Thoen Stone

Last updated
Thoen Stone
Thoen Stone Marker 2022-07-09.jpg
Thoen Stone replica monument above Spearfish City Park
Material Sandstone
Size10 by 8 by 3 inches (254 mm × 203 mm × 76 mm)
Writing English
Created1834 CE
DiscoveredMarch 14, 1887 on Lookout Mountain, Black Hills, South Dakota, United States
Present location Adams Museum & House, Deadwood, South Dakota

The Thoen Stone is an inscribed sandstone slab that was discovered in the Black Hills of South Dakota by Louis Thoen in 1887. The inscription, dated 1834, was supposedly made by the last survivor of a gold mining party whose members were killed by Native Americans after discovering gold in the area. The discovery of the stone called into question the first discovery of gold in the Black Hills and the history of gold mining in the area; if the account provided by the inscription is authentic, it would mean that gold was discovered in the Black Hills 40 years before the Custer Expedition of 1874 and the subsequent Black Hills Gold Rush. [1] It is currently on display at the Adams Museum & House in Deadwood, South Dakota. [2]

Contents

History

Background

The early history of the people mentioned in the inscription is limited. [2] According to the stone, Ezra Kind traveled to the Black Hills in 1833 in search of gold, at which time a treaty prevented the party from entering the area legally. [3] Among Kind's party were seven men: De Lacompt, G.W. Wood, T. Brown, R. Kent, William King, and Indian Crow. King and Indian Crow were experienced miners. [4]

The stone itself was inscribed in 1834 by Ezra Kind after his entire party was killed by Native Americans. [2] Kind himself later died of unknown causes. [1]

Discovery

On March 14, 1887, [5] Norwegian immigrants and brothers Louis and Ivan Thoen discovered the slab while collecting sandstone on the west face of Lookout Mountain near their home in Spearfish. [2] The stone was buried several feet below the surface. [4] [5] [6] The men took the slab home, and Louis invited Henry Keats (a later mayor of Spearfish) to see the stone and the location where it was found. The stone was then taken to the Spearfish Register. [5] One day later, Louis decided to display it in a store in Spearfish that was owned by John Cashner; Cashner and Louis sold pictures of the stone as postcards. [7] In 1888, Cashner traveled to the Detroit Free Press in Michigan and sold the story of the stone to the newspaper. Louis died in 1919 during the Spanish flu epidemic. [2] The stone was named for Louis Thoen [8] and was transferred to the Adams Museum in Deadwood for preservation and display. [7]

Legacy

Spearfish historian Frank Thomson formed the Thoen Stone Committee in 1950, which aimed to memorialize it at the site it was discovered. Three Thoen relatives were also among the committee members. [7] A monument complete with a replica of the stone was later placed on a hill above the Spearfish City Park, [4] and an annual seven-mile run past the marker is named after the stone. [9] [10] In 1966, Thomson published a book about the stone, titled The Thoen Stone: A Saga of the Black Hills. [1] [2]

Description

The Thoen Stone is carved out of sandstone. It is three inches thick and measures 10 inches by eight inches. [2]

Inscription

Text is written in a cursive font on both sides of the slab. The inscription reads: [7]

Front:

Came to these hills
in 1833 seven of us
De Lacompt
Ezra Kind
GW Wood
T Brown
R Kent
Wm King
Indian Crow
all ded[ sic ]
but me
Ezra Kind
Killed by Ind[ians]
beyond the
high hill got
our gold June
1834

Back:

got all of the
gold we could
carry our ponys[ sic ]
all got by the Indians
I hav[ sic ] lost my gun
and nothing to
eat and Indians
hunting me

Investigation and controversy

Since its discovery in 1887, controversy over the authenticity of the Thoen Stone has circulated. Many people believe that the stone is a hoax and was fabricated by Louis and Ivan Thoen. Some have pointed to the fact that Louis Thoen was a stonemason. [5] Others doubted that a man running for his life would have stopped to leave a message, or that seven men—most of whom had no mining experience—could have found as much gold as described on the stone. [7] Until their deaths, the Thoens defended the authenticity of the stone. [6]

