Editing Basin, Montana (section)

=== 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"/>