Let's Talk Wyoming - Fierce Fires, Dramatic Rains, the Freedom Caucus Battle, and Lost Gold in the Bighorns

What happens when Wyoming's blazing fires are met with a sudden, dramatic rainfall? Join me, Mark Hamilton, on this episode of Let's Talk Wyoming as we explore the unexpected turn of weather events in Springs County that brought relief from relentless fires. As the temperatures cool down, the political scene heats up with the Freedom Caucus and RINO candidates locked in a fierce battle ahead of the state's primary elections. Listen to insights on Liz Cheney's influence and out-of-state money shaping our political climate. We also touch on the broader national stage, discussing President Biden's current challenges and Kamala Harris's surprising candidacy, while underscoring the crucial role of critical thinking in the age of AI.

But that's not all. Travel back in time to 1886 with us to uncover an enthralling piece of Wyoming's history—the saga of seven Swedish miners who discovered gold in the Bighorn Mountains. Their tale is one of courage, tragedy, and mystery, from their initial find to their ill-fated quest and subsequent disappearance. Hear about the legendary lost Bighorn placer gold mine that has tantalized treasure hunters for generations. This episode weaves together the threads of current events and historical legends, offering a compelling narrative that captures the essence of Wyoming.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:21):
Good morning and welcome to let's Talk Wyoming.
I'm Mark Hamilton, your hostToday.
We'll be taking a look at ourcooling weather here in Wyoming.
In our history section we'll betalking about the lost place or
mine of the Bighorn Mountains.
Thanks for joining us today.
Hope you enjoy the show.

(01:01):
Taking a look at Wyoming weatherhere.
On the 14th of August we justhad a big storm go through
Springs County and we ended upwith about three-quarters inches
of rain and just a little bitof hail Boy, and it was a soaker
for sure.
Temps have been cooler thislast week and we hit 47 degrees
overnight, getting cool.

(01:21):
Our fires are still an issuebut with this cooler weather and
the rain it won't hurt gettingthese under control.
The only issue has been thelightning that caused a small
fire just in our area, butaround the state it's causing
some issues.
It's getting to feel like fallright now to me.
It's right around the cornerand we know that snow will be on

(01:43):
the ground before we know ithere.
In other news, in Wyoming ourprimaries are next Tuesday,
august the 20th.
It's been a contentious Ishould say season.
Right now, with the campaignseason, the main races drawing
attention are the legislativeraces for the House and the
Senate, the amount of PAC moneyis getting crazy.

(02:06):
Of course, this isn't forRepublicans and Democrats, that
a lot of people might see, butfor our Freedom Caucus versus
the RINOs.
Even our RINO governor, a lotof people would say, and I think
I'd probably agree has a PAC.
I think he calls it PAC-PACrather original.
Probably agree has a PAC Ithink he calls it PAC-PAC rather

(02:28):
original that is donating tothe RINO candidates in the race.
He's looking how he can get hisagenda pushed through.
There is a lot of out-of-statemoney that has found its way to
Wyoming.
Even Liz Cheney is involved.
I guess Liz didn't know that.
She lost back in 2022 or stillis in denial.
The presidential race is evenstranger, with Biden being

(02:52):
forced out.
Maybe some people say a coup toget rid of Biden.
Kamala Harris, the newcandidate, who previously was
considered a liability with zerolikability, has suddenly been
anointed as the candidate.
I saw at one of her events wherethey used AI to generate the

(03:15):
crowds for it.
Ai is something and I'm gettinga little scared of this.
To me, it can have a majorimpact on all of our lives.
To me, it can have a majorimpact on all of our lives.
A person won't know if it'sreal or AI.
It will be in everything we do.
All I can say is get out andvote, but do a little critical
thinking about who you're goingto be supporting, the

(03:42):
consequences of that vote thatyou'll be making.
Do you feel like that?
Your life is better today thanit was four years ago?
How about those costs foreverything we use daily?
How about the open border?
I saw where the English peopleare feeling the effects of this
and have been out protesting tosave their country.
Are we headed there next?

(04:03):
And my mother was English, soI'm half English, so that's why
I brought that up.
I guess it would be a good timefor us all in this country
tonight to pray Pray for alittle guidance from our
Heavenly Father on where we needto be and where will we be in
2028?
.
Will we recognize this country?

(04:25):
What's ahead for our youth?
The consequences of all thesedecisions we're making?
What's going to be left forthem?
It makes you wonder.
Today we're going to go back toLost Mines and Buried Treasures
of Old Wyoming by WC Lost Minesand Buried Treasures of Old
Wyoming by WC Jameson, and todaywe're going to learn about the

(04:48):
lost place or mine of theBighorn Mountains, which?
The Bighorn Mountains are about45 miles from where I'm at
right now, to our east.
During the summer of 1886, aparty of seven Swedes landed at
the North Port of New York Cityafter spending two months

(05:09):
crossing the Atlantic Ocean in asteamer.
Back in their native country,the Swedes had heard many
stories about the numerousopportunities to grow rich from
panning gold in America anddecide their destiny lay there.
The men saved their money,bought passages to America and
talked and dreamed of becomingwealthy.