The 1888 Detroit Free Press article urged anyone with information on the men mentioned on the stone to contact Cashner. One reply came from a Harvey Brown, Jr., who alleged his half-uncle, William Thompson Brown, had left Michigan for the American West with a man named Kent in 1832, and neither man had returned nor had been heard from again. [7]

Thomson investigation

In the 1950s, Thomson traveled to the East Coast in search of the families of the party's members. Thomson located several families, all with surnames similar to those listed on the Thoen Stone, who claimed to have had ancestors who disappeared in the American West around 1830. [1] Some of these relatives had written back to their families before their disappearances. One, Kent, allegedly had sent a letter—possibly using one of the American Fur Company trading posts in the territory—reporting that he had found gold and would be returning home. Thompson also found evidence that Brown grew up in North Carolina during a local gold rush and may have gained knowledge of placer mining techniques during that time. Additionally, King and Indian Crow were both from Lumpkin County, Georgia, where another local gold rush took place in the 1820s. Thomson found that Kind himself was a German immigrant to Pennsylvania, and that he had indeed left home to travel west in the 1830s and disappeared. [7]

Thomson theorized that the attack on the party may have been orchestrated by the American Fur Company as a way to dissuade outside encroachment in its territory, and found evidence that the company had indeed sponsored attacks on other parties from its positions at Fort Pierre Chouteau and Fort Clark. [7]

Thomson also believed that the hunting knives carried by pioneers in the 1830s would have been sturdy enough to inscribe a message in a wet sandstone slab, and theorized that Kind would have had ample time while hiding to carve something. [7]

Modern investigations

In the 2000s, handwriting expert Marion Briggs and another in California compared the handwriting on the postcards and the writing on the slab. Both determined that the inscriptions were not done by the same person, and the stone was not inscribed by either of the two Thoen brothers, Cashner, or John S. McClintock, who was an early advocate for the slab's authenticity. [1]

Doom metal band Pine Beetle has a song called "Thoen", which is based on the Thoen Stone mystery.[ citation needed ]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lawrence County, South Dakota</span> County in South Dakota, United States

Lawrence County is a county in the U.S. state of South Dakota. As of the 2020 census, the population was 25,768, making it the 8th most populous county in South Dakota. Its county seat is Deadwood.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deadwood, South Dakota</span> City in South Dakota, United States

Deadwood is a city that serves as county seat of Lawrence County, South Dakota, United States. It was named by early settlers after the dead trees found in its gulch. The city had its heyday from 1876 to 1879, after gold deposits had been discovered there, leading to the Black Hills Gold Rush. At its height, the city had a population of 25,000, attracting Old West figures such as Wyatt Earp, Calamity Jane, Seth Bullock and Wild Bill Hickok.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spearfish, South Dakota</span> City in South Dakota, United States

Spearfish is a city in Lawrence County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 12,193 at the time of the 2020 census, making it the 10th most populous city in South Dakota. Spearfish is the largest city in Lawrence County and the home of Black Hills State University.

The United States state of South Dakota has an official state song, "Hail, South Dakota!", written by DeeCort Hammitt. The state's largest city, Sioux Falls, is home to the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra. The town of Vermillion hosts the National Music Museum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Singapore Stone</span> Fragment of a large sandstone slab which originally stood at the mouth of the Singapore River

The Singapore Stone is a fragment of a large sandstone slab which originally stood at the mouth of the Singapore River. The large slab, which is believed to date back to at least the 13th century and possibly as early as the 10th or 11th century, bore an undeciphered inscription. Recent theories suggest that the inscription is either in Old Javanese or in Sanskrit, which suggested a possibility that the island was an extension of the Majapahit civilization in the past.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dholavira</span> Indus Valley Civilization site in Gujarat, India

