John Marvin Pooley

John Mervin Pooley and W. R. Young staked a hardrock gold claim on Montana Mountain in 1899. The Venus group was staked by J. M. Pooley, Arthur Borden Palmer, and Joseph Moore Stewart in 1901. Venus #2 was staked in 1902. Pooley and Stewart spent two winters in a cabin (“Pooley Cabin”) on this property and it had an air of abandonment by 1906. J. M. Stewart and J. M. Pooley applied for land to build the Venus Mill in 1903. Together with A. B. Palmer they applied to divert water from Pooley Creek to their mining claims to use for milling and concentrating. The water wheel that was supposed to run on Pooley Creek failed when the water level dropped. John Pooley staked the Thistle property on Montana Mountain in 1905 and soon thereafter transferred the property to Colonel Conrad's British Yukon Gold Co. The Thistle is by a small alpine lake at the head of a stream feeding into Pooley Creek. The Venus properties were also transferred to Conrad Mines in 1905. Much of the early work on Montana Mountain was hand digging.¹⁾