![]() Like many gold rushes throughout the world, most of the easiest worked ground was mined out within a few years. The ore deposits were actually quite low grade, but the extent of the ore body was massive! Little did they realize that they were had actually discovered one of the most significant mineral resources in the world! Their claim was called the Homestake Mine, which they sold to investors the following year for $70,000. ![]() What the men had discovered were the lode deposit that fed the rich placer deposits at Deadwood Creek. On April 9, 1876, Fred and Moses Manuel, Alex Engh, and Hank Harney discovered an outcrop of gold ore near present day Lead, South Dakota. Many of them went back to where they came from, but some of the more determined prospectors explored the hard rock deposits that were believed to have introduced the gold into the streams. Most of the best placer ground was quickly claimed by the earliest arrivals to the Black Hills, and latecomers had the choice of either returning home or search for new undiscovered pockets of gold. It didn’t take long for the early miners to exploit the richest placer gravels in the area. Deadwood gained a reputation as one of the roughest and orneriest towns in the country. Many men got rich mining these rich placer gravels, and many men died fighting over their claims. The historic mining towns of Deadwood sprang up overnight, and some of the best placer grounds were found at Deadwood Gulch. The next big gold rush was on, and soon prospectors were searching every creek and river in the area for placer gold. The lands were technically off limits to mining, but little could be done after the world got out about the new gold discoveries in the Black Hills. Although the Black Hills of South Dakota had been given to the Sioux Indian with the Treaty of Laramie in 1968, the allure of gold could not keep the white man away.
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