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Gordon Stockade
Gordon Stockade, originally called Fort Defiance, was a stockade fortification on French Creek in the Black Hills, located today off of U.S. 16 near Custer, South Dakota, United States. It was erected in December 1874 by the Gordon Party, an expedition of white settlers who travelled to the Black Hills at the beginning of the gold rush, on the site of a previous encampment by George Armstrong Custer's Black Hills Expedition. The party's settlement of the area was illegal under the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie and the group was removed by the United States Army in April 1875, who subsequently began using the Gordon Stockade as a base. Now part of Custer State Park, the fort was recreated in its current form in 2004 and is open to the public.
Members of the 1874 Black Hills Expedition led by George Armstrong Custer first reported the discovery of gold in the Black Hills. In particular, gold deposits were reported in French Creek, which flows through present-day Custer, South Dakota. The Custer Expedition stayed at the camp for five days, the longest stop on their route, and the camp continued to serve as a base for the remainder of the expedition.
Although only trace amounts of gold had been discovered, word quickly spread as newspapers sensationalized the reports, attracting civilians to the area in search of wealth. One such newspaper was the Sioux City Weekly Times in Sioux City, Iowa. The paper's editor, Charles Collins, began to organize a party to explore the gold claims. He partnered with Thomas H. Russell, a miner who had previously led successful expeditions into the Colorado and Montana Territories. Their intent was to locate more gold and encourage the U.S. government to break its 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie with local Native American tribes, which forbade white settlement of the Black Hills.
Originally called the Collins-Russell Party, the group later changed its name to the Gordon Party after its guide, John Gordon. Gordon was selected for his knowledge of the area, as he had previously worked running freight between Spotted Tail Agency and the Missouri River. In total, the expedition consisted of 26 men, one woman, and one 10-year-old child. One-third of the party consisted of experienced miners, and another third were lumberjacks from Wisconsin, who would be tasked with building shelter for the group.
The names and origins of those on the expedition were recorded as:
The group departed from Sioux City on October 6, 1874, and journeyed westward in six wagons. Upon one of these wagons was inscribed the name "O'Neill's Colony", meant to mask their true destination as a settlement in Nebraska, so as not to raise suspicion from the U.S. Army, who were patrolling the hills and its environs to deter settlers from entering illegally. The party first arrived in Norfolk, Nebraska, then followed the Niobrara River before crossing into Dakota Territory and the Badlands. Just south of present-day Sturgis, South Dakota, on December 8, the party located the Custer Expedition's trail and followed it southwest. They successfully avoided the army patrols and entered the Black Hills, becoming the first of several such civilian expeditions to do so.
On December 23, the Gordon Party reached the location of Custer's old base camp on French Creek and set up their own just to the west. In total, the expedition had traveled 635 miles (1,022 km). The lumberjacks were then tasked with erecting a square wooden stockade as protection from the elements and the local Native American tribes. The four palisades, made of logs 1 foot (0.30 m) in thickness, each measured about 80 feet (24 m) long and 10 feet (3.0 m) high. Bastions were erected on each corner. Inside the square, six or seven cabins were erected as living quarters and a well was dug. By January 16, 1875, the fort was complete, which they called Fort Defiance.
Author Alfred T. Andreas wrote in 1884, "Prospecting was carried on notwithstanding the inclemency of the weather, and satisfactory discoveries were made". The miners found both gold and silver. Initially, the frost was only a few inches thick on the ground, but it had thickened by January and made prospecting more difficult. The returns were promising but hard-won; Whitney wrote in a letter to his wife, "I have set my pile at $150,000 before I leave the Black Hills. I think it will take that to pay me for what I suffered to get into this country".
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Gordon Stockade
Gordon Stockade, originally called Fort Defiance, was a stockade fortification on French Creek in the Black Hills, located today off of U.S. 16 near Custer, South Dakota, United States. It was erected in December 1874 by the Gordon Party, an expedition of white settlers who travelled to the Black Hills at the beginning of the gold rush, on the site of a previous encampment by George Armstrong Custer's Black Hills Expedition. The party's settlement of the area was illegal under the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie and the group was removed by the United States Army in April 1875, who subsequently began using the Gordon Stockade as a base. Now part of Custer State Park, the fort was recreated in its current form in 2004 and is open to the public.
Members of the 1874 Black Hills Expedition led by George Armstrong Custer first reported the discovery of gold in the Black Hills. In particular, gold deposits were reported in French Creek, which flows through present-day Custer, South Dakota. The Custer Expedition stayed at the camp for five days, the longest stop on their route, and the camp continued to serve as a base for the remainder of the expedition.
Although only trace amounts of gold had been discovered, word quickly spread as newspapers sensationalized the reports, attracting civilians to the area in search of wealth. One such newspaper was the Sioux City Weekly Times in Sioux City, Iowa. The paper's editor, Charles Collins, began to organize a party to explore the gold claims. He partnered with Thomas H. Russell, a miner who had previously led successful expeditions into the Colorado and Montana Territories. Their intent was to locate more gold and encourage the U.S. government to break its 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie with local Native American tribes, which forbade white settlement of the Black Hills.
Originally called the Collins-Russell Party, the group later changed its name to the Gordon Party after its guide, John Gordon. Gordon was selected for his knowledge of the area, as he had previously worked running freight between Spotted Tail Agency and the Missouri River. In total, the expedition consisted of 26 men, one woman, and one 10-year-old child. One-third of the party consisted of experienced miners, and another third were lumberjacks from Wisconsin, who would be tasked with building shelter for the group.
The names and origins of those on the expedition were recorded as:
The group departed from Sioux City on October 6, 1874, and journeyed westward in six wagons. Upon one of these wagons was inscribed the name "O'Neill's Colony", meant to mask their true destination as a settlement in Nebraska, so as not to raise suspicion from the U.S. Army, who were patrolling the hills and its environs to deter settlers from entering illegally. The party first arrived in Norfolk, Nebraska, then followed the Niobrara River before crossing into Dakota Territory and the Badlands. Just south of present-day Sturgis, South Dakota, on December 8, the party located the Custer Expedition's trail and followed it southwest. They successfully avoided the army patrols and entered the Black Hills, becoming the first of several such civilian expeditions to do so.
On December 23, the Gordon Party reached the location of Custer's old base camp on French Creek and set up their own just to the west. In total, the expedition had traveled 635 miles (1,022 km). The lumberjacks were then tasked with erecting a square wooden stockade as protection from the elements and the local Native American tribes. The four palisades, made of logs 1 foot (0.30 m) in thickness, each measured about 80 feet (24 m) long and 10 feet (3.0 m) high. Bastions were erected on each corner. Inside the square, six or seven cabins were erected as living quarters and a well was dug. By January 16, 1875, the fort was complete, which they called Fort Defiance.
Author Alfred T. Andreas wrote in 1884, "Prospecting was carried on notwithstanding the inclemency of the weather, and satisfactory discoveries were made". The miners found both gold and silver. Initially, the frost was only a few inches thick on the ground, but it had thickened by January and made prospecting more difficult. The returns were promising but hard-won; Whitney wrote in a letter to his wife, "I have set my pile at $150,000 before I leave the Black Hills. I think it will take that to pay me for what I suffered to get into this country".