The Fort Peck press., 1937-05-27
Practical Jokes Caused State Gold StampedeS

A rumor, once started, travels
fast. No matter whether it is to
the effect that John Smith beats
his wife, or that Jim Jones was
bested In horse trade, or that Bill
Browns oldest daughter has run
away with a no-gOOd hired hand,
If it is subject of interest to the
community in which it is being cir
culated, there is no telling where it
will end up or what dimensions it
may assume.
The human frailty of hearkening t.
gossip, repeating rumor and falling vic
tim to practical jokes caused fully a
much misery as merrlment in earl.
days of Montana, perhaps more. Fruit
less stampedes of hundreds to reputed
Indian attack and the humiliation O
having fallen victim to jokeSters have
been caused by them. In the days o.
the rich placer diggings a conmunit,
could be stampeded into a rush fol
new ground by much less than a minel
with bag full of gold dust.
In 1869 the entire population of Boze-
man was sent struggling up and doWr
creek valley to stake out placer claims
as the result of a joke three young
fellows played upon Horatio N. Ma
lished there at the time, "The Pick
and Plow"
"Rich" Fish
The three young men went fishing
and caught themselves a fine mess OF
trout, caught more than a mess, in
fact, and decided to give some of them
10 Mcguire. Gus Callahan, one of the
three, thought it would be a good idea
to play joke upon the editor, so be-
fore delivering the trout he "salted" a
couple of fish by plugging couple
Of two of the fish, making sure that
they were SO placed that they would
be discovered when the fish were
cleaned.
Mrs. Mcguire, in preparing the fish
for cooking, discovered one of the mug
gets and called her husband to see it..
Further search revealed the second
nugget in another of the fish. The
Mcguire family was amazed. The fishes
and the nuggets were taken down
town. The gold when. weighed, was
found to be worth $1.15. Bozeman had
a sensation on its hands
The fishermen, questioned, professed
ignorance as to where the gold might
have come from, but said that they had
prospected along the banks of the
and that they intended to return to
make further investigation of the
ground.
In the meantime the editor of the
"Pick and Plow," with real news upon
which to exercise his pen, told a story
in the next issue of his paper, which
set the whole country by the ears. He
predicted second Alder gulch in the
Gallatin, where, he said, the gold was
SO plentiful that the fish in the streams
actually subsisted upon it. The fish
ernlen, meantime, refused to divulge
where they had caught the fish until
they had located their claims.
Untruth Admitted
They were watched for several days. |
When ore morning they left Bozeman
mining tools, 80 or 40 of the citizens |
5railed along behind them. The young
men who had caught the fish then be- |
came rather alarmed at the proportions
heir joke had assumed, and told the
men who were following them the facts
n the matter. Some were highly in
lignant, most of them were crestfallen.
The next issue of the Pick and PloW
'aked the jokesters with such verbal
lanes as only the pioneer editors
ould kindle.
The Sun river stampede of 1866 had
/ far different ending. Several men
ost their lives in bitter below zero
weather. and others were SO severely
rozen that they were made cripples
or life. There was no logical reason
-hatever for the Sun river stampede,
ct men swarmed to the rush from
very mining camp in Montana.
It had it's inception in Helena right
fter the Christmas holidays. A man !
anled Mcclellan, discoverer of the {
lllch which bears his name, had been
in the Sun river district
le forepart of the winter and had /
one into Helena to enjoy the holidays {
e was widely known among prospect
zIezI -.