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Kendall was most profitable of gold mines in north moccasins; relief is that surface is just scratched, gold is
underground.
By Margharite F. McLean
December, 21, 1947
(Editor's note-the author of this article is exceptionally well qualified to write on the mining industry in the
Central Montana area, having taken an interest during much of her life. Prior to World War /I she worked the
Kendall mine, and was known as the leading lady mine operator of the world at that time. Mrs. McLean lives in
Lewistown)
The Kendall, the North Moccasin, and the Barnes King are three famous old gold mines in Fergus County,
Montana. Located adjoiningly in the North Moccasin Mountains, they cover the mineral zone for a distance of
three miles on its outcrop. Of these mines, Kendall was the biggest producer, according to Ernest R. Parsons
who was electrical engineer at Kendall during its entire operation and in charge of the power used by the
three mines.
Production figures were private property in those days, said Mr. Parsons, and Finch &Campbell who owned
the Kendall Mine, kept them that way. At least half of the Kendall gold was shipped direct from the mine to
the First National Bank in Spokane which they owned but under their management the mine paid out six
million dollars in dividends.
Kendall developed as dramatically as had these owners who became financiers as the result of a rich lead and
zinc mine in Idaho discovered by Campbell. At that time, it was said, Finch played cards "in town" to grubstake
his partner's prospecting. Later, they had men all over the world scouting for promising properties so that they
acquired canneries, lumber yards, cement plants, a bank, other real estate and mines, some of which are still
operating.
When they wanted to buy the Kendall, the owner, Harrison Kendall was not anxious to sell. His dream was
coming true. Mr. Parsons explained that Harry Kendall had formerly worked at Gilt Edge, and later treated the
Spotted Horse tailings with a cyanide process and it was from the last venture that he had made enough to
buy the Kendall for $1,500 and erect a small mill. Employing a few men, he was doing all right with surface
ores; so he set a much higher price on the property, $425,000, that he thought was safe--but they took him
up.
Mr. Parsons said when Finch brought in his engineers, who were the best to be had, they all agreed on one
thing-- that Kendall was a shallow, grass-root, deposit. The theory proved itself wrong in the process of
mining. They went right down to a vein that turned out to be 100 feet wide between walls and 700 feet long,
with profitable mining to the 600 level which was as far as they went when bad cave-ins caused Finch to close
the mines.
Finch was President of the corporation, and his operations started in 1902 after a 500 ton mill had been built
and continued until 1912, at the rate of 8,000 tons a month with a recovery that netted a handsome profit.
The first mining was done by open cut mining. They drove a tunnel in the ore, installed loading chutes from
which they loaded cars by gravity method which was a cheap way of mining. After ore in the open cut was
worked down to the tunnel level, they sunk the three compartment Kendall shaft. Mining was then done by
the tunneling, stoping and square set method on five levels of the mine. This increased the cost of operation
to $3.50 a ton for mining and milling.
In 1912 operations were stopped by Finch on account of several severe cave-ins due to soft ground. It was
Object Description
| Rating | |
| Title | Kendall was most profitable of gold mines in North Moccasins, relief is that surface is just scratched, gold is underground. |
| Description | A description of gold mining in the North Moccasin Mountains of Montana. |
| Creator | Margharite F. McLean |
| Genre | newspapers |
| Type | Text |
| Language | eng |
| Date Original | 1947-12-21 |
| Subject (keyword) | North Moccasin Mountains, Montana; Kendall Mine; Barnes-King Mine; |
| Subject (AAT) | Gold Mines; |
| Rights Management | No copyright restrictions |
| Contributing Institution | Lewistown Public Library, Lewistown, Montana |
| Publisher (Original) | Lewistown Public Library, Lewistown, Montana |
| Geographic Coverage | North Moccasin Mountains, Montana. Kendall, Montana. |
| Coverage-date | 1900's |
| Digital collection | Central Montana Historical Documents |
| Digital Format | application/pdf |
| Physical format | Newspaper article. |
| Digitization Specifications | Canon MX310 300dpi |
