Placer and Lode 



But the most serious gold exploration of re- 

 cent times is underway in the same area as the old 

 Quigley mine, where higher gold prices, new 

 technologies and heavy equipment may resurrect, 

 if not the old ghost town itself, at least the dreams 

 of the 19th-century entrepreneurs. Since 1986, three 

 different companies have used giant drill rigs to ex- 

 plore the upper reaches of Brewster Creek." The 

 latest. Meridian Gold Company, is exploring several 

 hundred claims.^» 



In 1990, the company drilled some 20 ex- 

 ploratory holes and "it looks like we're going to be 

 back next year," says geologist Robert Wheatley of 

 FMC Gold Company, Meridian Gold's parent com- 

 pany in Denver. ^9 Wheatley believes that gold in- 

 accessible to the 19th-century miners might now 

 be profitably extracted from the pyrite in the 

 Quigley area. "Depending on what we find we hope 

 to put in a mill nearby," says Wheatley. "But it takes 

 time: the area is north facing and very steep. We 

 want to drill enough for an accurate siting; when 

 we build roads we don't want to disturb the en- 

 vironment any more than we have to." 



Likewise, the 1980s brought heavy prospec- 

 ting to a private claim on Hogback Ridge, which, 

 along with Brewster Creek, upper Willow Creek 

 and Williams Gulch, is expected to see heightened 

 mining activity during the 1990s.^° 



A flurry of activity at what would have been 

 the biggest project in the drainage — the Bagdad 

 Mine on Williams Creek — has, for the moment, 

 ceased. In 1988, Mark V Mines (U.S.) Inc., a sub- 

 sidiary of a Vancouver, B.C., company, built a mile 

 of road, expanded an old tunnel and began taking 

 out hundreds of tons of ore for sampling. The com- 

 pany found the gold deposit promising and applied 

 for permission to develop the mine, which sits on 

 Lolo National Forest land less than three miles up 

 a rugged gulch from Rock Creek. The Williams 

 Creek tributary is considered "highly vulnerable" 

 to acid drainage, which could threaten Rock Creek 

 with more of the heavy metals pollution already 

 noted by the Environmental Protection Agency.'' 

 The investigation of the Bagdad proposal was the 

 most exacting ever begun on a Rock Creek tributary. 



The Forest Service requested an En- 

 vironmental Impact Statement "because of the 

 mine's proximity to the sensitive resource values of 

 Rock Creek and the potential for public controver- 

 sy surrounding the proposed project."'^ jYie mine 

 plan included nine acres of buildings, tailings 

 dumps and settling ponds, as well as six or seven 



miles of new road across the Deerlodge forest and 

 a several-acre storage area along the route. Forest 

 Service officials asked for comment from federal, 

 state and private agencies. 



State officials and conservationists were con- 

 cerned above all about longterm acid drainage from 

 the mine causing increased cadmium and copper 

 levels. The miners already had started sampling 

 water on Williams Creek in June, 1987. But state of- 

 ficials and conservationists wanted more sampling, 

 and at different seasons. They urged that fish 

 populations be monitored before beginning the 

 Bagdad project and during the entire life of the 

 mine, in accordance with the recommendations 

 developed by the Rock Creek Advisory Committee. 

 Sediment and chemical levels should be monitored 

 weekly, state officials determined, and the mining 

 company should provide for longterm pollution 

 control. 



The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife, 

 and Parks also objected to the proposed new road, 

 which would be used year-round by as many as 25 

 trucks a day hauling ore to Philipsburg for process- 

 ing. Officials said the road would be a "disturbance 

 to presently secure wildlife habitat" including elk 

 and mule deer winter range." Some 60 to 70 elk 

 would be affected, state officials estimated. In ad- 

 dition. Fish, Wildlife and Parks officials suggested 

 that ore trucks at least avoid hauling on weekends 

 and holidays during the summer when recreational 

 traffic is at a peak. 



The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was con- 

 cerned that the Bagdad Mine might disrupt 

 peregrine falcons and bald eagles, both endangered 

 species. 5-* A report prepared by the Lolo National 

 Forest concluded that while no peregrine falcons 

 were likely to nest near the site, eagles do nest near- 

 by, feeding on the elk and deer that die in winter 

 But the report concluded that even if this food 

 supply were disrupted, the eagles would find plenty 

 of deer and elk on adjacent ranges.^' (State officials 

 complained that the Forest Service seemed to con- 

 sider the displacement of elk insignificant.)'*' 



The Clark Fork Coalition concluded that the 

 information provided by Mark V was inadequate to 

 evaluate potential impacts. Mark V provided "lots 

 of raw data with little relevance to the project," ac- 

 cording to Bruce Farling.'^ 



Then, early in 1989, Mark 'V withdrew its re- 

 quest: the company dissolved along with the pro- 

 ject. "The reason was economics," says Jay Cornish. 

 "I personally think there is a viable resource there 



