Granite County Montana Gold Production
Located along Henderson Creek about 10 to 12 miles north of Philipsburg, the Henderson placers were discovered in 1866 and yielded gold valued at about $300,000 prior to 1870. By 1913 the total placer gold production was estimated at more than $1 million (48,379 ounces) (Emmons and Calkins, 1913, p. 263). The deposits were worked by sluicing and, where the gravel was coarse and contained large boulders, by drifting. In about 1936 scheelite-bearing sand was discovered in these placers (Hund-hausen, 1949, p. 2), and they were mined throughout World War II. The district was inactive from 1950 through 1959. Total gold production through 1959 was about 81,800 ounces, including about 1,300 ounces from lodes between 1932 and 1949.