The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1937-11-12
Half Million Dollars i'm Montana Gold Dust Lost
i'm Missouri River i'm '65 Never Has Been Found
OMEWHERE beneath the ever
shifting sands Of the restless,
turgid waters Of the Missouri
river. or buried beneath the soil

~ shifting sands Of the restless,
-, turgid waters Of the Missouri
~ river, or buried beneath the soil
Of n Of its former channels,
o Of b ee current rent lies lies a half million dollars
i'm Montana gold dust. The treasure
was wrung from the rich pockets ana
siuice boxes Of Alder gulch in sweat
and toll and hardship OF pioneers; 1t
went to its secret resting place pap.
tized in The e. blood OF Its Its t Gwne snsrd 5ed
nv disaster and misfortune which pc
fell those who sought it, and always
uncertain. has become more SO WIFI
the recedinr years. Since the OF
Il. G.. Emerson Of Basin. o nan
IS years co. no one mas e'el
for it. -A..,
The story of the lost treasure wn bsa
iieved implicitly and until his iast
n@v Almost, he had hopes That
some dav he would find it. Its locaIl9n,
accnrding to the now legendary IaieS
told about it, was two days noaS ti "a ha
as distance on the river was mace bs
the craft which Piled tne al' in North
E Ss { which would probably, place
= nv fooday's reckoning, Is or 80 miles
below Bismarck.
indians Sank Boat
The gold was lost by a party 7 az.
oonaI1ts who had made their pue y.
Alder gulch and were returning VIII
their riches to their eaStera WI
hoaf DESTROYED. Their wealth, UNKNOWN
:" the indians, sank with n wreck
" their craft. Its weight alone Woulu
Guarantee that it is now, after ~ wears,
not far from where it went down. tor
even the gigantic power 81 tP pev lac naf
currents OF the Big Muoa tth N.Y. the trev
mendo,Is weight of a half mll1on
dollars in gold dust and nuggets.
AS men searched fruitlessly for the
lost fortlne down the years, its ex.
istence has been doubted, the truth o
the story regarding it pooh poonsa:
There seems no doubt, however, DuC
that it is real and that the my LILLY y
lacking to prove it is knowledge OF
where to dig.
II was in 1865 that a party Of miners
from Virginia City started for ther
homes in the east taking With tnem
in the shape of dust and nuggets tne
accumulated savings Of several years
of hard work.
The names of the members Of the
party have been lost to history with
one exception, that OF Pierre Lavene,
a Frenchman who had married a sioux
Indian woman. And even Of him 1t Is
not now known whether he was a mem
Der of the original party or whether
he and his wife Joined it at some point
down the river as employees. The latter
theory seems more the credible. At n
rate, when all of the others of the
party were maSsacred by Sioux n
dams the lives of he n his wife were
spared, hers because she was a mem
Der of the tribe, his because she pleaded
for him.
Told Story t o Friend
Lavelle knew Of the gold. He him
self searched for it in vain, and need
ing help, told the story to another,
who in turn confided it to Emerson.
The departure of the gold hunters
from Virginia City was but the in
cident of a day. Their absence went
unnoted. That was true also of their
leaving Fort Benton. Hundreds of men
in those early days returned to civili-
zation by the river route. Their mode
of travel was so common as to attract
little or no attention. They would build
their own boat, stock it with necessary
supplies and cast off. If misfortune
befell the craft or any of its occupants,
those who survived told the story. In
this instance, however, none survived,
except, as stated, the squaw man, La:
velle. He, it would seem, did not reveal
it so long as there seemed to exist a
hope for personal gain by reason of his
knowledge, and when that hope faded,