The Meridian times. (Meridian, Idaho) 1909-1938, 1912-09-06

United States, vast sum that
iii awaits some ones finding, is one
concerning which have Eought
the exact truth for the several years
that / have followed this fad of col,
Letting treasure-trove data The pub.
iication of the story or stories about 1t
may bring to light the men who can
say definitely what Is what. However
any man who cares to set out after 1t
In busfnesslike manner may turn
himself into a multi-millionaire be-
tween Christmas and Fourth of July.
This much is certain: somewhere
on the upper reaches Of the Missouri
river lie four large barges, lost in
1856, laoded to their utmost capacity
with gold estimated in amount from
$IOOO,00o to.s25, 600, 900.
Just at the close of the civil war
some rumors Of the finding of gold in
the Black Hills of Dakota and Mon
Jana drifted into the towns on the
border OF civilization In the northwest.
IL seems odd to think that fifty years
ago that region was a frontier, but
there are hundreds of old Indians now
living on the reservations who then
We're fighting braves and fifty years
ago they had never seen a white
mans face.
In the spring of 1866 some old pros
pectors in the back drift from Califor-
MIA found gold in one of the tributaries
OF the Missouri, said now to be the
north fork of the Cheyenne. Why it is
no more certain will appear Others
OF thier ilk "smelled" the discovery
and band Of no more than forty
drew into the region, making a won
derful strike, the richest that has ever
been made on America soil according
to all accounts. The strike was made
In what is now called Deadmen's
Gulch. named to suit the story, but
called in the old records Federation,
Desperation and Starvation Clutches.
The gold was alluvial, washed down
from the northern lodges, now being
worked by the rich Caledonia Qaurtz
Mine Company near Deadwood The
gravel banks and fats were tnexpres-
sibly rich with it and all summer the
as much as they could before the win
ter should descend upon them, shut
off their fish, game and vegetable food
supply and drive them to civilization.
where the knowledge of the vast
wealth of the Black Hills and the re-
mainder of the auriferous region would
become public property.
When the ground froze and they
could work no longer they cut timber
and made four large barges of shallow
draft and on them laoded the gold in
provision boxes, and mule and deer
skins made into rawhide sacks. Even
then they were compelled to leave
some of it behind because the barges
would not carry it.
The hostile Indians who had not
dared attack so large a party in the
mining camp with its excellent de-
lenses and those who were apparently
on friendly terms with the miners now
took hand in the game. After the
hardy forty had reached the Missouri
and had negotiated a portion of its
distance they tied up one night. not
long before Christmas. They were at
tackled by a large band of Indians,
who mastered every living soul, sank
the barges and took all their belong
ings except the gold. of which they did
not know the value. Some accounts
hold the Blackfeet responsible, others
the Ogalala.
How the news ever got to the world |
I cannot say, save as the Indians told
of it and friends of the dead men
traced them into the country from
which they never came out. Gradual |
~ the story took form and it set the |
prospectors wild They ranged the !
region from the Bad Lands to the Big |
Horn river for twenty-seven years and !
then came the great discovery in the |
Black Hills.
The gold left behind at the point of /
was finally found. Old |
workings which showed the vast |
quantities taken out by the forty pros |
pectors were discovered and for few
years a torrent OF alluvial gold poured
out of the Black Hills. Then the whole
thing settled down to the staid and
regular quartz proposition.
The Kansas City Star some years
ago printed a circumstantial story
stating that young Indian student at
Haskell had told a professor that his
father was one of the braves in the |
knew where the barges we're
sunk and was still living on the reser-
vation. 1t may be that the river has
it's course and left the barges
under thin layer of gravel, easily ac-
1essible on dry land. The way to find
ihe treasure is to trace down the sto-
ries, locate some of the old Indians
and induce them to locate the spot
and point it out from memory. 1t
should not be difficult.
In 1853 there was lost in the Bay of
Islands, at the mouth of the st. Law
renee river, the good ship Primrose,
With store of gold and silver and