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"abel C. Olson
Superior, Montana
TOPIC: vililiam Beach, Prospector
Interview with Lee (Jaes L.) Roach, Suberior, Montana
When I knew Bill Beach, he was quite an old man, over
80. He had Al Wade, Jim Rickards, and John McDonald working
for him, and others I don't remember. John McDonald was
married to old Stella (a prostitute). Beach was just doing
the cooking lei, and he was a mighty good cook, too. I
was sent to the mine to get him bv "Joe" (Napoleon) Moderie,
who was running the livery s aole in Superior. Moderie's
stable wa§ an old landmark, at the foot of the hill, on the
site of Fletcher's garage Glat burned in the spring of 1939,
next to Pike's drug store.
"oderie had been asked by Walter Mackay to see that
Beach be taken to the hospital at Wallace for medical care.
Mackay, then a wealthy man and a partner of Beach, had
looked after the old miner for quite a time, seeing that
he was cared for wnen he was sick, and that he had every-
thing he needed. Beach turned his holdings over to Mackay.
Mackay was a courtly man, tall, thin, and moustached,
quite gray when I saw him. Beach was his opposite: of
medium height, heavy set, and he also wore a gray moustache.
He walked with a cane. I don't winder that he was aole to
A
interest so many in his claims, for he was a convincing and
entertaining talker.
When the mill was first put in, expenses were made.
I once saw Beach. wth fine gold j st off the tales, a
Mabel C. Olson
Superior, Montana
0
sack about six incnes wide and filled to a depth of about
four inches.
After the mill was abandoned, the cooper plates and
concentra,or were moved from the millsite on Deep Creek
to Eddy Creek. There were two of these plates, which were
expensive, especially after they had been smeared with gold
to hold the quicksilver used in the milling process. Much
later, I saw them used, one dry year, for a distillery on
Eddy Creek.
Beach used to burn a charcoal pit at the Iron Mountain
Tunnel. They u t the wood for it from timber cleared off
the road they were building over the Nine 7 -'le divide from
the Tunnel, along Ziegler Creek, down he hillside to the
river. A boat carried the ore along the river to the main
line of the Northern Pacific Railway at Paradise, from where
it was shipped to Helena or butte.
Later the Iron Mountain Tunnel joined Missoula County
in building a bridge across the Missoula River at Superior.
The Coeur d'Alene 3ranch of the Northern Pacific ran throuuh
Iron Mountain (now part of Superior) then, and the haul was
much shortened.
(Beach was care for at Columoia Falls Soldiers' Home,
Columbia Falls, then transferred to Sawte'_1 Soldiers' Home,
close to Hollywood, California. He died at the latter in-
stitution. This information was given by Hans G. Scharf,
Superior, Montana, County Clerk of Court of Mineral County)