Custers gold?

skeeterd

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Does anyone know of any documentation about this story? It seems pretty far fetched but I live very near this area figured a little research couldn't hurt. I think starting with the log book of the Far West steamer would the best place to begin. But I don't even know where to look for that or if a log book even exists. Any ideas would be helpful. Thanks.
 

old digger

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If you are refering to the miners gold that was put on the steamer to take back east, but the captain took ashore and burried either near the mouth of the Bighorn. It was burried somewhere between the Little Bighorn river and the Yellowstone river.
If you can find any info I wish you the best.
 

ECS

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COMMON VERSION OF STEAMBOAT "FAR WEST" LOST GOLD TALE-JUNE,1876

Capt March of the steamboat "FAR WEST" had supplies to be delievered to Gen Alfred H Terry and his men men on the near the Littele Big Horn River.On the way,March stopped at Williston to pick up a shipment of $375,000 in gold bars to be delievered to Bismarck on his return trip.
Meeting up with Terry,he learned of Custer's massacre,and took on wounded soldiers.
Aware of the extra weight on the "FAR WEST" and the dwindeling supply of firewood,he unloaded and buried the gold bars on the east bank of the Big Horn River while his crew cut firewood.March felt the location was well marked due to the tree stumps left by his men.March then took the wounded men to Fort Lincoln,near Bismarck.
Two months later he returned to the location on the Big Horn to retrieve the gold bars,but as most treasure lengends go,heavy rains had obliterated the site,and he search to no avail.
The Custer masacree happened June 25,1876.
Capt March and the "FAR WEST" traveled those rivers in that time period.
Gen Alfred H Terry was stationed at Fort Lincoln and knew Custer.
As for the gold? That's what legends are all about.
 

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skeeterd

skeeterd

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So does anybody have any ideas where I could start researching?
 

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I doubt it exists.Theres 2 different stories and discrepancies in each one .One point is why would captain of a steamer want to be carrying a large amount of gold bars going into known hostile territory.That would be a fools errand.In one of the stories it is stated that he saw many indian smoke columns that night thats one reason why the miners gold nuggets were buried.The problem is the Sioux were long gone by that time,they didnt hang around,there were no sioux in the area.They left the day after battle.375,000 in gold wouldnt take up that much room why unload and bury it.
 

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skeeterd

skeeterd

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I doubt the existance too. If the miners were headed for North Dakota from Boseman, they would have gone over Boseman Pass to the Yellowstone River (at present day Livingston MT), and followed that river to the Missori river. They never would have gone out of their way across rough country. Supposedly, Grant missed the mouth of the Little Horn river and went an extra 15 miles or so where he met with the wagon on an old wagon road. The only wagon road was the Boseman trail and it is close to 50 miles from the Little Horn . But, I live a couple miles from the Custer Battle Field and have lived several places along the Big Horn river. So I figure a little pokin around can't hurt! If anybody has an idea where to look for the log book of the Far West Steamer, I would be greatful.
 

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Pokin around doesnt hurt,who knows you at the worst you come across some artifacts.
 

ECS

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A RESEARCH START

So does anybody have any ideas where I could start researching?
An account of Capt Grant March and the FAR WEST involvement during the BATTLE OF LITTLE BIG HORN with photos of March and the FAR WEST:
http://westertrips.blogspot.com/204/04/steamboat-and-indian-war.html
Another with his involvement with the 7th Calvary:
http://billingsgazette.com/news/sta...cle6f278a60-abe0-5fae-a8c4-cel147ffee08a.html
Nov 7,1901 monologue of Capt Grant March to President T R Roosevelt
http://celtic-fringe.net/plays/marsh.htm
 

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Critical Recovery

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An account of Capt Grant March and the FAR WEST involvement during the BATTLE OF LITTLE BIG HORN with photos of March and the FAR WEST:
http://westertrips.blogspot.com/204/04/steamboat-and-indian-war.html
Another with his involvement with the 7th Calvary:
http://billingsgazette.com/news/sta...cle6f278a60-abe0-5fae-a8c4-cel147ffee08a.html
Nov 7,1901 monologue of Capt Grant March to President T R Roosevelt
http://celtic-fringe.net/plays/marsh.htm

Neither of these links seem to work for me.
 

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skeeterd

skeeterd

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I can't get them to work either. I Maybe able to find the Billings Gazette article at our local library. Maybe it can point me in the right direction.
 

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skeeterd

skeeterd

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I would really like to see the monolog of Cpt. Marsh to Pres. Roosevelt.
 

old digger

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Skeeterd, you might want to get ''A Guide To Treasure In Montana-Wyoming'' By Thomas Penfield. You should be able to order it from Barnes and Noble in Billings. This book has a quite a few leads here in this area. Give it a try, there are a lot of good leads and interesting stories to check out. If you want to talk give me a PM. My wife is from Hardin.
 

