The Black Hills gold Rush took place in the Dakota territory in 1874 following the Custer expedition. The first arrivals were a force of 1,000 men led by General Custer to investigate stories of gold. Throughout the expedition, civilian experts who accompanied the expedition located traces of gold in the rivers. The first discovery goes uncredited, however an undated diary entry by William McKay, a miner accompanying the expedition, notes that while camping at the newly named Custer Park, "In the evening I took a pan, pick and shovel, and went out prospecting. The first panful was taken from the gravel and sand obtained in the bed of the creek; and on washing was found to contain from one and a half to two cents, which was the first gold found in the Black Hills. A significant discovery was made on August 1 1874, when tests of the soil by the French Creek determined that a miner could earn as much as $150 per day mining in the Black Hills.
Prior to the gold rush, the Black Hills were recognized as belonging to the Sioux by the Treaty of Laramie. Despite being within Indian Territory thousands of gold seekers flocked to the territory.
The gold boom reached it’s peak in 1876-77 in Deadwood SD. Moses and Fred Manuel first discovered gold in the northern Black Hills on April 9, 1876 on what is called the Homestake mine. The brothers discovered an outcrop of ore which was termed as a lead, hence the town name. They sank their discovery shaft in the side of a draw, then in the spring of 1876 took out $5,000 worth of gold. The following year the brothers sold their claim to a trio of mining entrepreneurs for $70,000. The Homestake mine stayed open until 2001 and was the second largest gold producer in the United States and was once the largest and deepest gold mine in North America. The mine produced 39.8 million ounces of gold for more than a billion dollars.
Black hills gold jewelry is a type of jewelry manufactured in the black Hills of SD. It was first created in the 1870’s during the gold rush by a French goldsmith named Henri LeBeau. He dreamed about the design after passing out from thirst and starvation. Black hills Gold Jewelry depicts leaves, grape clusters, and vines made with alloys of gold with standard yellow gold as well as green and pink gold.