ENDNOTES 



1. Orville Daniels letter to Steven Pilcher, chief of Water Quality Bureau, Montana Department of Health and 

 Environmental Sciences, April 20, 1989. Also: U.S. Geological Survey Water Resources Division, Helena, memo, 

 June 30, 1989 and Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks memo, "Rock Creek Metals Source Assess- 

 ment," June 30, 1989. 



2. The 1872 Mining Law states that "all mineral deposits in land belonging to the United States are free and 

 open to exploration and the lands in which they are found are open to occupation and purchase." 



3. Ted Antonioli, telephone interview, December, 1990. 



4. Bob Neal, telephone interview, December, 1990. 



5. General Accounting Office, "Federal Land Management: the Mining Law of 1872 Needs Revision," March 

 10, 1989. The report cites cases in which the law has been used to acquire land for ski condominiums, 

 vacation houses and a downtown Las Vegas business. It also says the law has been used in phony gold- 

 mining schemes that have bilked investors out of S250 million in recent years. David Alberswerth, public 

 lands director for the National Wildlife Federation, has called the law an "anachronism" whose basic princi- 

 ple is that "mining is the dominant use of public lands." 



6. Each claim is a maximum 20 acres. A patent may contain many claims. The following figures were compiled 

 from U.S. Forest Service records with the help of Ray TeSoro, geologist. Region One. 



MINING PATENTS IN THE ROCK CREEK DRAINAGE 



LOLO NATIONAL FOREST 

 Date 



1908 

 1892-1903 



Number 



1 

 9 



Hogback Creek 

 Slide Rock 



20 

 556 



DEERLODGE NATIONAL FOREST 



Date Number 



7 Jim Sheldon, telephone interview, December, 1990. 



8. Bruce Farling, personal interview, December, 1990. 



9. Terrence Webster, hydrogeologist, Montana Department of State Lands, Reclamation Division, Hardrock Bureau. 

 In 1990, the small miner's exemption was changed so that even small-scale placer miners must post a bond 

 of up to $5,000. 