(05:30):
After arriving on the Americaneastern shore, they alternately
took jobs to earn money andtravel across the continent from
the east coast to the RockyMountains.
After two years they foundthemselves in the Bighorn
Mountains in north-centralWyoming, exploring the canyon
and panning the many streamswith hopes of finding gold One

(05:52):
day.
During the late summer, theSwedes were riding across a
narrow valley leading theirpackhorses when good fortune
struck as they forded a shallowstream that bisected a meadow.
One of the men looked down andnoticed something sparkling in
the water.
He dismounted and examined thesands and the gravel of the
stream bottom.

(06:13):
They glistened with tinynuggets of gold.
After calling to his companions, he showed them his discovery
and for the next four hours theseven men excitedly panned gold
from the waters, not even takingthe time to unsettle their
mounts and turn them out tograze.
As the sun began to set, theSwedes decided to establish a

(06:35):
camp nearby, and while some setup a canvas tent, others
gathered firewood and prepared ameal For the next several weeks
, they spent their daylighthours banning gold, eventually
accumulating several pounds ofnuggets, dust and flakes which
they placed in canvas or sacksand food tins During their

(06:56):
travels.
Months earlier, they had decidedthey would divide equally among
them any gold they shouldrecover.
Each night, as they sat aroundthe campfire smoking their pipes
, the Swedes made plans for whatthey would do with their
newfound wealth when theyreturned to their homeland.
One afternoon, the snow beganto fall and the Swedes realized

(07:18):
they must prepare for the comingwinter in the mountains.
They determined it would benecessary to construct a cabin
to protect them from the snowand freezing temperatures they
knew would soon come.
While two men continued to panfor gold, three cut logs and
dragged them to the site.
They slaked over the cabin andthe remaining two hunted game

(07:38):
which they dried, smoked andstored for the winter.
The low crude cabin was more ofa rich lean-to than a proper
house, but it served the purposefor which it was intended.
One afternoon, as the two menassigned to hunt for meat
returned to camp with theircarcasses slung across the
withers of their mounts, theyheard gunshots coming from the

(07:59):
direction of the cabin.
After dismounting andground-hitching their horses,
they crept forward through thecover of trees until they
reached the edge of the meadowBefore them.
They could see that the cabinwas under attack by several
dozen Indians.
As their companions fired atthe raiders from window ports,
the Indians rode back and forth,occasionally lobbing an arrow

(08:22):
at the structure.
Realizing the impossibility ofrushing to the aid of their
countrymen, the two Swedesremained hidden in the woods and
watched.
Tired of the standoff, theIndians decided to set fire to
the cabin.
For an hour the structureblazed, with flames licking up
the sides and roof and smokecurling out of the windows.

(08:42):
Unable to remain inside thedense smoke and heat any longer,
the five Swedes opened the doorand ran up, firing their rifles
at the Indians.
One by one, the miners wereshot down and when they fell,
the Indians were upon them,taking scalps and hacking the
bodies to pieces While thecarnage ensued, a half-dozen
warriors dashed into the cabinand returned within seconds

(09:05):
carrying a few canned goods andsome tools.
The tents were hacked open andthe contents consumed on the
spot.
For three hours the twosurviving Swedes watched from
their hiding place among thetrees, shivering with cold and
terror, fearing the Indiansmight spot them and continue
their slaughter.
Presently, however, theattackers rounded up the dozen

(09:27):
horses in the crowd behind thecabin and rode away into the
mountains towards the west.
The sun had set and athree-quarter moon hung in the
crowd behind the cabin and rodeaway into the mountains towards
the west.
The sun had set and athree-quarter moon hung in the
heavens when the two Swedesdecided to leave their hiding
place and advance towards thesmoldering cabin.
Poking through the remains,they found most of their gold,
several thousand dollars worth,packed into baking soda cans and

(09:48):
food tins.
The canvas ore sacks containingnuggets had burned away, the
heat melting the content to formirregular-shaped,
baseball-sized lumps of gold.
Placing all the gold they couldcarry in their packs, they
returned to their horses mountedand rode out of the mountains,
leaving behind tens of thousandsof dollars worth of the
precious metal.

