The Queen of the Judith Basin

The old mining camp of Maiden, now a ghost town, is located about 10 miles east of here. She roared into existence in April 1880 when “Skookum Joe” Anderson, Frank McPartland, and Dave Jones discovered placer gold in the heart of the Judith Mountains. Jennie Connely named the camp after her daughter, called “Little Maiden” by the bullwhackers who brought them to the new mining camp. At its height in 1884, over 1,500 people called Maiden home. The mining camp’s narrow main street snaked through the gulch, leaving barely enough room on both sides for businesses and homes. In 1882, the camp boasted of several general merchandise stores, a meat market, hotel, restaurant, a clothing store, restaurant, and eight saloons. Maiden boomed for five short years and then began a long slow decline that ended when fire leveled the camp in 1905. “Skookum Joe” and Dave Jones located the first hard rock mine, the War Eagle, high in the mountains above Maiden in 1881. Others soon followed, including the Spotted Horse, The Maginnis, and The Collar. Miners considered the ore “high grade” and found it in pockets throughout the mountain range. The Maiden area mines produced over $5 million in gold and silver before mining ended there in the early twentieth century.