Gold Mining activity has been very interesting in Montana. The first discovery of gold in the state was made by an old Mexican miner known as Gold Tom, in 1861. The location was about five miles below Pioneer Village. The placers of Bannack were the first successfully worked in the state and were discovered in the summer of 1862. July of the next year saw the discovery of the Alder Gulch placers, which caused the almost complete abandonment of the Bannack working by the following spring. The activity revived in 1866. Other diggings discovered in the meantime such as Ram’s Horn, Radersburg and Cow Creek, and Last Chance were worked for a few feet, then supposing that the ground below had low gold content, they were deserted, but were again opened and worked to a depth of 5o feet in 1869.
The placers of Bear Gulch were discovered in October 1865, by prospectors under Jack Reynolds. A rush began in 1866 and during the same year, the first quartz location was made by a Mexican. The first lode was located in the Phillipsburg camp in 1865 and was called the Cordoba. Rich gold deposits were located in the valley of Trout Creek by hunters in 1866. The Elkhorn district was prospected and a number of quartz lodes were located as early as 1869. The Elkhorn mine was located on the Holter lode in 1875, and was the main producer of the district.
The Marysville district was opened first as a placer field in the early seventies and led to the discovery of ledges, which have made the district famous. The first placers worked in this district were at Silver Creek. The placers of Flint Creek, ten miles south of Drummond Mountain were worked in 1873 and those of Cedar Creek in Missoula County were located in 1870. It was not until 1895 that an attempt was made to install hydraulic equipment. When the main gulches, as the Prickly Pear, Grizzly and Last were exhausted, placer mining decreased in significant magnitude.
Butte was first known as a placer camp in 1864 when the gravels of Missoula Gulch were washed. Owing to the prominence of the quartz ledges they were soon examined and found to contain silver. No great success rewarded these early efforts until the discovery of rich silver ore was made in Travona in 1876. In 1892, gold and silver mining was prosperous. The Alice mine silver was in bonanza. The silver-lead mines of Jefferson County were profitable operated. Successful operations in the Judith district increased the production of gold for the year 1902, while the operations in the silver mines of Fergus County retarded due to the depression of the silver market. In 1903, the extension of the Montana railway from Harlowtown to Lewistown acted as a stimulant to the gold industry of Fergus County. Drummlummon and Cable mines operated. Five gold dredges were operating throughout the season, three at Laurin in the old Alder Gulch placer, one in French Gulch and one at Bannack. The importance of Montana as precious metal producer was important in 1905. It was the first silver producer among the states and the fifth in the production of gold.