Distinctly Montana Magazine

D I S T I N C T L Y M O N T A N A M A G A Z I N E • F A L L 2 0 2 1 80 THE STEADY POUNDING OF GRANITE ORE inside the Portland jaw crusher drowns out the voices of the workmen below funneling pul- verized ore pulp into metal flotation tanks. Both miner and chemist, the millman's flotation target is strategic war supply: zinc, lead and copper. The pungent odors of gasoline exhaust, oil, chemicals, ore dust, sweat and cigarettes permeate the rough-lumber mill build- ing. Outside in the late afternoon sun, the aroma of venison pie and boiled coffee wafts up from the sunbaked log cabin overlooking a willowy river bottom piled high with gritty mill tailings. Such was daily life during wartime at the Charter Oak Mine, 1943. Modern warfare depends as much on industrial strength as military might. The crucial role of the Anaconda Copper Mining Company and other big mining enterprises in World War II materials production is widely appreciated. Less so is the contribution of Mon- tana's many small-scale mine operations. The Charter Oak Mine in southwestern Montana is one such example, being a uniquely pre- served, family-operated, 1940s-vintage wartime "strategic materials" mine now interpreted for the public on National Forest land. Charter Oak is perched on a mountain slope above the scenic Little Blackfoot River some 28 miles southwest of Helena. First spotted by a fly fisherman, a whitish slurry of toxic mill tailings drifting down- river led to aggressive mine cleanup at Charter Oak by the State of Montana and U.S. Forest Service in the 1990s. Listed in the National Register of Historic Places, Charter Oak is now a popular historical site offering a glimpse into the lives and fortunes of small Montana mine operators during the first half of the tumultuous 20th century. Originally from Bangor, Maine, Fred Hopkins located the Charter Oak quartz lode claim in March of 1912. Operating with slim capital and a minimal workforce, he produced enough low-grade silver-lead ore to sustain his operation until the 1930s stock market crash. Older brother Ralph and his sons, John and Weston, arrived on the scene, forming Hopkins & Sons Mining Company in 1942. Miners being as important as soldiers, John received an "in war production" defer- ment from the local draft board while Weston became a draftsman with Boeing Aircraft in Seattle. The Hopkins assembled a gasoline-powered, 50-ton flotation mill to produce base metals crucial to the war effort. Their newly-formed mining company applied to the War Production Board for a prefer- ence rating to secure the necessary mining supplies and material in America's wartime-rationing economy. Industrious and educated people, the Hopkins family's picturesque log cabin, lined inside with bookshelves, still stands below the mine. Today, Charter Oak visitors can wander through the remains of a once-operational lode or underground mine and ore milling circuit. The partly-reconstructed lower tunnel opening or adit leads to a maze of narrow tunnels deep inside the mountain towering above the mine-mill complex (all underground entrances are now collapsed or barred from entry). Here the Hopkinses used pneumatic drills and dynamite to blast out Boulder Batholith granite in more spacious stopes, hauling and tossing the mineral-barren waste or "country" rock downhill directly below the tunnel entrances. Crews then winched the mineralized ore in metal carts on rails to a plank timber Life During Wartime Charter Oak Mine at the words and photos by CARL DAVIS

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