| Full text of this item | Kendall was most profitable of gold mines in North Moccasins; relief is that surface is just scratched, gold is underground. By Margharite F. McLean December, 21, 1947 (Editor’s note—the author of this article is exceptionally well qualified to write on the mining industry in the Central Montana area, having taken an interest during much of her life. Prior to World War II she worked the Kendall mine, and was known as the leading lady mine operator of the world at that time. Mrs. McLean lives in Lewistown) The Kendall, the North Moccasin, and the Barnes King are three famous old gold mines in Fergus County, Montana. Located adjoiningly in the North Moccasin Mountains, they cover the mineral zone for a distance of three miles on its outcrop. Of these mines, Kendall was the biggest producer, according to Ernest R. Parsons who was electrical engineer at Kendall during its entire operation and in charge of the power used by the three mines. Production figures were private property in those days, said Mr. Parsons, and Finch & Campbell who owned the Kendall Mine, kept them that way. At least half of the Kendall gold was shipped direct from the mine to the First National Bank in Spokane which they owned but under their management the mine paid out six million dollars in dividends. Kendall developed as dramatically as had these owners who became financiers as the result of a rich lead and zinc mine in Idaho dis¬covered by Campbell. At that time, it was said, Finch played cards "in town" to grubstake his partner's prospecting. Later, they had men all over the world scouting for promising properties so that they acquired canneries, lumber yards, cement plants, a bank, other real estate and mines, some of which are still operating. When they wanted to buy the Kendall, the owner, Harrison Ken¬dall was not anxious to sell. His dream was coming true. Mr. Parsons explained that Harry Kendall had formerly worked at Gilt Edge, and later treated the Spotted Horse tailings with a cyanide process and it was from the last venture that he had made enough to buy the Kendall for $1,500 and erect a small mill. Employing a few men, he was doing all right with surface ores; so he set a much higher price on the property, $425,000, that he thought was safe--but they took him up. Mr. Parsons said when Finch brought in his engineers, who were the best to be had, they all agreed on one thing-- that Kendall was a shallow, grass-root, deposit. The theory proved itself wrong in the process of mining. They went right down to a vein that turned out to be 100 feet wide between walls and 700 feet long, with profitable mining to the 600 level which was as far as they went when bad cave-ins caused Finch to close the mines. Finch was President of the corporation, and his operations started in 1902 after a 500 ton mill had been built and continued until 1912, at the rate of 8,000 tons a month with a recovery that netted a handsome profit. The first mining was done by open cut mining. They drove a tunnel in the ore, installed loading chutes from which they loaded cars by gravity method which was a cheap way of mining. After ore in the open cut was worked down to the tunnel level, they sunk the three compartment Kendall shaft. Mining was then done by the tunneling, stoping and square set method on five levels of the mine. This increased the cost of operation to $3.50 a ton for mining and milling. In 1912 operations were stopped by Finch on account of several severe cave-ins due to soft ground. It was estimated that about 400,000 tons of ore was left in the mine and that after the ground had settled, at last half could be recovered. In November, 1912, leasers operated the property and did so until 1920, but it was always provided in the lease that they could not mine under the level of 100 feet. All of the sizeable pillars left were between the 300 and 500 levels-the grater the depth, the bigger the pillars had to be to support the overburden. On some of the lower levels, the weight was so great that it crushed the top of stope timbers that were 24 inches across. On the 500 level the heat from pressure was so great that you couldn’t put your hand on the timber, said Mr. Parsons. In 1917 Finch began his plan to reopen the mine and get the caved in pillars, and prospect what he considered valuable ground. He started to drive a tunnel from the 500 level of the Kendall Mine aiming to prospect the Agnes and Neill claims belonging to the Kendall. But before this was done, Finch the sole owner then died. The heirs preferred cash to a gold mine so the lawyers sold the property to the Barnes King Development Company thereby settling out of court a dispute over the Barnes-King mining on Kendall ground. The mine was sold for $100,000, plus other considerations which were very costly, said Mr. Parsons who understood this included in addition to the purchase price, paying for the gold, which averaged $11 (old price) mined by mistake from the Neill. In spite of the millions taken out by the three companies, said Mr. Parsons, they have never mined any primary ore in the North Moccasins. In his opinion the big Kendall ore body and that of the North Moccasins were secondary enrichments deposited by solutions that came through some gold-bearing area not yet dis-covered. Mr. Parsons predicts that someday such deposits will be mined in the North Moccasins along with the faulted-off extensions of the known ore bodies and with other ore bodies long ago indicated by diamond drilling. Even the great piles of tailings, laid down years ago by the Kendall and Barnes-King and now averaging $1.05 plus will someday be profitable. Mr. Parsons concluded that although the North Moccasin mines Syndicate, which now owns these properties, did all right on surface ores the few years they ran before the war stopped them they were after all just scratching the surface. The big bet, in the North Moccasins, he insists, always has been and always be, underground. Maiden, Gilt Edge and other gold