(10:09):
After two weeks of difficulttravel, during which they went
hungry and endured numeroushardships.
They finally arrived at FortReno near the Fowder River.
The Swedes, starved, exhaustedand suffering from exposure,
were taken to the post commander, where they relayed the story
of their gold discovery and themassacre by the Indians.
Instead of receiving sympathyfor their plight, the two men

(10:32):
were surprised to findthemselves the target of a stern
lecture and scolding by theofficer.
Angrily.
He informed them that they hadviolated a treaty that forbade
white men from entering theBighorn Mountains.
The two Swedes, unaware of sucha treaty, begged the commander
to provide an escort so theycould return to their place or
mine, bury the remains of theirdead companions and resume the

(10:56):
business of pending for gold.
The officer refused and warnedthe men to stay out of the
mountain range or suffer direconsequences from the military.
Angered and upset with thegovernment policy, the two
Swedes attempted to talk severalof the civilians they
encountered hanging around thefort into arming themselves and
riding back in the mountainswith them, promising each man a

(11:18):
share of the gold.
When the post commander learnedof their efforts, he summoned
the two men to his office onceagain, repeated his warning
about entering the mountains andtold them if they disobeyed him
, they would be arrested, triedand sent to prison.
The two Swedes remained at FortReno throughout the winter.
When the spring thaw arrived,they purchased new riding and

(11:40):
pack mounts and traveled southto Fort Laramie.
Here they believed they wouldbe able to recruit enough
well-armed and fearlessadventurers to make the return
trip into the Bighorn Mountainsand resume their mining
activities.
They hired a dozen men andinformed them about the treaty
forbidding white men in themountains and the threats the

(12:01):
Army made to arrest anyonecaught violating the policy.
The risk, they told the men,would be worth the gold they
would find on arriving at therich nugget-filled stream.
Two months later, a party ofmen led by the Swedes rode into
the Bighorns, traveling far fromthe roads patrolled by the US
Army.
They never returned.
Unknown to them, the SiouxIndians from all across Wyoming

(12:25):
and Montana were taking refugein the Bighorn Mountains up that
time.
It is presumed that once theybecame aware of the presence of
the white men, they attacked andslew them all.
Thomas Page Comstock, whose nameis associated with the famous
Comstock Lode, one of therichest mines in America history

(12:48):
, decided to try to locate thelost mine In 1870, he solicited
backing from several wealthyinvestors, organized a search
party and rode into the BighornMountains.
The expedition was a failureand the men found not a single
nugget of gold.
Comstock was called a failureand his investors were angry.

(13:08):
Out of gold, comstock wascalled a failure and his
investors were angry.
Short time later he traveled toBozeman, montana.
After several days there hecommitted suicide.
A few years after Comstock'sfailed expedition, an old man
arrived in Buffalo, wyoming witha story of finding a rich
deposit of placer gold in asmall stream in a remote canyon
in a mountain range about 150miles to the southwest, not far

(13:30):
from where he panned.
The gold, he said, were theremains of a burn law cabin
erected many years earlier.
He filled several pouts withgold.
He panned from the stream andhoped to use it to open a livery
stable in Buffalo and live outhis remaining years in relative
luxury.
He displayed his goal to anywho wanted to see it and told

(13:52):
them he might return to thecanyon someday to pan for more.
As he was making plans for hislivery, he dropped dead of a
heart attack before revealingthe location of his discovery.
Time passed and the Indians werefinally subdued, removed from
their traditional lands andplaced on reservations.
A few men who were familiarwith the story of the lost

(14:13):
Bighorn placer mine entered therange in search of it but had no
success.
During the 1880s, two men wholived in the mountains for
several months Trapping Beaverrelated that they spent some
time in an old, burnt-out andabandoned cabin near a shallow
stream.
On the dirt floor of the cabinlay a layer of ash and debris.

(14:35):
They found a heavy, odd-shapedchunk of mineral about the size
of a fist.
Months later they arrived atthe small settlement just
outside of the range.
They left the piece of metalwith the assayer and asked him
to identify it for them.
The next morning they were toldit was solid gold and that they
had been melted, probably fromfire, and that it was almost

(14:58):
pure.
While the two trappers were intown they learned the story of
the lost bighorn placer minefrom some people at the tavern
and realized that the streamthat flowed just beyond the old
cabin was one from which theSwedes successfully panned.
Gold.
Trappers made arrangements toreturn to the range to try to

(15:18):
find the location and harvestthe gold.
After purchasing supplies andequipment, they rode away
leading their heavily ladenpackhorses.
It was the last anyone saw ofthem alive Years later, a
skeleton of two men were foundat the edge of a meadow near
some trees in a narrow valley.
Though no one knows for certain, many believe the bones were

(15:40):
the remains of the two trapperswho had hoped to find the placer
.
Mine, now and then anotheradventurous seeker of wealth
enters the Bighorn Mountains insearch of the lost Bighorn
placer, but to date it remainslost, waiting to be rediscovered
.
Wow, that is pretty amazing.
You can think of all the spotsin the Bighorn Mountains that

(16:04):
have that.
There is a lot of areas withcabins, but something to look
forward to next time I go upinto the Bighorns, try to find
that burnt cabin and get panningin that creek and maybe I'll be
rich.
Thanks for joining us today andwe hope you enjoy our podcast.

(16:25):
As per the code of the West, weride for the brand and we ride
for Wyoming.
We'll be right back.
Come on, come on, come on.

(16:56):
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