The circle banner. [volume] (Circle, Mont.) 1914-1939, 1923-03-09
COVER LOST LIFE
HUNTING FOR GOLD
MINER, DYING, TELLS GALI1ATIN
PIONEER OF SOURCE OF
MUCH WEALTH
Starts Across Desert and Perishes;
Remains Identified by Ring; Fate
of John Bozeman Recalled by Gal
latin Pioneers.

The tragic death of Thomas
| Cover, who founded the first flour
mill TN the Gallatfn valley, and
the killing of John Bozeman, for
whom the city OF Bozeman was
named, was graphically told at a
recent meeting of the Pioneer So
ciety of the GalIatin, by Mrs. w. j.
BealI, historian of the society, who
has made her home in Bozenlan for
nearly 90 years.
In her address Mrs. Beall mention
ed many of the early-day pioneers of
the Gallatin alley-according to the
Indians, THE Valley of Flowers
among them John NJ Bozeman, after
whom the city is named; Daniel M.
Rouse, William w. Anderson, w. J.
Beall, John S. Mendenhall, Frank F.
Fridley, w. ]. Davies, Squire Fitz and
others. Speaking of John M. Boze-
man, she said in part:
mr. Bozeman was born in the
state of Georgia. He was by nature
a pioneer, restless, brave and re-
sourceful, had no conception of fear,
was without culture or education, but
brave to fault. 1t was due to this
1dIt that u6 lOSl LIS tilt. ku Luc
spring of 1867 he and Thomas Cover
started for trip to Fort c. f. Smith,
which had been established on the
Big Horn in the fall of 1866. Two
or three days later they met small
party of Blackfeet Indians who ap-
peared to be friendly, but they treach-
erously shot and killed Bozeman and
wounded Cover, who returned to the
city few days later. Bozeman was
killed April 10, 1867. Thus ended
the life of a brave pioneer for whom
this city is named"
Regarding the tragic end of an
other of the Gallatin valleys pion-
GERS, Thomas Cover, who started the
first flour mill in that section and
who later went to California, the
speaker said:
while Cover was in Riverside,
Cal, an old miner came into the
town one day to die. Cover visited
him, and just before the old man
breathed his last he told Cover how
he had discovered the wonderful Peg
Leg gold mine, which is supposed
from tradition to have been the mine
from which the AZtecs drew their
wealth. The tradition was well known
to Cover and to every other miner in
California, and he knew that the man
who found it would be fabulously
rich So, taking a friend named Rus
sell with him, he started to cross
the great desert, known as the Car
Isco Bad Lands, and by following the
old miners instructions, to find the
wonderful mine.
oct 70 IF "a
desert the arrangement was made
hat Russell would drive around,
which would take about six hours,
and Cover would walk across. That
vas the last seen of Cover alive. Rus
sell arrived at the place they were
o meet, but Cover was not there.
parties tried in vain for
months to find him.
Identified by Ring
Seventeen years later a surveying
,arty working for the United States
government came across the skeleton
If man buried in a few inches of
and. The sight was not unfamiliar
o them, but their attention was at
racted to ring on one of the fin
,ers, bearing a Masonic emblem, and
when they made careful examina-
ion they found the name, Thomas
over in the ring. One member of
he party had heard of the strange
isappearace of Thomas Cover, and
t his instance the bones were care
uIly collected and taken to River
ide and were given in charge of
frs. Cover, who arranged for de-
ent burial. The Peg Leg mine is
till lost despite the fact that Death
ALLEY, in which it is supposed TO pc
ocated, is now show place, with
ailroads, autos, hotels and even cit
es within its confines"