Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1907-05-13
STUMBLED UPON A FORTUNE
Story Of the Surviving DiSoovsrsr sf Alder
Guloh, Montana
CHASED BY INDIANS TO FAMOUS PLACER
T-hriIIing accidents Of = Find and =
History Maker-I.ast OF the
Fioheer Band Wow Al
most Pennfleaa.

Fioneer Band Vow Al
most Penntleaa.
The discovery and DEVELOPMENT Of Alder
Eulch IN the early 'eos. the rise and fan
Of Virginia city hard By. and the opera
tons Of the vigiiantes " which order tn
umphed over outlawry. form three OF the
most fascinating chapters Of Montana his
tory. The discovery Of the famous plscers
was wholly accidental. q chance find made
By six men who had escaped from hostile
Indians. How II happened is told by Bar
ney Hughes Of Helena the last survivor
Of the party and one Of the tran blazers
Of the northwest In a recent interview he
said;
L wintered at Florence In 81 and 80,
and on July 2 started for the Big Hole
basin country. and from there followed
the Salmon river down 70 Pioneer Eulch,
below Gibbonvilie. then the Oldest diggingE
in the territory. In August reports reached
US at Pioneer gulch Of a rich strike on
the Grasshopper creek. where Bannack
now stands. and I moved over into that
locality. At Bannack met with Bill Fair
weather. Tom Cover. Henry Edgar. Bin
Sweeney and Harry Rodgers, and we six
left Bannack on January IA for Deer Lodge
TO winter there. On March ., 1861 we all
packed I'd and left Deer Lodge for the
Yellowstone river country, over about the
GaIlatin river.
surrounded by Crow Indians.
"On the morning Of May /. about
O'Clock, we suddenly found ourselves sur
rounded by lot OF Crow Indians who were
on the war path. Seeing that resistance
would be useless against large odds. we
peacefully surrendered and were kept pris-
oners three days Our ponies and most
everything we had were taken from us
by the Indians. We were compelled TO
ride old. wornout cayuses upon which it
was thought by the Indians that It would
be impossible for US TO make our escape.
We were allowed 10 stray quite a distance
from the camp sometimes. and one day
we got about a mile away. when an old
squaw suddenly appeared in the brush and
by signs informed us that thirty-three of
the redskins were to follow and Iun us,
and she gave us instructions how to get
away from them. told US to travel as far
by night as possible and to keep securely
concealed during the day We followed
her instructions and were lucky enough
10 escape We came out into what is
known as the Fifteen Mile pass in the
Ga1latin valley, and we did some prospect
! Ing up the east side Of the Gallatin. One
( day We saw three Indians near the camp,
and two Of them came into camp. The
third would not come near as.
They were Crows and in war paint
/ Could we nave gotten hold Of the third
one also we would have sent all three
/ to the happy hunting grounds. but as
/ one escaped we did not wish TO stir up the
| fire OF the Indians any more by killing two
Lee eN.l 49,
( ing the information from them that the
band Of thirty-three Indians were still after
US and that they had crossed the, river a
short distance from where we were. then
camped- Just missing us by accident. An
/ Investigation proved their story was true.
/ Then we got up and moved fast. That night
/ we slept with our ponies tied TO our arms.
/ The streams were all out of their banks
{ at this time and IL was with difficulty
4 that we forded the rivers, in crossing the
river in the Gallatin valley one OF our
party came very near getting drowned.
and his pony saved him by his allowing
the animal to go as il pleased. He was
not posted on how to swim a horse and
held up on the rein too tight.
Approach 20 Alder GuIeh.
| After reaching the divide Of the Madi-
son and Gallstin we took the old Bannack
trail for a distance and came out on the
east side Of the Madison valley about
twenty miles east Of Alder gulch. We
crossed the river and followed SquaW
gulch down 10 the divide Of Alder guIeh
and went into camp about a mile above
where Virginia city now stands That
was on May %. 1861 We struck camr
about 6 o'clock in the afternoon and
started a fire and began preparing sup
! ha Indians I he
nearly everything we had, and all that re-
manned Of our grubstake was two pound.
OF -four, about a pound Of bacon and &
, little coffee. We had only one pan left
which We used for a dough pan as well al
for panning dirt here and there
The horses were turned loose and
strayed down the guich a few hundred
yards below camp. Bill Fairweathe,
, went after them. and when he returned h.
said he would like to have the pan witt
, which TO wash a pan OF dirt near camp
had my dough pretty stin 50 I dumpes
IL on TO an old hour sack and gave BIZ
the pan. He and Sweeney went down I,
the bar together scooped up a pan OF sur
! face dirt leaves. twigs and al together
took II down 70 the stream of water neai
Z by and washed II out. This first pan o
! dirt washed in Alder gulch yielded 90 cent
e in gold.
s Next morning we went 10 work on IN
e bar and In an hour and a half had dug
s hole two and one-half feet deep and wer
o getting from 81 TO S IN gold from eac
I pan washed. AZ our grubstake was abou
gone We decided 10 prospect up and dow
= the guleh 10 see about how far the pa
g dirt extended. so We would know what v
d could come back to- In the afternoo
e Henry Edgar saw a band Of antelope u
d the hillside and he succeeded in KILN
n one This gave us enough meat for tW
more days, during which we prospects,
Alder gulch from q quarter OF a nj
above camp down 10 where Virginia CT
= now stands. Then we pulled stakes ar
: started for Bannack