mining camps in the Judith and North Moccasin Mountains of Fergus County also have a chance of again becoming producer, according to E. B. “Hardrock” Coolidge, who is certainly qualified to speak with authority on the subject. Coolidge, who lives in Great Falls today, knows the area as well as he does the feel of a miner’s pick and was one of the developers of the famous Spotted Horse mine near Maiden. “I still think there is plenty of gold in the Judith’s and North Moccasins Mountains that will be developed,’ he told the Lewistown Daily News recently. The ghost town camp of Kendall pictured above in its heyday, lies on the south slope of the North Moccasins, and had a peak population of about 1,500. Mines there produced from 13 to 15 million dollars in gold, with the greatest activity from 1900 to 1920. In the middle 1930’s Mrs. J. H. McLean reopened operations there and did well for several years with surface and open cut mining. This lady, who also writes books and short stories for “slick” magazines, was credited at that time with operating the largest gold mine in the world under management of a woman. Many of the buildings on Lewistown’s main street were built by Kendall money, including the Empire building now occupied by the American Legion hall, Lang building which is the home of the Lewistown Hardware, Harrington’s Ford garage, Nelson’s Service Station, and the building occupied by the Lewistown market and the Daily News. |
| Local Identifier | SC 8.6 |
Description
| Title | Kendall was most 1 |
| Type | Text |
| Contributing Institution | Lewistown Public Library, Lewistown, Montana |
| Digital Format | application/pdf |
| Digitization Specifications | Canon MX310 300dpi |
| Full text of this item | Kendall was most profitable of gold mines in north moccasins; relief is that surface is just scratched, gold is underground. By Margharite F. McLean December, 21, 1947 (Editor's note-the author of this article is exceptionally well qualified to write on the mining industry in the Central Montana area, having taken an interest during much of her life. Prior to World War /I she worked the Kendall mine, and was known as the leading lady mine operator of the world at that time. Mrs. McLean lives in Lewistown) The Kendall, the North Moccasin, and the Barnes King are three famous old gold mines in Fergus County, Montana. Located adjoiningly in the North Moccasin Mountains, they cover the mineral zone for a distance of three miles on its outcrop. Of these mines, Kendall was the biggest producer, according to Ernest R. Parsons who was electrical engineer at Kendall during its entire operation and in charge of the power used by the three mines. Production figures were private property in those days, said Mr. Parsons, and Finch &Campbell who owned the Kendall Mine, kept them that way. At least half of the Kendall gold was shipped direct from the mine to the First National Bank in Spokane which they owned but under their management the mine paid out six million dollars in dividends. Kendall developed as dramatically as had these owners who became financiers as the result of a rich lead and zinc mine in Idaho discovered by Campbell. At that time, it was said, Finch played cards "in town" to grubstake his partner's prospecting. Later, they had men all over the world scouting for promising properties so that they acquired canneries, lumber yards, cement plants, a bank, other real estate and mines, some of which are still operating. When they wanted to buy the Kendall, the owner, Harrison Kendall was not anxious to sell. His dream was coming true. Mr. Parsons explained that Harry Kendall had formerly worked at Gilt Edge, and later treated the Spotted Horse tailings with a cyanide process and it was from the last venture that he had made enough to buy the Kendall for $1,500 and erect a small mill. Employing a few men, he was doing all right with surface ores; so he set a much higher price on the property, $425,000, that he thought was safe--but they took him up. Mr. Parsons said when Finch brought in his engineers, who were the best to be had, they all agreed on one thing-- that Kendall was a shallow, grass-root, deposit. The theory proved itself wrong in the process of mining. They went right down to a vein that turned out to be 100 feet wide between walls and 700 feet long, with profitable mining to the 600 level which was as far as they went when bad cave-ins caused Finch to close the mines. Finch was President of the corporation, and his operations started in 1902 after a 500 ton mill had been built and continued until 1912, at the rate of 8,000 tons a month with a recovery that netted a handsome profit. The first mining was done by open cut mining. They drove a tunnel in the ore, installed loading chutes from which they loaded cars by gravity method which was a cheap way of mining. After ore in the open cut was worked down to the tunnel level, they sunk the three compartment Kendall shaft. Mining was then done by the tunneling, stoping and square set method on five levels of the mine. This increased the cost of operation to $3.50 a ton for mining and milling. In 1912 operations were stopped by Finch on account of several severe cave-ins due to soft ground. It was |
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