Talon

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Were you watching National Treasure 2? They reference this in the movie. It was on TV yesterday.
 

Connecticut Sam

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I agree with #6, I do not believe the story either, but go for it anyway, and you may find old stuff and old single coins that is worth a lot of money. Make sense to me. Good luck.
 

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The funny thing about there supposing to be lost gold at the time of the battle of little big horn.The only thing Custer got was a whole bunch of lead :laughing9:
 

ECS

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I can't get them to work either. I Maybe able to find the Billings Gazette article at our local library. Maybe it can point me in the right direction.
I do not understand why the links do not work?
If you google Capt Grant March+Far West steamboat it should direct you to those sites.
 

old digger

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Here's one account:

During the 1876 campain against the Sioux and Cheyenne Indians in the west, the War Department leased the Missouri river steamer Far West as a supply ship to serve the troops. The Far West was loaded with 200 tons of supplies and equipment for the commands operating in the Big Horn country. Captain Grant Marsh was commissioned to take the vessel up the Yellowstone river to the Big Horn, then up the Big Horn to the mouth of the Little Big Horn river. Here he was to anchor and wait the arrival of General Terry's troops who were to recieve the supplies. Captain Marsh was instructed to be in position at the Little Big Horn by June 26, 1876.
Captain Marsh anchored about 20 miles up the Big Horn river at what he thought was the mouth of the Little Big Horn river and settled down to wait. On the following morning, two freight wagons drawn by mules pulled up at the river's edge opposite the Far West. One of the three men hailed the vessel and was rowed out to her. The man explained to Marsh that he was in charge of the wagons which operated for a freighting company out of Bozeman, Montana. He and his companions were on route to Bismarck N.D. with a cargo of gold.Since they had had several narrow escapes from indians, the man asked Captian Marsh to take the gold aboard and deliver it in Bismark on his trip back down the Missouri.
When Marsh wanted to know the value of the gold, he was told it was $800,000., packed in buckskin bags. Reluctant to assume responsibility for such cargo, Marsh explained that he was under orders from the War Department and could not set a date for arrival in Bismarck. He finally agreed, however to help the freighters and had the gold transfered to his ship. The freighters headed back to Bozeman and were never seen alive again.
The next moring, curls of smoke from behind the hills in the distance suggested a large indian encampment. Uncertain that he was anchored at the mouth of the Little Big Horn, and fearing that the indians might attack his vessel, Captain Marsh unanchored and steamed back down the the Big Horn to a safer anchorage. He then ordered the gold to be rowed ashore and buried some distance inland.
On the morning following the burial of the gold, the Far West returned to the mouth of the Little Big Horn and anchored again. It was there that the crew learned from a Crow indian scout of the massacre of Custer's command on June 25, 1876. Soon afterward General Terry ordered Marsh to take aboard the wounded from Reno's and Benteen's commands and transport them to Bismarck. In the urgency of the situation, the buried gold was forgotten.
With 50 or 60 wounded soldiers aboard, the Far West started the hazardous journey down the Big Horn, followed by bands of hostile Sioux running along the banks. Reaching the Yellowstone river, Marsh anchored and awaited the arrival of Terry's forces which he was instructed to ferry across the river. It was not until the morning of July 3rd that the Far West began the 700 mile trip to Bismarck. Upon it's arrival there, the first news of the Custer Massacre was released to the world.
Some years later, after Marsh had given up command of the Far West, he is said to have gone to Bozeman to inform the freighting company where the gold entrusted to him was buried. He also learned that the three men had never returned to Bozeman. They were presumably casualties of an indian attack. Similar freighting losses had forced the company out of business. So far as it is known, neither Captian Marsh nor any of the men who had participated in the burial of the gold ever tried to recover it.

There may be other versions out there?
 

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Phanntom

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It's a good clarafication of the story. Three things poke me in the eye about it. First, the Capt wasn't certain he was at the mouth of the Little Big Horn, so was he or wasn't he? Next, he pulled in at a safe anchorage...a pretty vague location to base a search around, and third, "he" actually had no idea where it was buried aside from his order to take it ashore and bury it "some distance". This would lead me to believe that "if" the story is true, the Capt. isn't the starting point of a search.

I also don't like "so far as it is known" the men that buried the gold never tried to recover it. Really? I think that stretches the limits of credibility. TN has for sake of round numbers 47,000 members. How many of us does anyone reason would NOT go looking for hundreds of thousands in gold "IF" we knew where it was buried? Maybe 1 or 2 out of the 47,000. I'm afraid I have to write the story off as a pipe dream.

I think anyone interested in this one, would be better served researching the campsites used by the three cavalry forces on their march to the Little Big Horn. You'd be more likely to retrieve relics and maybe even a gold coin or three hunting those areas which would be ample reward.
 

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