I don't know if the following would be of any help to you....and the file is way to big to post here...so I will just type in the beginning of the article. This is a diary of this man's journey.
Billings Gazette
Billings, Montana
30 June 1927
"Prospectors were familiar figures about Billings in the early days, outfitting for the Clark's Fork and Stillwater or the Fort Maginnis mines or bargaining with local bankers/or merchants to grub-stake them. Although neither district ever attained the importance of the mines in the western part of the state or the Black Hills, good strikes were occasionally made, especially in the Fort Maginnis district where several mines made their owners small fortunes.
No man, perhaps, did more to lay bare the mineral resources of the Beartooth and Absaroka Mountains as well as the isolated ranges of central Montana than Joseph Richard Anderson, known as 'Skookum Joe,' an Indian designation he had earned as a miner in Oregon, meaning 'Good Joe.'
'Snookum Joe' came to Montana some time in the sixties (1860's) and from notations marked in his diaries, he prospected in the Absarokas at least as early as 1870, a year before prospectors were chased from their Cooke City discoveries by the Indians.
He was one of the early prospectors in the Fort Maginnis district about Maiden where he located a number of paying mines among them the famous Spotted Horse which he sold to Perry O. McAdow, the founder of Coulson and early-day capitalist of Billings for $5,500. McAdow and associates afterwards realized $300,000 for it.
Anderson and Jack Nye were the discoverers of the copper mines on the Stillwater which laid the foundations for the Nye City boom in the late eighties (1880's). He also helped open up the Castle Mines and those about Nelhart.
Most of his later days were spent in the Stillwater section where in his prospecting tours, he acquired a more thorough knowledge of its resources than any man of his generation had. He located from claims on the west Stillwater, still regarded of great potential value although still undeveloped because of difficulty of access. In 1891 (hard to read date, but looks like 1891), he took out some mineral claims on oil springs on Butcher Creek and attempted to develop them. He also located many coal mines in Montana.
Anderson had the confidence of the BIllings banking fraternity and Anderson & Co., included G.A. Griggs, Bailey & Billings, and I.D. O'Donnell.
A series of diaries and account books kept by Anderson from the years 1886 to 1885, inclusive, are now among the source material of the Billings Memorial Library and give an interesting record of the life of the prospector and also shed considerable light on the mining history of central and southern Montana.
'Skookum Joe' was a pecullar man, both in appearance and mental characteristics, according to I.D. O'Donnell. He was a reserved man who avoided trouble but was wise in his business and knew exactly what was going on. Claim jumpers and sharpers seldom got ahead of him. He was usually gone all summer on his prospecting expeditions and spent the winters developing and improving his mines.
He always wore a corduroy suit. His outfit was unusually complete and he usually carried instruments that the haphazard prospector did without. He had good pack animals and looked after them well. While the big rewards of his efforts went to other men, his accounts show the he frequently received sums running thousand dollars on his claims besides what he made at gold mining.
Prospecting Near Maiden: The first entry in the diary is September 18, 1886. The first pages are blurred and are chiefly about prospecting operations at his mining locations near Maiden. Occasional entries follow:
September 26: Rock 30 hoppers and clean up. Got the New York Sun of Sept. 22 and Chicago News, date Sept 23. I got a note from Jack Nye, Stillwater.
October 10: Snowy all day, go up town and see Billy Buccanon, get a bed-tick filled by Conley, charge 50 centsw. Get sheet iron from rocker, got enough for two, charge $1. Seen George Herendeen.
October 20: Set up the rocker. Make a platform to shovel the slump from. Get a very bad fever and headache. Take some spruce tea and pills.
October 21: Better, but don't work forenoon. Afternoon rock all the dirt I had in the drain. Made 95 hoppers. Got of Belanger, bacon, 8 pounds; butter, 3 pounds; potatoes, 13 pounds.
October 26: Cut wood and fix saw. Old Britt came up on a visit. More sorehead Democrats in Maiden than hell.
Nov. 2, 1886: Election day. Very quiet. Borrow $10 of George Mason. Send my statement of intentions to G.D. Morz, Minneapolis, so that we can patent the Stillwater Mines.
December 8: Stake a silver lead named Grover on the ridge south of the Coment and Keystone. Find some good ore. It is float, I found in 1880.
December 9: Take down some gold ore and got assay of 20.80.
And so the diary goes on....I saved this file...but it's a PDF file...if you wish to see it all...I don't pan for gold (even though I think it would be so cool to do so)...so I have no idea on what is written in 'Skookum Joe's' diary is of any use.....
If you want the entire newspaper page, just PM me ... I will have to send it to you via email...it is interesting to read.
If I run across anything else that would relate to BIG ROCK...I'll be sure to post...
Happy Prospecting and Detecting,
Annmarie
. 
