Editing Basin, Montana (section)

== History ==

=== First peoples ===
Archeologists think it likely that the first people to live in Montana crossed from Asia to North America over the [[Bering Land Bridge]] that existed during the last major [[Last Glacial Period|Ice Age]] about 12,000&nbsp;years ago. Because the middle of the continent was covered with sheets of ice, people who migrated south did so on trails along the edges of [[glacier]]s melted by seasonal warming. One such trail, called the Great North Trail, is thought to have followed the [[Rocky Mountain Front]] into Montana, passing close to Helena, {{convert|24|mi|km|0}} north of Basin, and continuing into the east-central part of the state. Evidence of these early Paleo-Indians or [[Clovis culture|Clovis]] people has been found at three sites, one of them the McHaffie site near [[Clancy, Montana|Clancy]] about {{convert|20|mi|km|0}} north of Basin. The age of the Clancy artifacts is estimated to be 10,000&nbsp;years. The Clovis people are thought to have disappeared in about 4,000 to 5,000&nbsp;BCE when the Montana climate became more dry and would not support the animal populations the Clovis needed to survive.<ref name=bryan>{{cite book  | last = Bryan  | first = William L.  | title = Montana's Indians: Yesterday and Today  | publisher = Farcountry Press  | year = 1996  | location = Helena  | pages = 6–7  | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=kTX_SsG7M10C&q=Montana's+Indians:+Yesterday+and+Today  | isbn = 1-56037-064-5  }}</ref>

About 2,000&nbsp;years ago, a new prehistoric people known as the Late Hunters appeared in Montana, thriving on a [[bison]] (buffalo) population living in open grassy areas on the plains and in river valleys. The earliest tribes are thought to have been the [[Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Nation|Kootenai]], who stayed west of the Continental Divide, and the [[Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Nation|Flathead]] (Salish), and [[Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Nation|Pend d'Oreilles]], who ventured east of the mountains into and east of the [[Three Forks, Gallatin County, Montana|Three Forks]] country, {{convert|46|mi|km|0}} southeast of Basin. In the 17th century, the [[Crow Nation|Crow]] entered Montana from the east and the [[Shoshone]] from the south. Pressed by other tribes retreating west from white European settlers, the [[Blackfoot Confederacy|Blackfeet]] moved into Montana around 1730. Acquiring horses and firearms, and numbering about 15,000, they formed alliances with other incoming tribes, the [[Assiniboine people|Assiniboine]] and the [[Gros Ventres]], and by the mid-18th century dominated the state. When the white explorers [[Lewis and Clark Expedition|Lewis and Clark]] traveled up the [[Missouri River]] to Three Forks, they found only Blackfeet and Blackfeet allies. Heavily dependent on bison, the nomadic life of the Blackfeet "came to an abrupt end in the early 1880s when the buffalo became almost extinct."<ref name=bryan />

During the 1870s, a few years after the first white miners began looking for gold near Basin, the last large-scale battles between the U.S. government and the Indians took place in Montana. The [[Marias Massacre]] (also known as the Baker Massacre), occurred in 1870 about {{convert|150|mi|km|0}} northeast of Basin. Others, the [[Battle of the Little Bighorn]] and the [[Battle of the Rosebud]], were fought in 1876 about {{convert|250|mi|km|0}} from Basin in the southeastern part of the state. By then, most first peoples had been moved to [[Indian reservation|reservations]], which were far from Basin.<ref name=bryan />

=== Camp ===
The town of Basin began as a 19th&nbsp;century mining camp near the confluence of Basin Creek with the Boulder River. Gold deposits at the mouth of Cataract Creek, about {{convert|0.5|mi|km|1}} downstream of Basin were reported as early as 1862.<ref name="names">{{cite book|last1=Carkeek Cheney|first1=Roberta|title=Names on the Face of Montana|date=1983|publisher=Mountain Press Publishing Company|location=Missoula, Montana|isbn=0-87842-150-5|page=5}}</ref> Prospectors staked claims and built cabins, and within a few years [[placer mining]] extended the full lengths of Cataract and Basin Creeks. When a settlement was established in Basin, the buildings at the mouth of Cataract Creek were gradually moved to Basin, and the Cataract camp was abandoned.<ref name=DEQ>{{cite web | url = http://www.deq.state.mt.us/abandonedmines/linkdocs/techdocs/73tech.asp | title = Historical Narratives: Basin |  publisher=Montana Department of Environmental Quality, Montana State Government |  access-date=December 15, 2007 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071102021944/http://www.deq.state.mt.us/abandonedmines/linkdocs/techdocs/73tech.asp |archive-date = November 2, 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Searches for the [[lode]] veins on both creeks succeeded by the 1870s and eventually led to significant lode mining at the Eva May, Uncle Sam, Grey Eagle, Hattie Ferguson, and Comet mines in the Cataract Creek district and the Bullion, Hope, and Katy mines in the Basin Creek district. By 1880, the settlement at Basin became the local source of supplies for mines and miners.<ref name="DEQ"/>

