Old Missoula

At Rich Martina

A Lively and Prosperous Camp in the Mountains

The Nine Mile Mining Company

What a Missoulian Reporter Saw in and About this Gold-Producing District.

Pretty well up in the Nine Mile gulch, close to the divide between the Flathead reservation and the Bitter Root mountains lies the prosperous and picturesque little mining camp, Martina, the home of the Nine Mile Mining and Milling company and the San Martina Mining company.

The journey to this camp from the Garden City, a distance of 51 miles, is more readily accomplished by team, ‘though a portion of the distance, to Nine Mile station 27 miles, can be made over the Coeur d’Alene branch of the Northern Pacific railroad. The journey from this latter point carries one through the fastnesses of the Nine Mile mountains and some of the grandest scenery in the northwest. The snow at present, while quite deep, is sufficiently packed to insure the best of sleighing and while the traveler bowls along at a rapid gait behind a pair of fleet and hardy cayuse ponies he is struck with the almost indescribable beauty of the surroundings. Tall pines shooting heavenward, in many instances to a height of fifty or sixty feet, with their branches bowed down as though in humblest subjection with the weight of snow; stumps and underbrush capped with the full fall of the season’s snow assuming various shapes and forms; the merry, rippling brooks, gargling and rushing down the mountain’s sides, with here and there a mountain ranch with comfortable home and spacious outhouses, combine to make a picture that any lover of nature might heartily enjoy and the end of a journey which would ordinarily prove tedious comes altogether too soon.

The Prosperous Little Camp.

A sharp turn in the road, about twenty-four miles from Nine Mile station, brings the traveler in full view of the little mining camp, which is scattered along the gulch for a distance of nearly a mile. The first building, constructed entirely of logs, at the south end of the camp, is the Martina store and post office, formerly the property of the late John Voth, but now presided over by Dave Bogart, ex-county clerk and recorder, and here the visitor meets the first of many hearty welcomes. As a merchant “Dave” may not be a howling success, but as an entertainer in his mountain retreat the writer ventures the assertion that this self-same politician and prince of good fellows is without a peer in the land. It is a difficult task to break away from the hospitality of this comfortable and well-arranged establishment, but, this being accomplished, the tenderfoot meanders up a narrow trail in about five feet of snow for a distance of a third of a mile, passing numerous cabins and an occasional liquid refreshment booth and finds himself at the store and office of the Nine Mile Mining company, and here another welcome, the heartiness of which cannot be mistaken, awaits him at the hands of Messrs. J. W. Woodford and “Tommy” Cox, the manager and bookkeeper of the company respectively.

The company carries a complete line of general merchandise for the benefit of the men in its employ and others residing in the neighborhood, as well as to supply the large boarding house adjoining, wherein the unmarried men employed at the works are boarded and lodged.

The Mill and Mines.

Across the gulch and a short distance up the mountain is situated the company’s new 20-stamp mill, one of the most complete of its kind in the northwest. The ore chutes, which are self-feeding, are supplied by a double track gravity tramway which connects with the mines further up the mountain’s side. This mill has a daily capacity of between 50 and 60 tons of ore, and has been running at its fullest capacity ever since its construction several months ago. The tailings from the stamps after running over the plates are carried to the Frue vanners,[1] which are given a slight, though rapid, side motion. These vanners are likewise supplied with copper plates for amalgamating purposes, by means of which the heaviest dirt falls to the bottom and affiliates more rapidly with the quicksilver. By this arrangement it is claimed that the tailings do not carry away more than seventy-five cents to the ton, a very important consideration in the milling business.

The mill is lighted by electricity, as are also the company’s offices and residence buildings, furnished by an electric dynamo having a capacity of four arc lights and twenty 32-candle power incandescent lamps.

The mines of the company which are being operated at the present time are the Hazel Grove Tunnel, Dawn Tunnel, Golden Eagle Tunnel No. 1, Golden Eagle Tunnel No. 2 and the Eagle shaft. The bodies of ore in these properties range from five to ten feet in width and lie in all cases in good shape and between well defined walls. The ore is all free milling gold, running from $10 to $15 to the ton. The company makes what is known in mining parlance as a “clean up” every fifteen days, the result of which is a golden charm, brick-shaped, varying in value from $5,500 to $6,000.

At the present time there are between 70 and 75 men employed at the company’s works, whose daily wages average $3.49 each, making a monthly pay roll of about $7500 – in itself a very considerable item.

Immediately to the west and adjoining the properties of the Nine Mile Mining company lie the claims of the San Martina Mining company, consisting principally of the Grouse and the Little Giant. Like those above referred to these mines are also gold producers and similarly rich. This company is employing only a few men at the present time on prospect work, but the managers are arranging for the construction of a stamp mill in the early spring and before the snow flies next winter there will doubtless be two large and well-equipped mining establishments grinding out golden bricks in this interesting little camp.

The above article appeared in the Evening Missoulian on January 31, 1894.

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Big Missoula investors in the Nine Mile Mining Company included attorney W. M. Bickford and T. L. Greenough. Bickford represented Butte Copper King, W. A. Clark, in the Missoula area, while T. L. Greenough contracted with the N. P. Railroad ever since its entry to Montana in the early 1880’s. Greenough continued to invest heavily in many mining properties, mainly in Idaho, where he made another fortune in the Mullan Morning mine. Greenough’s company was still cutting timber for the N. P. Railroad as late as 1895.

A group of Minneapolis men were also involved in the Nine Mile Mines. An article in the Missoulian in 1895 noted that a group of Minnesota investors had arrived in Missoula and were on their way to visit Martina.

Messrs. D. F. Morgan, C. H. Richards and S. B. Lovejoy, all of Minneapolis, came in on No. 1 yesterday. These gentlemen are all heavy stockholders in the Nine Mile Mining company. They will leave for Martina this morning, and while there will examine the property with a view to ascertaining what improvements are needed in the plant and mine. It is intended to put in water-power for the mill and possibly a new tramway to the mine.

The above article appeared in the Daily Missoulian on May 8, 1895.

Directors of the Nine Mile Mining Company in 1896 were Missoula banker, John M. Keith, attorney W. M. Bickford, contractor T. L. Greenough, and S. B. Lovejoy of Minneapolis. Largest shareholders were S. B. Lovejoy, John Woods, and Pat Welch.