Sitting at about 7,000 feet on Cable Mountain, overlooking the snow-capped peaks of Montana’s Continental Divide, are the few remains of the once-popular mining camp of Southern Cross.

The area began when gold was first discovered in 1866, but it took several years to work the claim; that changed in the early 1870s, when the Southern Cross Mine began development.

The camp that grew around it took the name of the largest lode, but other claims, including the Oro Fino, Orphan Boy, and the Holdfast-Short Shift-Golden Wedge Mines, were also worked. The first ores were hauled by wagon to Anaconda for smelting, but in 1907 the camp built a new modern mill.

When the Southern Cross Mine was sold to the Anaconda Copper Mining Company in 1910, the company undertook extensive development, including building a spur railroad line from Brown’s Siding to the mine.

Although most hard rock mining occurred from the 1870s through 1910, it continued periodically for almost 80 years. The Anaconda Copper Mining Company stopped operating the Southern Cross Mine in 1919. In its heyday, the mining camp boasted about 500 people and numerous buildings, including boarding houses, stores, saunas, a dance hall, a post office, and a school. The district produced over five million dollars in gold, silver, and copper.

Though several mining buildings and a few old cabins remain, during our visit in 2008, what’s left of the old townsite was buzzing with bulldozers and other heavy equipment as the site was redeveloped.

Southern Cross is off Montana Highway 1 (Pintler Scenic Route) at the turnoff to the Discovery Basin Ski Area in Georgetown. The road continues about one mile beyond Georgetown to a three-way split. The middle road (Southern Cross Road) continues to the old townsite of Southern Cross.

 

©Kathy Alexander/Legends of America, updated October 2026.

Also See:

Montana Ghost Towns

Ghost Towns Across America

Mining Methods and Claims

Mining on the American Frontier

See Sources.