=== Boom and bust ===
[[Image:Basinsmelter.jpg|thumb|left| Ruins of the Glass brothers' smelter in Basin (2007)]]Two mines, the Katy and the Hope, owned serially by several different companies between the mid-1890s and the mid-1920s, contributed to Basin's prosperity. In 1894, the Basin and Bay State Mining Company, organized by two brothers named Glass, began expanded operations at these mines. However, flooding and fires caused both mines to close by 1896; the Glass brothers lost control of the property, and the mines went idle.<ref name=wolle>{{cite book  | last = Wolle | first = Muriel Sibell | title =Montana Pay Dirt: A Guide to the Mining Camps of the Treasure State  | publisher = Sage Books/Swallow Press | year =1983 | location = Athens, Ohio | pages = 153–156 | isbn = 0-8040-0722-5 | edition = first paperback }}</ref> Despite the ups and downs of the local mines and despite several disastrous fires in town, Basin prospered.<ref name=DEQ/> In 1905, the Basin Reduction Company led by [[F. Augustus Heinze]], who owned mines in Butte, took over the properties left by the Glass brothers and improved them. By then, Basin had a population of 1,500, four rooming houses, a drug store, three hotels, a bath house, three grocery stores, a bank, a newspaper, and 12 saloons.<ref name="wolle"/>

An unpublished manuscript on file with the Montana State Historical Society describes life in Basin between 1906 and 1910 in great detail. Two railroads, the [[Northern Pacific Railway|Northern Pacific]] on the north side of the Boulder River, and the [[Great Northern Railway (U.S.)|Great Northern]] on the south side, served the city; both had depots and warehouses in Basin and carried passengers as well as freight. The Glass brothers' smelter had been set up on the north side to process concentrated ore delivered by rail from out of town or from the mills on the south side. Infrastructure included a weight scale for ore cars and an overhead tram to carry ore across the river from the reduction mill to the smelter. Although the smelter was a "massive unit" equipped with furnaces, conveyors, and machinery ready for operation, it "never turned a wheel".<ref name=beck>Beck, Albert W. (1968). "Map and Legend of Basin, Montana, 1906–1910". Unpublished manuscript on file in the archives of the Montana Historical Society, Helena, Montana. Call # SC 1267.</ref>

While the smelter sat idle, mining activity continued on the south side of the river in the Hope-Katy mine complex, at the Hope Mill, which crushed and separated ore, and at the Basin Reduction Works. [[Flume]]s carried water from upstream on Cataract Creek and Basin Creek to a storage reservoir in town and supplied water to the mills as well as the town's fire hydrants. A separate flume carried water to the mills from upstream on the Boulder River. At the Basin Reduction Works, [[Corliss Steam Engine|Corliss steam engines]], driven by the coal-fired boilers, provided power to run the [[mine hoist]]s and the mill machinery, and an electric generator powered by a [[water wheel]] made electricity for factory lights and the [[Arc lamp|arc lights]] at Basin's street intersections. Surplus [[tailings]] were discharged into the river and into a dam built for the purpose downstream of Basin.<ref name=beck/>

In addition to homes, Basin structures between 1906 and 1910 included a dance pavilion, a grandstand, a baseball diamond, and a playground near the confluence of Basin Creek with the river. A footbridge connected the playground with a picnic area on the south side of the river. Meeting places included churches, a union hall, and a two-story building shared by the [[Fraternal Order of Eagles]], the [[Independent Order of Odd Fellows]], the [[Freemasonry|Masons]], and [[Order of the Eastern Star|Eastern Star]]. Among the town's businesses were a hardware store, a bakery, livery stables, several "units of harlotry", a blacksmith shop, a brewery specializing in Basin Beer, a sawmill, and a dairy barn from which "milk was delivered in five-pound buckets", sometimes with covers.<ref name=beck/>

In 1909, after Heinze abandoned his properties in Basin, the Butte and Superior Mining Company used buildings and machinery at the site of the Basin Reduction Works to treat zinc ore by a new process called [[froth flotation]]. Sued for patent infringement, the company shut down its Basin plant in 1912.<ref name="wolle"/> Max Atwater, a mining engineer who had worked for Butte and Superior, obtained a license for the process and ran a smaller zinc-extraction plant in Basin from 1914 through 1918. His wife, [[Mary Meigs Atwater]], described Basin as "a mining camp, subject to recurring periods of boom and bust... A tiny telephone office and a drugstore died with the end of our era of boom... Just above the town were the [[Gallows Frame|headframe]] of our mine, and the old mill, and the never-quite-finished skeleton of a projected smelter."<ref>{{cite book | last = Reiter | first = Mary Jo | title = Weaving a Life: The Story of Mary Meigs Atwater | publisher = Interweave Press | year = 1992 | location = Loveland, Colorado | page = [https://archive.org/details/weavinglifestory00atwa/page/131 131] | isbn = 0-934026-77-7 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/weavinglifestory00atwa/page/131 }}</ref>

