New World Mining District Collection

New World Mining District Collection, 1882-1898

Overview of the Collection

Title: New World Mining District Collection
Dates: 1882-1898
18821898
Quantity: .2 linear feet
Collection Number: Collection 2350, MtBC, us (collection)
Summary: The New World Mining District Collection consist of photocopied record books of a Gallatin County, Montana claim registers and district miner’s meeting minutes from 1882 to 1883. The meeting minutes describe formal gatherings of local miners to decide on matters of claim registration rules and bylaws for the district. The claim registrations in the book give owner’s names, legal descriptions, and registration payment fees. The second record book from Park County consists of completed “Affidavit of Representation of Quartz Lode” preprinted forms dating from 1891 to 1898.
Repository: Montana State University Library, Merrill G. Burlingame Special Collections
Montana State University-Bozeman Library
Merrill G Burlingame Special Collections
P.O. Box 173320
Bozeman, MT
59717-3320
Telephone: 4069944242
Fax: 4069942851
Access Restrictions: This collection is open for research.
Languages: English

Biographical NoteReturn to Top

Initial exploration of the New World mining district region occurred in the 1869. Although several hard rock mines were located on Henderson Mountain in the late 1870s, they were not extensively developed until the late 1880s. The bulk of early mining activity in the district occurred on Republic Mountain, south of Cooke City and at Miller Mountain, north of the camp of Cooke City during the 1870s. Extensive workings developed at the Homestake and Little Daisy Mines between 1904 and 1925. The Homestake mine stopped only a few hundred feet from a high-grade ore body. This ore body was later discovered by Crown Butte Mines in 1989 and also in 1990 as a result of an intensive drilling campaign. Crown Butte – Noranda planned to develop this site as a working gold-copper-silver mine. However, after a settlement with the federal government the land contained within existing New World Mining district claims became property of the U.S. Forest Service. The core of the district was covered by patented (i.e. privately owned) claims, which weren't part of the settlement, and presumably are still in private ownership.

Content DescriptionReturn to Top

The photocopied record books consist of a Gallatin County, Montana claim registers and district miner’s meeting minutes from 1882 to 1883. The meeting minutes describe formal gatherings of local miners to decide on matters of claim registration rules and bylaws for the district. The claim registrations in the book give owner’s names, legal descriptions, and registration payment fees. The second record book from Park County consists of completed “Affidavit of Representation of Quartz Lode” preprinted forms dating from 1891 to 1898. These forms provide scant location information, but do briefly report on work done by the owners of various claims. The typewritten list of mining claims in the New World district was created by an unknown party who may or may not have had access to the aforementioned record books.

Administrative InformationReturn to Top

Acquisition Information

A pair of original mining claim record books for the New World mining district of Park and Gallatin Counties, Montana were temporarily loaned for photocopying by Frank J. “Jack” Williams of Cooke City, Montana in July 1996. A typewritten list of patented and unpatented mining claims in the same area was donated by Winnifred Lovelace of Bozeman, Montana during the summer of 1975. It had formerly been assigned collection number 1140.

Processing Note

This collection was processed 2017 July 17

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