulch inside-out, creating these huge piles of gravel where only a few scrub bushes and stunted trees are able to grow 100-years later.

Gold dredges were the final chapter in the history of placer mining in Alder Gulch. The gold mined by these dredges financed Harvard University in the early 20th century.

I find it appalling the way Alder Gulch has been left, but that is why we have the mining laws we have today.

Mining companies took the gold and left behind this horrid mess that has been with us for over 100 years.

Even as we are touring Montana this summer we have been following several large disputes over debris piles left by mining operations that are ceasing business. From what I can understand mining operators know what the law says they have to do --- but seem to get the "goodie" out of the mine then quickly move the money and mechanical assets out of the business and let the business go bankrupt. When this happens the "government/tax payers" are left with the problem. From what I can determine from news accounts it is the government that is taking these businesses to court in order to extract some remedy. Something tells me that the tax payers of Montana or the Federal Government will be "stuck" with cleaning up these modern messes in spite of better laws.

It is hard to find words to describe the destruction left behind by these gold dredges.

At the western end of Alder Gulch we turned south and headed out to Ruby Lake. On the way we passed through a beautiful valley growing hundreds possibly thousands of acres of hay. In this field deer were helping themselves to the fresh alfalfa.

Four deer were munching alfalfa in this field. Deer and alfalfa were a common site in this valley.

A few miles down the road we got a view of Ruby Lake. We are visiting Ruby Lake because garnets can be found in the gravel along the shoreline. I wanted to see if I could find a garnet in the gravel.

Alder Gulch garnets were made into jewelry during the early 1900's. In the early years of Alder Gulch miners thought the garnets were rubies. That explains why this is called "Ruby Lake".

Garnets are known to be found in the gravel along the shoreline. Here I am looking for one of those garnets. Joyce told me that if I found one that I would have to have it made into a ring for her. Thankfully, I didn't find one. VBG

On our way back to Alder and the road traversing Alder Gulch we again passed through the hay growing valley.

Irrigation water provided by Ruby Lake (reservoir) is turning this valley green. As you can see without irrigation the countryside is pretty barren.

We spotted this sign in Nevada City. Until seeing this sign neither of us had ever heard of George Ives. However, George was the catalyst for the Vigilante movement that became the "LAW" in Alder Gulch.

Ives was tried and convicted of robbing and killing the popular young Nicholas Tbalt. The trial took place outdoors in December in 1863. Note that 1863 is smack in the middle of the Civil War and is before this area was even a Territory.

It was a time before government and law and order arrived in the "frontier" and Alder Gulch was indeed the frontier in 1863. Now, lets get back to the story of George Ives.

Two wagons served as the judge's bench and witness box. Twenty-four chairs from a nearby hurdy-gurdy house seated the jury. The trial lasted three days. Ives was found guilty and hanged from the rafter of an unfinished building after the jury deliberated less than an hour.

Testimony established that Nicholas Tbalt had sold a span of mules to his employers, Burtchy & Clark, who paid him and asked him to retrieve them from where they were boarded. Tbalt took his gold with him, He rode to Dempsey's Ranch for the animals. When Tbalt did not return Burtchy and Clark assumed that he had left with their gold and the mule team, they soon found that they were mistaken.

As it turned out Tbalt had gone for the mules, and was murdered, robbed him of his money and the mules.

Ten days later Nicholas Tbalt's's’s body was brought into Nevada City on a wagon. William Palmer traveled to Virginia City and informed Tom Baume, who at once went down to examine the scene and where the body had been found.

At the trial Ives accused Long John Francks of the crime.

However, Ives contradicted himself at his trial, this time stating that Aleck Carter was the murderer. The jury patiently listened to all the testimony and found that it was George Ives that committed the crime.

Long John said, on his examination at the trial, that "he did not see the shots fired, but that he saw Nicholas coming with the mules, and George Ives going to meet him. Not long after that Ives rode up with the mules", and said that "the Dutchman would never trouble anybody again".

