The Other Micho Mine

Rediscovering the Micho Mine appeared in the 6 Aug 2009 edition of theWhitefish Pilot. Smug in my belief that I was the expert on local mines, I was soon brought to earth by several long-time locals who informed me that I had stumbled on the smaller and less interesting of two mines. The larger claim is on the same mountain face as the smaller but lies a quarter of a mile NNE and at an elevation 500 ft higher. (See the figure, which is the hiking path transposed from GPS onto Google Earth.)

I reached the upper mine on 22 Sep 09 with Don Stolte, a Whitefish native, as my guide. We parked our bikes at the F.H. Stoltze Land & Lumber Company bridge over Second Creek tributary and hiked northward, bypassing the lower mine, but stopping at the Old Tree.

The old tree, moss covered and long dead, stands on the edge of a rocky cliff and bears carved inscriptions dating from the early 1900s. The photo shows that JRC carved his initials on 3 Sep 1923, probably not knowing that the inscription would outlive him and become an epitaph. Such a monument would not be found in Florida (from where I hail), because dampness, rot, and termites would have it down in a decade.

The entrance to the upper mine is on a steep, rocky slope, facing eastward. Thus it and its obvious streak of tailings cannot be seen from Whitefish. The topography near the mine is so uneven that one cannot figure out where the miners camped. The entrance (see photo) leads into a horizontal, tunnel-like shaft, over 100 feet in length. Above the adit the letter "M" has been chiseled into the rock. The mine cuts through solid granite, unlike the lower, which was dug in a softer, rock-clay composition. Although the upper Micho Mine is larger and more impressive in every respect than the lower, it neither appears on the Whitefish Map, nor does the Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology acknowledge its existence (MBMG Report #462 of Jul 2002).

The oblique satellite photo shows our hike route relative to the topography. Oh yes, for hikers with GPS, the Upper Micho Mine lies at 48˚29'26.1"N; 114˚18'55.7"W, while the snag can be found at 48˚29'16.7"N; 114˚19'09.1W.

Ned Mayo, 18 Sep 09