The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1912-08-30

Ghst have followed this fad OF col
3ectIuS tNeasure-troye data. The pub
licatiou OF the story or stories about It
may bring 10 light the men who can
say definitely what is what. However
any man Who cares to set out after it
IN I business-like manner may turn
himself INTO millionaire be
&ween Christmas and Fourth OF July.
THIS much is certain somewhere
OF the upper reaches Of the Missouri
giyey lie four large barges lost in
LS66. Jaoded to their utmost capacity
with gold estimated in amount from
$1,000 OOO to S25,OOOO00
Just al the close OF the civil war
come rumors OF the finding of gold in
ahe Black Hills OF Dakota and Mon
Eana orifted into the towns on the
Border Of civilization in the northwest.
Il seems odd to think that fifty years
ago ShaJ region was a frontier. but
there are hundreds OF old Indians now
Diving Oh the reservations who then
VseTe Eshuug braves and fifty years
zsu They had never seen white
mans face
Ia the spring OF 1866 some old pros
pecIurs III the back drift from Califor,
MIA found gold in one OF the tributaries
OF tfe 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 q band Of no more than forty
e1rew into the region. making a Won.
aierful strike the richest that has ever
been made on America soil according
20 all accounts. The strike was made
In what IS now called Deadmeu's
Gulch. named to suit the story. but
called IL the old records Federation,
Desperation and Starvation Clutches
The gold was alluyial, washed down
from the northern lodges, now being
worked by the rich Caledonia QaUrtz
Mine Company near Deadwood. The
grave hanks and flats We're iueXDres-
Sibly rIch with it and all summer the
forty men Joiled feyerishly, extracting
MS much as they could before the win
Tor should descend upon them, shut
on then hsh game and vegetable food
supply end drive them to civilization,
w5,tre size 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
zDd made fou' large barges OF shallow
-, 1,aJaI h, grpfA -,
provision boxes. and mule and deer
skins made into rawh!de sacks Even
Then they were compelled to leave
some Of il behind because the barses
would rot carry il.
The hostile Indians who had not
aared attack so large party in the
mining camp with its excellent de-
feuscs and those who were apparently
Oh friendly terms with the miners now
took a hand in the game After the
hardy forty had reached the Missouri
and rad negotiated a portion Of its
distance they tied up one night, not
long before Christmas They we're at
tackled by large band of Indians,
who massacred every living soul. sank
the barges and took all their belong
5ngs 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
cannot say, save as the Indians 'old
Of II and friends of the dead men
GFaoed them into the country from
which they never came out Gradual
Yv 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 tie
Black Hills
TIE gold left behind at the point Of
embarEation was finally found. Cid
workings which showed the vast
quantities taken out by the forty pros
gectors were discovered and for a few
years torrent of alluvial gold poured
out Of the Black Hills Then the whole
thing settled down to the sraii and
SECULAR quartz proposition.
The Kansas City Star some years
ago printed a circumstdnt!di story
stating that a young Indian student al
Haskell had told a professor that his
satAer was one Of the braves In the
massacre, knew where the barges were
sunk and was still living on the reser.
vatioH. II may be that the river has
changed its course and left the barges
under a thin layer Of gravel easily 1c-
-essible on dry land The way % find
the treasure is to trace down the stO-
Eiee. locate some OF the old Indians
Snd induce them to locate the spot
Euc point it out from memory. It
ahould not be difficult.
IN 1859 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
Jewels aboard her. The exact amount
az her treasure is unknown, but it
Enust be vast
full of wild romance IS the story
OF the Devil Duvals Horde" on the
top OF the Rocks of Perez on the
Gaspe peninsula. only about twenty
four hours ride BY train from New
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