Dholavira is an archaeological site at Khadirbet in Bhachau Taluka of Kutch District, in the state of Gujarat in western India, which has taken its name from a modern-day village 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) south of it. This village is 165 km (103 mi) from Radhanpur. Also known locally as Kotada timba, the site contains ruins of a city of the ancient Indus Valley civilization. Earthquakes have repeatedly affected Dholavira, including a particularly severe one around 2600 BCE.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kuthodaw Pagoda</span> Buddhist Pagoda with worlds largest book in Myanmar

Kuthodaw Pagoda is a Buddhist stupa, located in Mandalay, Burma (Myanmar), that contains the world's largest book. It lies at the foot of Mandalay Hill and was built during the reign of King Mindon. The stupa itself, which is gilded above its terraces, is 188 feet (57 m) high, and is modelled after the Shwezigon Pagoda at Nyaung-U near Bagan. In the grounds of the pagoda are 729 kyauksa gu or stone-inscription caves, each containing a marble slab inscribed on both sides with a page of text from the Tipitaka, the entire Pali Canon of Theravada Buddhism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black Hills gold rush</span> Gold Rush that took place in Dakota Territory in the United States

The Black Hills gold rush took place in Dakota Territory in the United States. It began in 1874 following the Custer Expedition and reached a peak in 1876–77.

The Wagnus Massacre was an incident that occurred on the Deadwood – Bismarck Trail on July 17, 1877.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black Hills</span> Mountain range in South Dakota and Wyoming, United States

The Black Hills is an isolated mountain range rising from the Great Plains of North America in western South Dakota and extending into Wyoming, United States. Black Elk Peak, which rises to 7,242 feet (2,207 m), is the range's highest summit. The name of the range in Lakota is Pahá Sápa. It encompasses the Black Hills National Forest. It formed as a result of an upwarping of ancient rock, after which the removal of the higher portions of the mountain mass by stream erosion produced the present-day topography. The hills are so called because of their dark appearance from a distance, as they are covered in evergreen trees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adams Museum & House</span> History museum in Deadwood, South Dakota

The Adams Museum & House in Deadwood is considered the Black Hills' oldest history museum. Artifacts on display reflect the legends of Wild Bill, Calamity Jane, Deadwood Dick, and the Black Hills gold rush. The museum is open year-round and features changing exhibits and special programs. It was founded by Deadwood businessman and former mayor W.E. Adams in 1930. The museum was a gift to the city of Deadwood and it remains city property to this day. Among the exhibits are the J.B. Haggin Locomotive, the Thoen Stone, and Potato Creek Johnny's Gold Nugget. It is located at 54 Sherman Street.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margam Stones Museum</span> Museum of early Christian carved stones in Port Talbot, South Wales

Margam Stones Museum is a small Victorian schoolhouse near Port Talbot, South Wales, which now provides a home for one of the most important collections of Celtic stone crosses in Britain. All originally found within the locality of Margam, and mostly assembled as a collection in the 19th century, they provide enduring testimony to a Welsh Christian culture between the 6th and 16th centuries. The striking Cross of Conbelin is the most celebrated example. From around 1000 AD, it is a huge disc cross with Celtic interlace and plaitwork patterns, figurative scenes including a hunting scene, and inscriptions telling us who made it and who erected it. There are 17 early Christian stones, plus 11 memorials and other stones from the post-Norman periods. The museum is run by Cadw, the Welsh historic sites agency, and is close to Margam Abbey Church and the ruins of the Abbey buildings.

The Gwalior Inscription of Mihirakula is a Sanskrit inscription recording the construction of a Surya temple from stone on the Gopa hill of Gwalior. Though now referred with the name of Mihirakula, the temple and the inscription was commissioned by Matricheta. The original temple is lost, and the inscribed red-sandstone slab was found in 1861 by Alexander Cunningham in the porch of another temple, and published in 1861. This inscribed stone from Gwalior was moved shortly after its discovery to the Kolkata museum for preservation. Several translations of it have been published thereafter. It is damaged, its script is the northern class of ancient Gupta script and the entire composition is in poetic verse.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carbonate, South Dakota</span> Ghost town in South Dakota, United States of America

Carbonate, also known as Carbonate Camp, West Virginia, Virginia, and Carbonate City, is a ghost town located in Lawrence County, South Dakota, United States.

