In the Black Hills, gold may have been discovered in 1834 by Ezra Kind and his fellow miners.
The Thoen Stone authored by Ezra Kind and found in 1887 by Louis Thoen details that gold, horses, gun and food was lost due to Indian attack.
In the 1860’s Father DeSmet reported Sioux Indians carrying gold from the Black Hills.
The Black Hills Gold Rush began in 1874 after the Custer Expedition reported finding first gold near Custer, SD.
Deadwood became a gold seekers destination when a large placer gold deposit was found in 1875.
Placer gold is loose gold pieces mixed in the rocks and soil around streams.
Deadwood and Whitewood Creeks initially provided a fortune in gold for every spade of earth turned.
A hard-rock deposit near Lead, South Dakota, the Homestake produced nearly 10% of the world’s gold for over 125 years.
Castle Creek was named by General Custer when he and his troops traveled through it’s headwaters in 1874. Gold was discovered in this valley to the west in 1875. A mining camp soon developed into the town named Castleton with a population of about 250 folks. There was a hotel, grocery store, saloons, and even a jewelry store. The gold carrying ore lay 25 feet deep.
In 1875 Dutch Henry, a previous member of the Custer expedition, snuck back into the Hills. It is said that Dutch Henry spent much of his lifetime working his Lost Dutchmand mineclaim there in a little gulch.
“Potato Creek Johnny” is credited with finding one of the world’s largest gold nugget. The nugget was located in Potato Creek near the Filmore Mine.
When the vein angled underground, a vertical shaft was dug to mine beneath the ground. The Gold Mountain Mill was constructed in the mid-1930’s. The mill, capable of milling 25-tons of gold ore per day is still evident at the site.
Other than Gold, mica is a mineral available in the Black Hills. Mica has superior electrical properties as an insulator and as a dielectric. The Tin Queen Mine is an abandoned mica mine.
The Yellow Bird mine was discovered in the early days of the Rockford District history. It produced $38,000 in gold with two shafts and minor drifts and slopes dug. In 1938, the 50-ton flotation Yellow Bird mill was built.
Mystic is an gold rush town. An old but restored church awaits your viewing.
Elkhorn Prairie was the name given by General George A Custer, Camp Gorman was another early name, given for the three brothers who found and lost a mine at Silver City.
The Aladdin Tipple mine began operation in the late 1800’s and coal was mined until it was abandoned in 1942.
The Grand Junction and Hartford Group is a silver and gold mine located in Custer county, South Dakota at an elevation of 6,079 feet.
Harney was built up in 1878, around a mining deposit that became unprofitable.
Diamond City had the Enos’ stamp mill, a store, a saloon, a post office and about a dozen homes. (Black Hills Ghost Towns: Parker)
One of the shafts, from the Divide Lode Mine was reportedly 140 feet deep. The claim was staked in the early 1900’s and work continued to 1905. The mine was a gold mine.
Meyerville is an early mining town that once operated a stamp mill. The skeleton of the stamp mill still remains.
Prospectors began mining for gold, copper and tungsten in the Gilt Edge area in 1876. Brohm Mining Co. took over the Gilt Edge mine in 1986. Brohm operated the mine from 1986 until 1999, when it went bankrupt, forfeiting a $6.4 million mining bond and leaving behind 150 million gallons of contaminated acid water and millions of cubic yards of acid-generating waste rock, according to published reports. That’s when the state and the EPA stepped in. In 2000, Gilt Edge Mine became a Superfund site, the program created in 1980 to facilitate cleanup of the nation’s worst hazardous waste sites.
In 1883 the Alta Lodi Mining Company built a 40-stamp mill, near Alta. (BLACK HILLS GHOST TOWNS: PARKER)
Glendale is the site of the Glendale Tin Company, on which built a 150-ton tin mill before 1892. Nothing is left of the mill, but buildings exist in its vicinity. (Black Hills Ghost Towns: Parker)
The town of Spokane was founded around the Spokane mine that was started in the 1890’s, supplying lead, zinc, and gold. This ghost town has standing building that remain for viewing.
A sawmill, three or four houses, and a large stamp mill were located at Fair View Ghost Town. (Black Hills Ghost Towns: Parker) Now this is a site of a current mining operation.