Thoen Stone

Thoen Stone. . Gold was first discovered in the Black Hills by General George Custer's expedition in 1874. Or was it? There is some evidence that gold was actually discovered in the northern Black Hills in 1834 by a group of seven men who came here in 1833 specifically to look for it., Fifty-three years later, in 1887, Louis Thoen and his brother Ivan were searching for foundation material around Spearfish when they found an inscribed piece of sandstone at the base of Lookout Mountain. The stone appears to describe the gold seekers' fate., Save for one, the entire group had been killed by American Indians, who did not want trespassers on their sacred land. Ezra Kind, the lone survivor, etched a record of his situation into the stone. Kind wrote, "got all of the gold we could carry our ponys all got by the Indians I hav lost my gun and nothing to eat and indians hunting me", Some question the stone's authenticity. Did Louis Thoen really discover the stone, or did he create it? That question remains, but the gold seekers' families verify that the men did go west, Far right: Louis Thoen c. 1912 , Right: The Thoen Stone as on display at the Adams House and Museum in Deadwood, SD