Omaha daily bee., 1897-12-23
FROM THE FARTHER. WEST

you. married to women whoee brothers and
sisters and therefore your relatives. too, you
would doom to certain destruction should
you exploit this ground Nor can 7 SOC that
by digging this gold you could possibly bene,
At yourselves. AS you have lived before, In
the midst Of peace ard plenty. so you can
continue to live. You may etill trap the
beaver, the otter and the wolf, and kill the
game for the simple want of yourselves and
your families. But the church forbids you to
mine this gold. II forbids you ever mention
Ing to any one the discovery we have made
this day. Some time perhape, should tho
church be sorely pres7sd. she may take the
gold here found TO preserve herself from the
assaults OF the wicked, but should that day
never come, then let us bury deep in our
bosoms the location of this place"
SWORN TO IGNORE THEIR FIND.
Pack from the creek where they were
camped. some 200 PAGES. was little bare
butte, or hill. and on top Of 1t the father had
them erect huge cross, which they fashioned
with their axes from tree growing by the
bank of the stream, and when they had lC-
ished II and firmly planted II in the ground
the father made them all swear that never,
SO long as they lived. would they divulge
the location OF or themselves dig the placer
found that day. And these poor, ignorant
voyagers, to whom the chuTchs command
was law, kept the secret we'll for these
them, who was married to a Blackfoot
woman. often used to tell that the church
kept them poor, and he would tell her about
finding the gold and what the father said;
how they erected the cross. and his making
them swear by 1t that they would never
dig 1t or tell where It was. When this man
fell sick and died his wife married an Amer-
can. an employe of the Amerioau Fur COM
pany. and she repeated to him what her
| former husband had told her about the mine.
4 -. III l1Aly TO- 4,
ground, but they never found it. Numbers
! OF parties have searched for 1t, but always
| in vain.
Then there is the lost placer of the Mis-
| souri, In 1865 two men named Keise and
Lepley owned a little bunch of cattle and
also placer claim on Silver creek, not flr
| from Helena. The cattle were increasing
and the placer paying fairly we'll, but
not enough to satisfy Keise. SO one day he
! started off with saddle ond Pack outfit tC
hunt richer ground, leaving his partner tc
| look after the cattle and the mine Nothing
was heard OF Keise until the following spring
when ne arrived at Fort Benton on the first
steamboat, having bearded 1t at Fort Cope
land, which was situated in the second bend
of the Missouri above the mouth of Mll
river. 1t was said afterward that he visitet
Fort Copeland several times during the
winter, going there for supolies, and tina
on one of these visits he pointed toward
the east, but little south of the river val
ley, and exclaimed mysteriously:
There is my country
STUCK TO HIS CATTLE.
When Keise arrived at Fort Benton he
brought with him $1,000 in gold dust, ant
meeting there the Keefe brothers. old friend:
of his, he told them that he had found some
very rich ground down the river, and urged
them to join him in working it. While they
set about building large fatboat. he wen
up to Silver creek after his partner. Arriv
ing there he told Lepley that he had discov
cred the richest placer down the river tina
he had ever seen.
Sell all the cattle and the placer, John.
he said, "for whatever you can get and COM
with me- If you can't sell them, give then
away, but by all means come with me. w
can make more out of that ground in a weel
than we can out of this In year.
But John Lepley was cautious, to whicl
. trait he owes the safety of his scalp and tn
title of cattle king, for he is now one of tn
largest cattle owners of Montana. Instead o
, agreeing to accompany his partner, he trle
, to keep Kese from going back. representa-
the extreme danger there was OF being kille
by the Indians, and, indeed, at that time an
for years afterward the Missouri valley. fror
, Fort Benton to Omaha, was alive with hos
. tiles. But Keise would not listen, so Leple
went with him as far as Fort Benton, an
saw the party off. They had large, saf
: fiatboat we'll loaded with provisions, mnin
= tools and lumber for sluice boxes, and the
! were. of course. we'll armed.
One morning early in May they swung OF
into the stream and John Lepley stood on tn
bank and watched them glide swiftly dow
d around the bend and out OF sight and h
, thought then that he would never see Keis
S agsin. And he didn't. The men have neve
I been seen since. Their boat was never foun(
g nor anything else, which could be identfe
6 as theirs Their fate is but another one
s the mysteries that weird and treacheror
9 river, those tangled growths OF cottonwoo
S and willow, which line its shores, will kee
e to themselves.
n In later times Mr.. Lepley spent six veal
!, hunting for this placer, and more recent
q there have been one or two parties in Ii
h field every season in search of it, thus fl
without success. 1t may never be foun
e The country is Of vast extent, the place
q probably a glacial deposit and Of limite
e area. But somewhere along those 600 mill
> OF winding stream. bad land. coulee az
h bluff, lies patch Of placer ground which Il
n wealthiest Klondiker would not despise