Omaha daily bee., 1903-04-20
MINING IN The BLACK HILLS
Search for Al GraJ's Lost Bonanza viii Be
Taken Up Again.
STORY OF THE EARLY DAYS is REToLD
Many Futile Attempts Have Been
Made to Locate the Supposed
Rich Vein Described by
the

the Pioneer.
CUSTER CITY, S. D.. April 1s.-(spe-
cial. )-With the opening Of spring OF each
year since 1876 Il has. been customary for
certain parties living in the Vicinity OF
Custer City to go In search Of the famous
lost bonanza discovered in that year by
AL Gay. Although the search has been
continued through these years, no one has
yet succeeded in finding the rich ledge
from which Gay broke the quartz which
he brought into the Gordon stockade In
1875. Many miners have believed that they
have found the vein during their prospect
ing throughout the southern Hills, but the
quartz and the location Of these various
finds have never Tailed with the character
Of the rock, nor has the location conceded
with the situation OF the vein as described
by Gay to his intimates. Sam S~hankland
Of Custer City and James Demereau Of the
same city are the only ones now in the
Hills who spent the winter Of 1876 with
Gay In the Gordon stockade, which was
located a short distance below the present
townsite Of Custer City. These gentlemen
tell stories which agree in all essential
particulars.
Tells the story of Gay.
Mr.. %Shankland, who was very friendly
with Gay during that winter, says that it
was the custom OF Gay, who was a cele-
brated hunter, to leave the stockade in
the morning and return at night, always
coming back with game. Gay, although an
American born, had lived for so many years
with the Indians that his character was
more like that of a redman than a white,
and he always made these excursions into
the mountains by himself, never allowing
another to him. He always
went on horseback, and as he was more Of
a hunter than a prospector, never carried
with him pick or shovel and what little
digging he did in those days was done with
a butcher knife. One evening he returned
to the camp at the stockade with some
rock tied up in his handkerchief. Mr..
Shankland says that he saw this rock
crushed up and PANIED out, the free gold
coming out Of the quartz in grains as large
as wheat; 1t was very rich, and from a
piece Of quartz as large as a walnut as
high as a couple of dollars was taken. Gay
made several Of these solitary excursions
after this and always returned from them
with samples Of the same kind OF quartz,
and Just ae rich as the first brought into
camp. Mr.. Shankland describes the quartz
specimens as pure quartz, hattened on the
sides, as though the vein from which 1t
had been taken was we'll cut up by seams,
which had filled with oxide Of iron, giving
the quartz a reddish appearance.
Was One of the SIX.
In August. 1876, all Of the miners and
other white men were ordered out Of the
Hills, as the country belonged to the In
dians, who valued 1t highly as a hunting
ground. This order of removal was en-
forced by General Crook and the troops un-
der his command, and the prospectors who
had focked into the Hills were compelled
TO pack up and leave, Just as they had be-
gun to explore the country and before any
finds Of great Importance had been made.
There was one exception to this order,
General Crook allowing six men TO remain
In the Hills and guard the property, which
could not be carried nut with the whites
when they left in charge of the soldiers.
shankland and Gay we're Of the six white
men left in the stockade. and It was not
until after the soldiers had left and the
500 white prospectors with them that Gay
began bringing into the stockade his rich
specimens Of quartz.
In 1875 the people again began to flock
into the Hills. coming in such large num-
beers that 1t was impossible to stop them
with the small force of soldiers in the coup-
try, and shortly after the opening of the
year Custer City, which had been laid out
by the earlier prOspectors and fortune
hunters In 1875, was again a busy, hustling
place Of 5000 or 10000 people. In April,
1876, the reports from Deadwood gulch in
the northern Hills of the rich strikes of
placer gold made on the stream of that
name, caused a stampede thither, and AL
Gay went with the crowd, he having re-
turned to Custer City shortly before the
stampede began from the Red Cloud agency,
where he had been visiting with his In
dian friends. Before going to the North
ern Hills Gay put in about two weeks hunt
ing for the ledge, but he never was able to
again locate 1t. He located a placer claim
on Deadwood creek and. cleaning up about
$1,000, left for the east and civilization,
Search for the Rich.Vein.
He spent a few months in the east and
again returned TO the Hills in 1876, locat-
ing in Custer City. from which point he
made numerous trips into the mountains in
search Of the vein from which he had taken
the specimens. but was again unsuccessful
He returned to the Hills in 1878, and again
in 1880, after his unsuccessful search In
1875, and spent several months on both oc-
casions in a vain search for the lost trea.
sure. After his failure in 1880 Gay went
/ 10 mOnNhud III iOoN d lAS W Dtlhb DuI ntN
up in his cabin. Since then every spring
parties have spent months going over the
ground supposed to have been traversed BY
Gay in his solitary pllgrimages In 1875. bu'
none Of them have ever succeeded in un
earthing the reasure-trove from which
Gays fabulously rich ore was taken, al.
though many have believed that they haC
It for q time. The milne Is in the southern
Hills, in the vicinity Of Custer
City. and will probably be uncovered som'
day. or run upon accidentally. for Gay hal
described II as a ledge OF rock sticking ou
OF the ground for some distance, and SAFE
that II could be traced on the surface fol
several hundred feet.
Ready TO begin Work.
N. o. Ford will begin work on the Grizzly
Bear mine next week. All OF his e~quipmen
is on the ground and he is only waiting FOL
the frost to get out OF the ground before be