Labor Day Weekend

I know that some of you used this time to do some labor. We, however, decided to do the opposite.

We, meaning all residing here this summer, packed up and went to Georgetown Lake, out of Philipsburg. We got there first with the trailer and got most of the tent set up as the others had to wait for football practice to be over.

When we first got there, Bob and I started walking and looking at some campsites that might meet our needs. We hadn't gone far when we saw a cow moose and her calf. They were working their way up from the lake into the camp ground. We waited, not wanting to cross her path. There were some other people closer to her and she didn't seem to mind. I guess she is use to people. My camera was back in the truck so I didn't get any pictures. We were hoping she would come back again during the weekend, but didn't.

On Saturday morning we went to Gem Mountain, so named for sapphires. For fourteen dollars, you can buy a bucket of gravel and hunt for sapphires.

First you pour some of the gravel in a washing tray.

Next you take it to the washing trough. You have to have the right motion to wash it getting the smaller stuff to the bottom. The sapphires also go to the bottom. Trinceton seemed to have the right motion. The tray is screened on the bottom.

Then you quickly flip it over. Trinceton seemed to always get the sapphire containing gravel closest to him on his flip.

After the flip, you look on the surface for sapphires. After picking up any, with a tweezers, that you see on the surface, you start working through the rest of it.

Then you can find these. There are also quartz crystals that look like sapphires until they dry. Then they are white.

When you are done, you take them in and they will check them for any cracks and if they are large enough to cut. Between Bob and I we had four for a total of 4.08 uncut carrots. That is about what Trinceton, alone, had along with Leah and Bryan combined. (Remember what I said about Trinceton's tray flipping?) They are clear and vary in color from a light yellow, green shades, blue shades and pink. Although we didn't get much, we had fun. The kids had fun playing in the left over gravel pile,

and it didn't start raining until we were leaving. We had sun to see the sapphires while we were looking for them.

Before we got to Gem Mountain, we say a group of bighorn sheep up on the hill side above the road.
This one was looking for a way down. He ended up going straight down the surface where he is looking.


After gem hunting, we went back to camp and relaxed.

During the weekend the kids had fun jumping off what ever they could find,
playing,

eating,

roasting hot dogs and marshmallows,

and the guys got to be bored,

since they were not doing their usual activity.

We did get some work out of Grandpa.

On Monday morning we headed for the ghost town of Granite which is about five miles, up in the mountain, out of Philipsburg and at an elevation of seven thousand feet.

The town of Granite was home to three thousand people who worked in the silver mines and stamp mill. It also yielded some gold. There are only a few buildings left standing, parts of some, and foundations of many. It is hard to visualize that many people living here as the ground is steep, rough, and now covered with trees.

In 1880 a Mr. McIntyre was contracted to sink a "fifty foot shaft upon the ledge" for one-quarter interest in the mine. The shaft was one foot short when he decided not to finish and surrendered his share. This one-quarter share was eventually worth $3,000,000 in dividends. In 1885 the Ruby shaft was sunk to a depth of 1550 feet. Crews worked around the clock.

This was once the three story union hall.

The bank vault.

One of the remaining homes.

Foundation and building.
Some tailings from the mine.
Located up on the mountain, close to the mine shafts, was a three level stamp mill to crush the ore. There is not much left of the lower level, but there is some of the other two levels.

The walls were made of quarried granite from the area. You can see the drill marks on some of the stones. What got me is how they were stacked without the use of mortar and the small stones that they used to filled the cracks. There was also fire brick, stamped St. Louis, in the area.
This is of an ore bunker and a log crib. I thought the cribs construction was interesting. You can see ore chutes in the bunker.

In one place, you could see where they cut the trees, leaving stumps that were used to make a level floor for a building. The ground was quit sloped. The timbers were also made from the existing trees. There are not any nearly this large now.
Maybe the best thing was the view.
It was a fun weekend.