Historical Notes - Week of November 23rd

The Red Lodge Picket (November 28, 1902) BIG STRIKE AT COOKE---Remarkable Find of Gold Quartz in the Commonwealth Claim on Sheep Mountain---$30,000 TO THE TON---Discovery was made by Gus Solomanson, an Old-Time Prospector of New World District.

For the past sixteen years Gus Solomonson had been prospecting and delving in the bowels of the earth at Cooke City in search of precious metals which that camp has long given indisputable evidence of containing, but because of the inaccessibility of the camp from all railroad communication its progress has been greatly retarded and kept back…As proof of the wealth of the New World mining district Mr. Solomanson, who arrived in Red Lodge on Monday last from Cooke, exhibited samples of gold-bearing quartz that are positively amazing in their richness. The specimens are studded with the precious metal and the yellow particles stand out in profusion on all sides of the quartz. No assay has yet been made, but there is not the least doubt that the ore will run $30,000 to the ton and even beyond this amount….If such should prove to be the fact the lucky owner is destined in a short time to become rich beyond his most fondest dreams.