Page 87 - Cornelius Hedges Story

For This And Succeeding Generations Gardiner 74

Judge Hedges invested $6800 in 3400 shares of the Morning Star
Mining Co. in 1889.274 The placers in the Upper Tenmile contained
large masses of rich tin ore. Numerous gulches that feed into Upper
Tenmile each contain several lode mines, the Morning Star was one
of these.

His investment in the Bald Butte Mining Company was perhaps
his most successful financial venture in mining. On July 21, 1890,
he noted that he owned stock in that company and that on that day
he was elected Vice-president of the company, whose mines were
located above Marysville.275 Bald Butte mine and mill site first
began recorded production in 1882, predominantly of gold, silver,
and lead. The Bald Butte mill operated on a 10-stamp facility from
its inception, but upgraded in 1891 to a 40-stamp facility, which
operated 24-hours per day, over 315 days per year. The Bald Butte
Mill site is located approximately 17 miles west of Helena, near the
headwaters of Dog Creek, a tributary to the Little Blackfoot River.
Bald Butte lies within the historic Marysville Mining District. The
first reported production from the mine occurred in 1882 when the
mine produced $32,000. The property was worked from 1890 to 1901
when the discovery of a new vein was found. The ore was treated
in the company’s 20-stamp mill that was expanded to 40 stamps
around the turn of the century. The next year the mill continued in
full production with ore in reserve waiting to be processed.

In 1902, when production figures became available, the mine
produced 25,565 short tons of ore which was reduced to 14,776.24
ounces of gold; 8,939 ounces of silver; 4,588 pounds of copper; and
81,962 pounds of lead. After 1902, the ore produced from the mine
dwindled until 1909 when only 814 tons of ore were extracted.

In January, 1891, the company paid a 4% dividend.276 Four months
later, Hedges wrote that at a recent sale of Bald Butte stock, the price
was established at $2.50 per share, and on that basis commented
that his 10,000 shares of stock were now worth $25,000.277 Many
of those 10,000 shares were purchased in November, 1890, when
he received $1200 for the copyright to his volumes of Montana
Supreme Court Reports and his extra copies of those volumes.

He also gave Bald Butte stock as Christmas presents to his
family in 1890, 500 shares to Edna and 100 shares to each of his
five children, and he noted that they seemed very pleased.278 Judge
Hedges still held his interests in the Bald Butte Mining Co. at the
time of his death.279