Black Hills Gold Rush

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The Black Hills Gold Rush took place in the Dakotas and parts of Montana and is general considered to have started 1860-70.

Prior to the Gold Rush, the part in South Dakota was used by Native Americans (primarily bands of Sioux but others also ranged through the area).

In 1887, the accepted history of gold mining in the Black Hills was thrown into question by the discovery of what has become known as the Thoen Stone [1]. Discovered by Louis Thoen on the slopes of Lookout Mountain, the stone purports to be the last testament of Ezra Kind who, along with 6 others, entered the Black Hills in 1833 (at a time when whites were forbidden by law and treaty from entering the area), "got all the gold we could carry" in June 1834, and were subsequently "killed by Indians beyond the high hill." While it may seem unlikely that someone who has "lost my gun and nothing to eat and Indians hunting me" would take the time to carve his story in sandstone, there is corroborating historical evidence for the Ezra Kind party. This evidence is presented in the book The Thoen Stone by Frank Thomson, published in 1966.

Many of the miners came up the Missouri from Kansas and eventualy returned there. ya thats what happened