Five miles northwest of Gardiner, in the Bear Gulch drainage of the Gallatin Range, the gold camp of Jardine occupied a position that was close enough to the Yellowstone gateway to benefit from the infrastructure of the tourist economy but remote enough to maintain the character of a working mining camp. The town's name came from A.C. Jardine, a businessman involved in the mining industry who played a role in the camp's early development, and the name stuck through the various changes of ownership and operation that characterized the mine's long history.

Gold was first discovered in Bear Gulch in 1866, when Joe Brown found a gold-quartz vein in the drainage above what would become Gardiner. The discovery was real, but the conditions for development were not yet favorable. The land was part of the Crow Indian Reservation, and the federal government's enforcement of the reservation boundaries was inconsistent enough to allow some prospecting but not the sustained development that a serious mining operation required. The men who found gold in Bear Gulch in the 1860s and 1870s were working in a legal gray zone that made investment difficult and the security of their claims uncertain.

The cession of the Crow lands in 1882 opened the Jardine district to legitimate development, and the camp that grew up around the Bear Gulch mines in the 1880s was a substantial one. Several mills were constructed in the district, and the production of gold from the quartz veins was sufficient to sustain a population of miners and their families through the late nineteenth century. The camp had the usual complement of commercial establishments, and its proximity to Gardiner meant that it was connected to the supply networks and social life of the gateway community.

The Jardine Mine, the district's principal producer, operated through various periods of activity and inactivity from the 1880s through the twentieth century. The mine's gold production was consistent enough to attract repeated investment, and the property changed hands several times as different owners attempted to develop it on a larger scale. The Northern Pacific Railroad's branch line to Gardiner, completed in 1883, improved the economics of the district by reducing the cost of shipping ore and supplies, and the camp's population grew in the years following the railroad's arrival.

The early twentieth century brought renewed interest in the Jardine district, as the development of cyanide processing technology made it economical to work ore grades that had previously been unprofitable. The Jardine Mine was among the properties that benefited from the new technology, and the camp experienced a revival in the 1910s and 1920s that brought new residents and new investment to the district. The mine's production during this period was substantial, and the camp developed a more permanent character than it had possessed during the initial rush of the 1880s.

The Great Depression brought the mine's operations to a halt, as falling gold prices and the general economic collapse made continued operation uneconomical. The camp contracted sharply during the 1930s, and many of the families who had built their lives around the mine moved away. The federal government's decision in 1934 to raise the price of gold from $16 to $32 an ounce brought some relief to the district, and the mine was reopened and operated through the late 1930s and into the 1940s.

The Second World War ended the revival, as the War Production Board's restrictions on the use of dynamite for domestic purposes made hard-rock mining impractical. The Jardine Mine closed again, and the camp entered the long period of decline that characterized most of Montana's gold mining districts in the postwar era. A small population remained in the area, sustained by the combination of the mine's intermittent activity and the proximity of Gardiner and the Yellowstone tourist economy.

The Jardine district has continued to attract attention from mining interests into the modern era, as the gold deposits in the Bear Gulch drainage are real and substantial. The proximity of the district to Yellowstone National Park has made any proposed development controversial, as the environmental concerns associated with gold mining in a sensitive watershed adjacent to the park have generated significant opposition. The tension between the district's mining history and its location in the Yellowstone ecosystem is one of the defining characteristics of Jardine's contemporary situation.

The history of Jardine is inseparable from the history of the broader Yellowstone mining district, which includes Aldridge, Cinnabar, and the various smaller camps that developed in the mountains north of the park during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The district's proximity to Yellowstone National Park gave it a distinctive character, as the miners who worked the Bear Gulch deposits were aware that they were operating on the edge of a landscape that the federal government had set aside for a different purpose. The tension between the extractive economy of the mining district and the preservation mission of the national park was present from the beginning, and it has shaped the district's history ever since.

What Remains Today

Jardine retains a small resident population and some structures from its mining era, giving it the character of a partial ghost town rather than a completely abandoned site. The Bear Gulch drainage above the townsite contains evidence of the mining operations, including the remnants of mill structures, mine workings, and the infrastructure that supported the district's various periods of activity.

The surrounding landscape is part of the Gallatin National Forest, and the area provides access to the northern Absaroka Range and the Yellowstone ecosystem. The combination of the mining history and the natural landscape makes Jardine a destination for visitors interested in both the historical and natural character of the Yellowstone country.

Visiting

Jardine is located approximately five miles northwest of Gardiner, Montana, in Park County, accessible via Bear Gulch Road from Gardiner. The road is unpaved and may be rough in wet conditions; a high-clearance vehicle is recommended for the upper portions. Gardiner is located at the northern entrance to Yellowstone National Park on US Highway 89 and has a full range of visitor services.

Livingston, the Park County seat, is approximately 53 miles north of Gardiner on US Highway 89 and Interstate 90. The Gallatin National Forest's Gardiner Ranger District can provide current road and access information for the Bear Gulch area.