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Events/Rush · 1874

Black Hills gold rush

Rush, 1874 (expedition), rush from 1875, United States.

What happened

Lt Col George Custer led an expedition into the Black Hills in 1874 and expedition member Horatio N. Ross found gold at French Creek. The Treaty of 1868 had set the land aside as part of a Sioux reservation. Prospectors and supply towns followed. The Homestake claim was located near Lead in April 1876 and sold in 1877 to George Hearst and partners.1,2

Why it matters

The expedition went ahead although the 1868 treaty had made the Black Hills part of a Sioux reservation. Homestake became a long-lived mine that closed in 2001.1,2

Story cards

Around the same time

  1. California Gold Rush begins

    California Gold Rush begins.3

  2. Alfred Beit born

    Alfred Beit born (date from Wikidata).4

  3. Pikes Peak (Colorado) gold rush

    Most of the early finds were far from Pikes Peak, yet the rush took its name and led to the founding of Colorado Territory.5,6

  4. Welcome Stranger nugget found

    It is the heaviest gold nugget on record.7,8

  5. Herbert Hoover born

    Herbert Hoover born (date from Wikidata).9

  6. Gold found in the Kimberley (Halls Creek)

    It was the first Western Australian gold excitement, before the 1890s rushes.10,11

  7. Bayley and Ford strike gold at Coolgardie

    Arthur Bayley and William Ford made the first big Goldfields strike.12

  8. Ashanti Goldfields listed and Obuasi opened

    It marks the start of Ashanti Goldfields' operations at Obuasi.13,14

Open the full timeline

Where next

People

Worked hereThomas F. WalshIn 1874 he turned down an offer of half of a Deadwood prospect.15Led byGeorge HearstGeorge Hearst is part of this story: Black Hills gold rush.1

Mines

Led toHomestake MineCuster's expedition reached the Black Hills in 1874. Homestake opened in 1876.1

Places

Located inDeadwoodSee the nearby place: Deadwood.1

Sources

  1. Mining in South Dakota: Education Kit (PDF) South Dakota State Historical Society
  2. Black Hills gold rush (item Q3453700), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  3. Wikidata item Q17550 (California Gold Rush begins)
  4. Wikidata item Q77802 (Alfred Beit)
  5. Colorado Gold Rush Colorado Encyclopedia
  6. Denver (item Q16554), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  7. Australian Mineral Facts: Gold Geoscience Australia
  8. Moliagul (item Q6896150), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  9. Wikidata item Q35236 (Herbert Hoover)
  10. The Rush for Gold (WA Goldfields) Western Australian Museum
  11. Halls Creek (item Q992686), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  12. Gold is discovered and Coolgardie is born Shire of Coolgardie
  13. Ashanti Goldfields Company Limited Encyclopedia of Company Histories (Reference for Business)
  14. Obuasi (item Q1020901), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  15. Hall of Fame: Thomas Walsh Mining Foundation of the Southwest

Pictures on this page: George Hearst.jpg, Edouart & Cobb (Public domain).

From the Prospector Trails mining history dataset: each fact links to the source it was checked against. Figures are as the source gives them, in the money of their day. Not investment advice.

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Cover photos from Wikimedia Commons: Super Pit, Kalgoorlie by Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0; Underground mining equipment by Kaupo Kikkas, CC BY-SA 4.0. Pictures: Gold prospectors constructing a long box with a filter for panning gold. Process print after H.M. Paget, 1899., Henry Marriott Paget (Public Domain Mark 1.0); Pangkalpinang. Mijn 3b. Een reeks koelies bezig met het transporteeren van grond, Europeana (Public Domain Mark 1.0).