[[Image:Mine entrance.jpg|thumb|right| Former entrance to the Hope-Katy mine complex (2007)]]The most extensive and successful mining of the Hope-Katy vein began in 1919, when the Jib Consolidated Mining Company began work on the property. When this company acquired the mines, they comprised {{convert|3500|ft|m|0}} of workings. Over the next five years, Jib expanded these to more than {{convert|15000|ft|m|0}}, and in 1924 the company became the largest gold producer in Montana. In that year, the combined Jib mines produced about {{convert|33000|oz|g}} of gold, {{convert|182000|oz|g}} of silver, {{convert|282000|lb|kg}} of copper, and {{convert|199000|lb|kg}} of lead.<ref name=roby>{{cite book  | last = Roby | first = R.N. | title =Bulletin 16: Mines and Mineral Deposits (Except Fuels), Jefferson County, Montana | publisher = Montana School of Mines | year =1960 | location = Butte, Montana | pages = 29, 31–32, 100   }}</ref> In 1925, however, the Jib properties passed from the mining company to trustees for creditors, and production declined.<ref name=roby/> This was the last of Basin's mining booms. Since then, small-scale mining, reworking of old mine dumps, and placer mining has continued in the region.<ref name="DEQ"/>

=== Since 1960 ===
For about 50&nbsp;years, the Merry Widow Health Mine in Basin and similar mines nearby have attracted people seeking relief from health problems such as arthritis through limited exposure to radioactive mine water and [[radon]]. The practice is controversial because of the "well-documented ill effects of high-dose radiation on the body."<ref>{{cite journal | last = Salak | first = Kara | title = 59631: Mining for Miracles  | journal = National Geographic  | publisher = National Geographic Society | year = 2004 | url = http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0401/feature7/index.html | access-date = December 31, 2007 |author2 = Nordeman, Landon (photographer)  | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080124233142/http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0401/feature7/index.html| archive-date= January 24, 2008 | url-status= dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title = Merry Widow Health Mine | publisher = Merry Widow Health Mine | year = 2006 | url = https://www.merrywidowmine.com/ | access-date = January 17, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180730192345/https://www.merrywidowhealthmine.org/|archive-date=July 30, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1975, the Basin community formed water and sewer districts and, using federal grants to cover about 60&nbsp;percent of the costs, built a water delivery, sewage, and waste-handling system.<ref name=Darr>{{cite news| last = Darr  | first = Al  | title = Basin Aims High at Building Image | pages = 17, 19  | work  = Montana Standard | date = March 4, 1979 }}</ref> By 1990, Interstate 15 had replaced the entire length of [[U.S. Route 91]] in the state.<ref>{{cite web | title = AARoads: Interstate 15 | publisher = AARoads | year = 2007 | url = http://www.interstate-guide.com/i-015.html | access-date = February 17, 2008| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080220033548/http://www.interstate-guide.com/i-015.html| archive-date= February 20, 2008 | url-status= live}}</ref> The centerline of the Interstate followed the track of the former [[Great Northern Railway (U.S.)|Great Northern Railway]] through town.<ref name=Darr />

In 1999, the [[United States Environmental Protection Agency|Environmental Protection Agency]] added the Basin mining area to the [[Superfund]] National Priorities List because of mining-waste problems in and near town. The mining area comprised the watersheds of Basin and Cataract Creek and part of the Boulder River. Contaminants included [[arsenic]], copper, [[cadmium]], lead and other metals. Cleanup of the mining wastes at the Buckeye-Enterprise, Crystal and Bullion mines in the Basin Creek and Cataract watersheds was completed in 2002, and the removal of mine waste from Basin was completed in 2004.<ref>{{cite web | title = Superfund Program, Basin Mining Area | publisher = U.S. Environmental Protection Agency | year = 2018 | url = https://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/SiteProfiles/index.cfm?fuseaction=second.Cleanup&id=0801057#bkground| access-date = September 21, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180921190635/https://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/SiteProfiles/index.cfm?fuseaction=second.Cleanup&id=0801057|archive-date=September 21, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Individual mines ===
Almost opposite the Hope-Katy complex on the south side of the Boulder River in Basin was the Katy Extension Mine on the north side. It produced ore from part of the Hope-Katy lode that had been displaced about {{convert|800|ft|m}} to the north by [[fault (geology)|faulting]].<ref name=roby/> Other mines within {{convert|2|mi|km|0}} of Basin included the Lotta, {{convert|1|mi|km|1}} west of town along the route of Interstate 15; the Basin Bell (Latsch), about {{convert|1.5|mi|km|1}} north of town along Basin Creek; the Boulder, {{convert|1.5|mi|km|1}} northeast of Basin on the south slope of Pole Mountain; the Mantle and South Mantle, about {{convert|1.5|mi|km|1}} north of town along Cataract Creek; and the Obelisk, {{convert|1.5|mi|km|1}} east of town near the road that later became Interstate 15.<ref name=roby/>