The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1937-11-26
THOUGH Emigrant gulch, 10
Gated in Park county just north
of Yellowstone national park,

once attracted several hundred
gold seekers who did fairly we'll for
several seasons, as a BONANZA field it
proved a flop. The highest estimate ever
made Of the gold that was taken out
of the placer diggings there, vas from
500, 900 to S15O, 900, those being the
figures prOffered by Professor Hayden
of the United States geological survey
in 1872. David b. Weaver, n of the
three original discoveries of the first
pay dirt in the gulch, in discussing the
matter afterwards, said he thought
that figure too high. He was quite sure
that during the three years that he
the total would not have amounted to
more than from $4,000 to $4,000, and
in a paper contributed by him to the
Montana historical society, entitled,
early Days in Emigrant Gulch," he
cites returns of the various claims to
prove his statement.
Strangely enough, the discovery
claim in Emigrant gulch was not
worked at all during the three years
that Weaver mentions. The first pan
of sand washed from it yielded gold
dust valued at about a dollar. Nuggets
worth as much as Is cents were also
washed from it. During the first year
following the discovery, however, the
discoveries turned their attention to
other parts of the gulch above the
discovery. In the spring Of 1865 a snow
slide buried the discovery claim be-
meath, 40 or so feet of SNOW so that it
could not be worked that year. In
the spring of 1866, three men, William
Skinner, started to work it, and had
their sluice boxes set.
They were fearful of a snowslide, so
Lowe was posted on the opposite side
of the gulch from where he could view
the terrain above the claim and give
the alarm to Gibboney and Skinner,
who we're to do the work, if a slide
should start. The slide came and Lowe,
across the creek from it, barely es-
capped with his life. Gibboney and Skin
ner were both killed. The miners sue
within a short time, but Gibboney was
not found for several months.
Gold Discovered in 1864
Gold in paying quantities was first
found in Emigrant gulch on Aug. 80,
David r. Shorthill. Two of these men,
Weaver and Shorthill, had been men,
bers of an original party of five that
started from Huntington county, Pa.
Others in the original party were Alex
ander Norris, Richard Owens and
George Travis. They had one wagon,
one yoke of cows and two yoke Of
oxen
They crossed the Missouri river at
Omaha on May 81, 1864 and reached
Fort Kearney on the Platte river on
June 2. June Is they reached Fort
Laramie. By this time they were part
of a group of 20 wagons all bound for
the gold fields of Montana, but as they
had had word that the Indians in the
intervening country were hostile, they
decided to wait until they could get
a larger train together before starting
on the final leg of their journey.
Consequently at the toll bridge over
the Platte river, which was the start
of the Bozeman trail, they went into
camp. That was on July 6. BY July IL
there were 68 wagons in readiness for
the trip and the start was made. The
train reached Powder river on July %,
Tongue river on July 20 and camped
on the Big Horn river on Aug. 4. At
the latter place a number of the men
who washed some of the sand in the
Big Horn got traces, or 'colors" of
gold, but not enough to justify working
the ground. On Aug. IA, they hit the
Yellowstone river and followed it west.
At about where Livingston now
stands, the wagon train encountered
a number of proSpectorS who told of
diggings which they were working to
the south, and the wagon train split,
some continuing on to Virginia City