Copperopolis

Information provided by the Montana Department of Environmental Quality. More information can be found at http://www.deq.state.mt.us/AbandonedMines. Copperopolis served originally as a stage station. It was halfway between White Sulphur Springs and Martinsdale. In 1866 copper veins were discovered in the southern slopes of the Little Belt Mountains and started attracting attention as a mining center. Hauling costs were extremely expensive until a railroad was built in Martinsdale in 1896.



The Copperopolis mine encompasses 21 patented claims south of the North Fork of the Musselshell River. The main workings for the mine are located on three of the most important claims in the district - the Northern Pacific, St. John, and Darling Fraction (Roby 1950).

The Northern Pacific was the first claim in the district and the first copper found in Montana. Discovered around 1866 by E. J. Hall and his partner, the mine produced enough copper ore in the first year for the owners to pack five tons by mule to the Missouri River, shipping it then to Swansea, Wales for smelting. Hall patented the claim and then sold it in 1900 for $1,800. The St. John, a patented claim measuring 2200 x 100 feet, adjoined both the Northern Pacific and the Darling Fraction. The latter claim had a 75 foot shaft and a log shaft house by 1896, and the owners had shipped some ore earlier in the decade (Wolle 1963; Roby 1950; Weed and Pirsson 1896).

Two events brought new life to the Musselshell district. The Montana Railroad arrived in Martinsdale in 1896, providing a reliable link with outside smelters. Four years later in 1900, Marcus Daly purchased most, if not all, of the copper claims in the district. This outside investment by one of Montana's copper kings provided a much needed boost. W. W. McDowell laid out the townsite of Copperopolis, and by the end of October the company town boasted 25 buildings including a general store, livery stable, blacksmith shop, barber shop, restaurant, boarding house and bunkhouses. Although he died before the end of the year, Daly's successors continued his plans for the district (Wolle 1963).

The boom at Copperopolis was brief. Seventy-five men worked in the Northern Pacific and St. John mines in 1900, shipping large quantities of ore regularly. Work faltered a year later when copper exports fell, but W. W. McDowell, Daly's former manager, organized a new company to work the Northern Pacific claim. By 1903, however, the owners ordered the mine closed (Byrne 1900; Byrne and Barry 1902; Mining and Scientific Press 1903; Wolle 1963).

Once again, the Copperopolis properties were resurrected when lessees began working the mine in 1908. A group from New York installed machinery in 1910, and the mine reached its most active period from 1914-1924.

In 1915 attempts were made to homestead the land. All of the buildings have been torn down except for one cabin. The lumber was hauled away. What remains is a true ghost town.