Bill Fairweather
d. 1875
Bill Fairweather was a prospector who co-discovered the fabulously rich Alder Gulch placers in Montana on May 26, 1863, giving rise to Virginia City. Famous for his reckless generosity — he reportedly scattered gold dust in the streets — he died broke in 1875.
Biography
William "Bill" Fairweather was the flamboyant leader of the prospecting party that discovered Alder Gulch, the richest placer gold field in Montana history. In the spring of 1863 Fairweather, Henry Edgar, Barney Hughes, Thomas Cover, Henry Rodgers, and Bill Sweeney set out for the Yellowstone country, only to be turned back by a band of Crow. On the retreat toward Bannack the party camped on a small stream in the Ruby River valley, and there on May 26, 1863, Fairweather and Edgar panned the first gold from what became Alder Gulch.
The discovery set off one of the great stampedes of the mining West. Within weeks the gulch was staked for miles, and within three months more than 10,000 people had crowded in; Virginia City, the camp at the heart of the diggings, became the second capital of Montana Territory. The discoverers organized the Fairweather Mining District, named in Bill's honor, and were awarded double claims by miners' law.
Fairweather proved better at finding gold than keeping it. Open-handed and hard-drinking, he is remembered in Montana lore for riding through Virginia City scattering gold dust for children to pick up. His fortune ran through his fingers, and he died in 1875, still in his thirties, and was buried at Virginia City overlooking the gulch he had made famous.