Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1903-11-26
An 0lG TIMERS GAS STORY
Miller Man Tells of Early Discovery of
Coal and Gas West of the
Mrsouri River

Miller sun: The recent manifesta-
lstons OF gas about midway between
,l'ierre and Rapid City, probably 20
miles north of the old trail, makes
rather plain an incident that occurred
TO the editor Of the sun as in company
with a. ranchman from near Fort
Meade he travelling .lesurely across
the then Sioux reservation some fifteen
years age. Camping on thick.y
wooded creek, by a sparkling spring,
with antelope and other game quite
plentiful, the spot offered inducements
tor protracted stay. There seemed,
however to be peculiar odor and blub
bering in the water that could not be
accounted for. Tired with the DAYS
journey the, two travellers were soon !
lying on the ground 10y the mysterious
spring in sound sleep. They We're sud
denly awakened by the horses sta,lger-
ing over them, the dogs crying piteously
and vomiting as though deathly sick
The bewidering turn of affairs
brought the two drowsy men to their
senses enough to realize that they too,
were becoming deathly sick, and with
the dogs and horses they crawlcd away |
from the blubbering spring. 1t then
daWned upon the unsuspecting pros
pectors that they had pitched their bed
over vein OF escaping gas. Closer
Investigation in the morning showed
that the water was covered with a scum
of oil. This cleared up the mysterious
| incident of the night and the journey
westward was resurusd, the disgusted
travellers not realizing that they had
| unwittingly made ali important discov-
cry, as gas at that time In any great
quantities was not supposed to be a
product of South Dakota, and little was
said about it at the time. In this con-
nection brief description of the coun-
! try fromP;erre to Rapid City byway of
Fort Meade as seen at that time, will
now be of interest, coming from dis !
Interested source, as that great section
is being discussed and cussed after the
capital idea Of the discusser. There
were miles and miles of level prairie in
a body, covered with heavy grass
through which angied deep creeks,
along which were belts of timber, with
an occasional stretch of rolling land, !
some stone OH a struggling knoll and I
creeks of deep banks, filled with clear I,
water, resembling to the eye the portion
CT the state between the jim and Mis-.
souri, rivers on the east side. This des-
cription would apply to the country the
first hundred miles west of Pierre. Af-
ter that the tendency Of the land was
more rolling, the water in the creeks
actually ran with more timber along
their banks. Along the creeks west of
the Cheyenne were good we'll titled
farms with large barns and houses, that
/ country then being open to settlement. |
Fuel was not the burning question Of
that section that it is east of the river,
as each homsteaders had his own wood
lpile, while little farther on was plenty
of surface coal. The railroad at that
time was surveying up from Nebraska /,
The pioneers along Shs creeks ware
hoping that it would not come their
way. They were monarchs of king
kOm with few to modest their contented
lives and they cared little for new set. |
tiers or development of the country.