Bear Town 1

Beartown 1

"Five thousand men were camped in Bear gulch a few weeks after (the Reynolds party) discovered gold there late in October, 1865. Spanish, French Dutch and Irish men of every nationality, rushed to stake claims in Bear gulch. Montana Territory was then not a year old."
--Mary J. Pardee, from The Great Falls Tribune, Sept. 6, 1931

Imagine a town of up to 2,000 people at this tranquil spot. Nothing visible remains of Beartown, once located near the first big gold strike of the Garnet range. In 1866, miners hammered together a town almost overnight. By 1870, the boom ended and most prospectors headed off to the next spot. It's tough to know how much gold filled their pouches. Few miners kept records and Bear Creek gold dust passed for currency, mingling with gold from other sources. By 1918, on estimate placed the total value of gold extracted from Bear gulch at $7 million.

Placer Mining Water Woes
Placer mining requires water to separate gold from sand and gravel, yet year-round streams are scarce in the Garnets. Here, miners dug reservoirs at the head of gulches to collect spring runoff. They released water on a strict schedule, so each miner could run water through wooden sluice boxes. The boxes featured crossbars called "riffles" that trapped the gold particles.