THE DR. PETER S. MUSSIGBROD, Bio, Granite Co., MT Indexed and contributed for use in USGenWeb Project by: Wendy Garner USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. Files may be printed or copied for personal use only. © 1998 by Wendy Garner. This file may be freely copied for non- profit purposes. All other rights reserved. THE DR. PETER S. MUSSIGBROD Born: he was born in 1856 Place: Germany Died: early 1900's. Place: Married: Occupation: Physician, teacher, miner and mill owner/operator, metallurgist at various smelters. Education: Dr. Peter S. Mussigbrod received his phD from the University of Berlin and after teaching for a number of years he decided to continue his education. He spent a year in specialized study at the German Mining Academy. After that he served a metallurgist at the Mansfield copper works in Eisleben and at the smelters at Freiberg, in Saxony, where much of the complex silver ore of Montana's early Territorial days were shipped. Coming to Montana in 1892 he worked as an assayer at Burke, Idaho. Married: Children: He emigrated to the United States from this native Germany in 1892. He spoke with an heavy German accent. His father, Dr. Charles F. Mussigbrod lived in Montana, having migrated with the rest of his family in 1850. Charles F. Mussigbrod established the insane asylum at Warm Springs. His son Eric was the manager of the asylum. When Eric and his father had both died in 1890, Peter Mussigbrod took over the asylum. He found he wasn't interested in therapy and in 1898 he left for Garnet, Montana. Peter was a resourceful and persistent man. In the autumn of 1897 with three workman he established the Lead King and Red Cloud Mines. He added steadily to numbers of workers as he developed ore along tunnels run both directions into the walls of the First Chance Gulch. Things looked so good he even started building a mill. After the failure at the Mammoth gold mills came into dispute their became a strong belief that they couldn't be made to got work on the local red ore. Mussigbrod, instead being hailed for his faith in the locality, became the object of scorn-even reproof. How much of his was because of his german accent, his scholarly aloofness, and his Wilhelm II imperial moustache is a question. People that went down the hill came back shaking their heads and laughing. He cobbled together 10 stamps, a couple of amalgamation plates and a steam plant, mostly second-hand. With the failure of expensive equipment at Coloma no one expected it to work. That fall and winter it's starting and stopping and repeated failures were proof that the critics had been right. Garnet waited for the "Kraut Doctor" to be taught a lesson. With remarks that he should go back to the Warm Springs asylum and that "they had let the wrong man out" Peter Mussigbrod then took over the Mitchell Mill following Mitchell's death. It became known as the Mussigrod Mill. Peter Mussigbrod, with his mill was able to extract more of the valuables out of the ore than the other mill operators in the area. Cobbled together or not, the Doctor finally got his mill to working the way he wanted it, and it saved 75% of the values in his lower grade ores. Carefully holding the mill tailings for future treatment, he added Wilfley tables which raised his recoveries to a high of 90%. Mine owners began giving their ore to him to process. Dr. Mussigbrod then moved his residence to Granite County and later ran for the legislature as a "Gold Republican", receiving few votes but receiving winning widespread admiration for his oratorical gifts. The state of Montana bought Peter Mussigbrods's share in the Warm Springs Insane Asylum in 1912. Peter Mussigbrod died in the early 1900's. Bibliography: Garnet Mining News, 1898. Article, December 8, Volume 1, No. 10, page 1. Cushman, Dan, 1964. Article, "Montana's Last Booming Gold Camp", Montana the Magazine of Western History, Pages 38-54. Hammond, Helen 1983. Garnet-Montana's Last Gold Camp, Acme Press, Missoula, Montana.