ed in July 14, 1864 in present day Helena. Over 19 million dollars was taken out of the gulch. There were many different parties that searched for gold in the gulch and certainly the most important of all was the one led by John Cowan. His party had an unsuccessful year. Starting in Kottenais country they had to turn back when they found out it wasn’t good. Next they headed to the Little Blackfoot, and when they failed at that location they headed to the east side of the range and they found the Last Chance Gulch. Since this gulch was their “last chance” to find gold before winter, that is how it got its name.Throughout the mining frontier, miners and big time companies used several different ways to mine the gold. One way was by sluice boxes which were long wooden troughs that used water and gravity to trap gold while mining mills were another method. They crushed giant rocks to find gold and, in fact, operated like a factory. The most successful way to mine was by hydraulic mining. It removed metals and many companies made a lot of money using this method. However, hydraulic mining wasn’t always the best thing. It caused major destruction to the environment. This process was the main process of mining in Confederate and Alder Gulches.Mining contributed to Montana in several different ways and it wasn’t always positive. Last Chance Gulch started the town of Helena and as a result brought millions into the community. As soon as they started mining the gulch, businesses came into the town. Sometimes they would build their businesses right over old mining holes. This kept Helena a town. If the businesses never came the miners would have left and obviously, no town would be here today. Last Chance Gulch didn’t just help out the town of Helena, but helped Montana along with Alder Gulch and Confederate Gulch. These gulches helped the area to become rich which made it possible for it t...
