New Year History
The New Year mine, located about 4 miles WSW of Maiden, was discovered in the early 1880s but little done with it until the late 1890s. A modern cyanide plant was built and later upgraded. (It operated very little and was dismantled by the 1920s.) The mine was about a mile up the mountain from the mill and the community of New Year.
Ore was first hauled down in wagons and later an aerial tram was built. A significant amount of development work was done and a little ore mined. Production amounted to only a few hundred ounces of gold.
The community of New Year didn't amount to much - no merchants or saloons that I am aware of - however, it had a small school and post office.
Interestingly, a coal seam was developed right behind the mill and used to fuel the boilers.
What the New Year mine lays fame to is a fairly significant natural cave system that the miners blasted into while driving drift. The BLM now owns the ground and there is talk of someday developing a tourist trap there.
Text and photos courtesy of Jerry Hanley
Principal Gold Districts of Montana
In Montana, 54 mining districts have each have produced more than 10,000 ounces of gold. The largest producers are Butte, Helena, Marysville, and Virginia City, each having produced more than one million ounces. Twenty seven other districts are each credited with between 100,000 and one million ounces of gold production. Read more: Principal Gold Districts of Montana.
