The Goldfield news. [volume] (Goldfield, Nev.) 1904-1911, 1905-04-07
A MINING EXCITEMENT
THIRTY YEARS AGO
By DR.. A. HAUsMANN.

hand. But before the hand was played
a man came in through the rear door,
shot "Wild Bill' in the head, ran out,
mounted a horse and rode away. The
assassin was later caught in Yankton,
tried and hung because he could not
prove any other motive for his deed
than a desire for notoriety.
On the plains we met another we'll
known character, Calamity Jane"
(she died not long ago. in the dress of
the cowboy whom, it was said, she
equalled in all the accomplishments of
his craft.
1t seems that she and "Wild Bilr'
were better than their reputation. They
were not criminals, they were brave and
had shown a generous disposition on
several occasions when they assisted
people in distress at a risk of their lives.
We joined a large party and engaged
a number of bull teams to carry our
baggage while we humbly walked and
acted as escort. Considering hat the
distance to the hills was over 200 miles,
it is not surprising it that took us over a
month to get there. On the second day
out from Cheyenne we were caught in a
severe snow storm on Horse creek and
had to camp for nearly a week, the
nights being bitter cold.
At Fort Laramie we heard that the
Indians were on the war path, a coach
had been attacked the day before and a
man fatally shot. Forty miles beyond,
at Rawhide Buttes we saw evidences
confirming this report, we met a party
that had Deer attacked on Indian creek,
one of them being killed and one wound
ed, whom they were bringing back to the
fort. This was too much for the nerves
of some of our party who became dis
heartened, packed up their blankets
and went back. Nothing of account
happened during the rest of the journey;
we were not molested by the Indians,
all the depredations being committed by
small bands who did not dare to attack
us, and besides We did not neglect the
necessary precautions. All along the
road, but especially on Indian creek, we
passed little mounds, the shallw graves
of unfortunate victims, and in Req
Canon, a much dreaded pass at the en-
trance to the hills and a favorite strong
hold of the redskins, we found the rem
,,rx, IS -, o,,ttf tI,,t ho1 hoon otfon1yaI
two days before and all the members,
four in number, massacred.
At Custer City our contract with the
teamster ended and we remained there
for a while. The little town was beau
tifully located on the banks of a creek
in a smiling valley amongst pine clad
hills, but as a mining camp it did not
come up to expectations and most of the
prospectors had left for the new diggins
at Deadwood. At that time the road to
Fort Laramie had become very danger
Gus, the Sioux under Red Cloud had
left the reservation and the plains were
swarming with Indians, all bound for
tllC Dig IlOIh CooiCN' >hAeSN
States government assumed a neutral
position, it had forbidden the whites to
enter the Black Hills reservation and
had ever made an attempt in the fall of
1875 to check the immigration, but fail
ing in this and recognizing the impossi-
bility of keeping out the miners in the
spring OF 1876, it "stood pat" allowing
the c%ontending parties to settle the ques-
ton among themselves. Provisions
were getting scarce when the informa-
ton was received that a large wagon
train was held between the hills and
Fort Laramie. The citizens called for
volunteers to go and release the train
and having nothing better to do, We Of
fered our services. Major W., formerly
OF the United States army, was appoint
ed commander-in-chief and mustered in
the troop, which consisted of % pri-
Yates, all we'll armed, with plenty OF am
munition. We started out with two
| teams and made our first camp IN Pleas
ant Valley, about II miles from town.
On our way to Custer we had passed
a log cabin of which We only found the
charred remains, the Indians, in the
meantime, having paid it a visit. Dur
ing the night a man on horseback passed
our camp and was challenged by the
sentry, he was glad to meet us and said
he was one of six who had been attacked
by the Indians the previous day, one OF
them being killed instantly and another
severely wounded. They found shelter
in a little gully and kept off the Indians
until night-fall, when they retired. I'm
der the shelter of darkness they carried
the wounded man, who was suffering
fearfully from thirst, to a spring about
five miles distant and there his three
companions remained with him, while
he took the only remaining horse to go
Custer for assistance. He begged us to
start at once, so hat We might arrive