Atlantic Cable Quartz Lode

In June 1867, Alexander Aiken, John Person, and Jonas Stough located a rich gold quartz lode near here, its name recalling the recent laying of the second transatlantic telegraph cable. The discovery came by accident when, after camping on nearby Flint Creek, the men tracked their drifting horses to this vicinity and found both good placer gold in Warm Springs Creek and promising gold quartz prospects on Cable Mountain. A small mining camp called Cable City soon grew up around the mines, and in 1868 the Helena Weekly Herald praised the miners of this extraordinary camp as men of intelligence, extended experience, good hard sense, and big hearts. The Atlantic Cable Mine operated with indifferent success until about 1880, when miners struck extremely rich ore directly under the mountain. A 500-foot piece of ground produced over $151 million in 21st century dollars, and in 1889 Butte copper king William A. Clark paid $10,000 for one chunk of ore from the mine and claimed it was the largest gold nugget ever found in Montana.

Anaconda-Deer Lodge County, Montana · United States