Memories from the Museum...

Not long ago, an old Butterick pattern book was donated to the Jefferson Valley Museum. Glued to the many pages were years of newspaper articles about local and international events. The following are some of those many stories from the 1930s and 40s.

Headline from early 1940: “$23,368,000 Tourist Money Spent in Montana in 1939. Other States through Legislative Action Invest in This Business and Get Handsome Returns; 1940 Expected to be Record Year.”

From a March, 1942 news article: Miss Marion E. Beall, daughter of F. E. Beall of Whitehall and a member of the prominent Beall family in that vicinity, will leave this week for Pendleton Field, Oregon, where she will become a Red Cross nurse in the U. S. Army. Miss Beall was graduated from Whitehall High School in 1936 and was graduated from the Deaconess hospital in Bozeman in 1941. One of her ancestors, John N. Beall, was an early settler in the Jefferson valley. He was one of the first men to bring thoroughbred horses and cattle to the valley. Miss Beall was reared by her aunts, Miss Elizabeth and Miss Misqua Beall, both of Whitehall.

From an October 15, 1942 article: State’s Greatest Gold Mine Closes; In Operation Since 1895 – Following a recent order by the War Production Board, the Mayflower Mine, the leading gold producer to the state is being closed down this week.

The Mayflower mine is located in the Renova district, about 12 miles southeast of Whitehall and has been operated for many years by the West Mayflower Mining Co., a subsidiary of the Anaconda Copper Mining Co.. The mine has not only been the leading gold mine in the state; but, also one of the biggest gold mines in the world.

The West Mayflower and Mayflower No. 3 were located by the late Charles Pruett in 1895. Mr. Pruett had two partners who resided in Butte. They were E. M. Clark, an assayer and chemist for the Parrot Mining Company, and S. R. Fair, a druggist. These mines were patented and were owned by W. A. Clark who paid $150,000.00 for the two claims. Later, when the Anaconda Company bought out the Clark interests in the state, the mines were taken over by that company and have been operated by it ever since.

Many members of the Beall and Pruett families are buried at the Fish Creek Cemetery in the Jefferson Valley. For more information about the Mayflower area, visit the Jefferson Valley Museum this summer. Over the Frontier Days weekend in July, consider buying a ticket for one of the historic tours that will visit Piedmont, Pleasant Valley, Renova and the Fish Creek Cemetery.