Deborde History, cont'd
directed at the gold-bearing gravel at the bottom of the gulch. This gravel was then washed through sluice boxes. The sluice boxes had riffles to catch the gold and a "cleanup" was performed, periodically, with a gold pan to complete the final recovery of the gold. Annie DeBorde Jones told how she was permitted to pan for gold after school. She recovered sufficient gold dust to buy material for a dress. She traded the gold to her brother-in-law, Dave Williams, who owned the store, for dress material. Dave Williams was also the Postmaster. He was the husband of Gladys Ladonia DeBorde Williams. Dave Williams was born August 13, 1873 and died February 5, 1941. His wife, Gladys, was born December 31, 1881 and died March 5, 1957. They are both buried at Forestvale Cemetery in Helena. Lewis Williams, Dave's father, is buried on Cemetery Island at Canyon Ferry.

Several photographs are included at the end of this history. One of the pictures is of the hydraulic mining of York Gulch. Another is of the town of York and the York Mining Company.

Ruby City

There was a small settlement called Ruby City at the junction of York Gulch and Kingsburry Gulch. It has been said that one of the DeBordes lived there.

Additional Mining History of York

Prior to hydraulic mining at York Gulch it had been extensively placer mined. The "old-timers" each had a claim in the gulch. Apparently, there was some kind of organization. The DeBorde boys told about a tunnel that was constructed from Price's Gulch to York Gulch for the purpose of draining surplus water from the claims. Each miner was required to donate a prescribed amount of time toward the construction of the tunnel. There doesn't appear to be any evidence of such a tunnel at present.

After the old-timers had abandoned their claims, the Chinese came and reworked the ground. They especially concentrated on the ground that had supported the timbering. The old-timers had not bothered to mine those locations.

Around the turn of the century there were many isolated claims being worked. Bill (William Hardy) DeBorde had a claim at the head of Oregon Gulch that was in operation at least until the late 1940s. When Bill DeBorde moved to town he sold the claim to Louie Houle and Clyde Frey. Upon their deaths, the Forest Service burned all of the improvements and today nothing remains.

In addition to the placer mining in the area, there was quite a bit of hard-rock mining. Two such mines were the Golden Messenger and the Dandy. The Messenger was operating at about the time of the beginning of World War II. The Dandy was not operating at that time, but had been in operation earlier.

One other mine of note in the area was the Copper Queen. It was located near the head of York Gulch, above the area of hydraulic mining.

The York Mining Company owned most of the mining claims in the 1940s and later. They had a shaft at the mouth of York Gulch. The operation was abandoned during World War II because of the difficulty of pumping out the water and because the price of gold was only $35.00 an ounce. (They should have looked for the old-timers' tunnel. It could be a profitable operation at the current price of gold and modern mining equipment.)

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