Rochford is an unincorporated community in Pennington County, South Dakota, United States. It is not tracked by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Galena is an unincorporated community in Lawrence County, South Dakota, United States. It is often considered to be a ghost town, although a few families still live in the area. It is not tracked by the U.S. Census Bureau.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Terraville, South Dakota</span> Ghost town in South Dakota, United States of America

Terraville is a ghost town in Lawrence County, South Dakota, United States. It was founded in 1877 as a mining camp and later evolved into a town. It was purchased by the Homestake Mining Company and was destroyed in 1982 to make way for a new mine.

The Grand Island and Wyoming Central Railroad (GI&WC) was a railroad that served the U.S. states of Nebraska and South Dakota. It was headquartered in Grand Island, Nebraska. In 1902, it had a length of 401.32 miles (645.86 km).

This timeline of South Dakota is a list of events in the history of South Dakota by year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geology of South Dakota</span>

The geology of South Dakota began to form more than 2.5 billion years ago in the Archean eon of the Precambrian. Igneous crystalline basement rock continued to emplace through the Proterozoic, interspersed with sediments and volcanic materials. Large limestone and shale deposits formed during the Paleozoic, during prevalent shallow marine conditions, followed by red beds during terrestrial conditions in the Triassic. The Western Interior Seaway flooded the region, creating vast shale, chalk and coal beds in the Cretaceous as the Laramide orogeny began to form the Rocky Mountains. The Black Hills were uplifted in the early Cenozoic, followed by long-running periods of erosion, sediment deposition and volcanic ash fall, forming the Badlands and storing marine and mammal fossils. Much of the state's landscape was reworked during several phases of glaciation in the Pleistocene. South Dakota has extensive mineral resources in the Black Hills and some oil and gas extraction in the Williston Basin. The Homestake Mine, active until 2002, was a major gold mine that reached up to 8000 feet underground and is now used for dark matter and neutrino research.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Parks, Wynn (August 2009). "The Mystery (and Debate) of the Thoen Stone: Part II". Deadwood Magazine. Deadwood, SD: TDG Communications. Retrieved January 2, 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Higbee, Paul; Aney, Kathleen (2000). Spearfish: A History. Spearfish, SD: Black Hills and Bighorns History Project. pp. 10–11. ISBN   0-9676762-0-7.
  3. ↑ "Shaping History". Spearfish Chamber of Commerce. Spearfish, SD: Spearfish Area Chamber of Commerce. Retrieved January 2, 2014.
  4. 1 2 3 Nolting, M. Timothy (June 27, 2013). "Across the Fence: Black Hills Gold and the Thoen Stone". Gering Citizen. Gering, NE. Retrieved January 2, 2014.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Parks, Wynn (August 2009). "The Thoen Stone: Searching for Ezra Kind". Deadwood Magazine. Deadwood, SD: TDG Communications. Retrieved January 2, 2014.
  6. 1 2 "History, Legends & Lore: Thoen Stone". Black Hills Visitor. Rapid City, SD. Retrieved January 2, 2014.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Burr, Wesley H. (April 1997). "Discovered in 1887, the Thoen Stone 'documents' a June 1834 tragedy in the Black Hills". Wild West. Vol. 9, no. 6. EBSCOhost   9703113132 . Retrieved June 17, 2024– via EBSCOhost.
  8. ↑ "The Thoen Stone". Black Hills Pioneer. Spearfish, SD. January 14, 2000. Retrieved January 2, 2014.
  9. ↑ "Thone Stone Seven". VisitSpearfish.com. Spearfish, SD: Visit Spearfish. August 21, 2010. Retrieved January 2, 2014.
  10. ↑ "Thoen Stone Seven Run/Walk". D.C. Booth Historic National Fish Hatchery and Archives. The Booth Society. Retrieved January 2, 2014.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.