The murder of Nicholas Tbalt and the trial of George Ives began the vigilante movement in Montana. When George Ives robbed and murdered Nicholas Tbalt and hid his body in the sage brush where it froze solid before being found and brought into Nevada City 10 days later. News that George Ives had been seen with the dead man's mules and had been heard to say that Tbalt would never trouble anyone again incensed citizens all along the 14-mile length of Alder Gulch. So incensed by this crime 25 men pledged mutual support to each other and rode out to capture George Ives. Remember that when this murder occurred Alder Gulch, indeed Montana was not a state or even a Territory. There was no "official" law on this frontier in 1863. Even so some would say the Vigilante Movement operated in violation of the Magna Carta, the Bill of Rights, habeas corpus, and other principles of legal hocus pocus found in civilized places covered by such.

The Sheriff back in Virginia City was sent for by friends of the murderer in order to save him from vigilante justice. During Ives' trial his "criminal-friends" tried to help him by planning for his escape, intimidating witnesses, making appeals to the sympathies of the jurors, and insisting that fine points of the law be observed. But Georges' cohorts held off on taking more drastic action until their leader "the Sheriff" arrived. Unfortunately, for George Ives, the Sheriff has heard rumors that a large body of vigilantes was also planning to come after "the Sheriff himself". Being more concerned for his own skin that that of George Ives he stayed away from the trial. As a result, George Ives was found guilty of murder and was hanged while vigilante guards with loaded shotguns prevented Ives' friends from rescuing him.

But this isn't the end of the story. The vigilante movement continued.

Miners of Alder Gulch suffered greatly when shipping their gold to Bannack on the only road available. Unfortunately, it was the road patrolled by the notorious Plummer gang (Road Agents). Keep this in mind because things are about the change.

On May 28, 1864 the Montana Territory was created out of the existing Idaho Territory by Act of Congress and signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln. This changed things! Now Alder Gulch came under the jurisdiction of the laws of the United States. The first territorial judge of Montana, Sidney Edgerton, was appointed by then President Lincoln to preside over the rough tactics of the mining frontier. Edgerton formed the "Vilgilantes," an angry mob of miners, using guerilla tactics and given 'above the law' status.

The "Vigilantes" of judge Edgerton, killed many men in a flurry of hangings. A few incidents were downright lynchings.

Five men, perceived to be "Road Agents," were hanged together in Virginia City on Jan. 14th, 1864. They were: Haze Lyons, Boone Helm, Jack Gallagher, Frank Parish and "Clubfoot" George Lane. Their tombstones are the ones we saw on boothill above Virginia City.

Now you know the story behind those five marked graves in Boot Hill. But it isn't the end of the story, not by a long shot.

Plummer (the sheriff) himself was later captured and hung in Bannack. This is the "sheriff" that did not come to the rescue of George Ives because he was afraid of what the Vigilantes would do to him. As you can see he was wise to stay away from the George Ives trial but not wise enough to leave the area. The "sheriff" was also reputed to be the leader of the "Road Agents".

So far you have part of the story, --- the part that sounds noble. Some suggest the vigilantes had a more sinister motive.

They hold that the Vigilantes were part of the Civil War. It is common knowledge that there was constant contention of various sorts among the citizens of Virginia City and Alder Gulch. Wounded soldiers who completed their enlistment's, men from both sides, held strong opinions and expressed them. That is to be expected and their battles were part of the deadly Virginia City, Montana way of life.

But, was there more? The incredible flow of gold from the mines could easily support a war. In fact, it has been said that gold from Virginia City, Montana won the war for the Union. Alder Gulch yielded an estimated $30 million in gold in just three short years between 1863 and 1866.

There is some evidence that it was necessary to take strong steps to prevent any of that gold from going to the South and to assure that it flowed into the North to support the greenbacks, with which the Union purchased war material and paid salaries. It is possible that the Vigilantes played a major role in determining the outcome of the Civil War from out here in Montana.

The Montana Territory existed between 1864 and 1889 when it was admitted to the Union as the State of Montana on November 8, 1889.

Until next time remember how good life is

Mike & Joyce Hendrix