Did Corporal Swickert find a broad quartz cliff, facing about 6 feet across?
The story goes that Corporal Stanley Swickert was garrisoned near the gold camp of Rochford, South Dakota. Corporal Swickert had received some training in mineralogy before his enlistment, so he often spent his leaves prospecting in the hills and canyons outside of town. One day in June 1879, Swickert was hiking alone in one end of Strawman Gulch when he came upon a broad quartz cliff, facing about six feet across. The quartz was heavily impregnated with gold near the center, and the excited Swickert chipped out a number of fist-sized chunks to take to town with him.
For the next six months, whenever he received his usual leave, Swickert secretly journeyed to his hidden find and pulled out more gold.
After leaving the army in 1885, Swickert became a successful investor in New York City. Much of his investment money came from the gold he had banked from the Strawman Mine.
This is not the location of the mine, but is as good a place as any to stop your ride to ponder the Broad Quartz Gold Cliff treasurer.
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