Back during the mining boom, three men pulled loads of gold out of a mine near the Bighorn River but didn’t get to enjoy their fortune. the story is the stuff of Old West legends including Indian raids, finding treasure, and losing it. As far as anyone knows, the miners’ stash is still in them thar mountains along the Bighorn River today, just waiting to be found.
In 1863, Allen Hurlbert and a couple of friends set out to see if they could make a go of mining in Wyoming. the area near the Bighorn River in Washakie County proved to be an excellent place for the three friends to mine for gold.
Since the early 1840s, the Cowboy State had been rumored to be rich in gold, and some people flocking west during the California Gold Rush stopped to try their luck at mining in Wyoming.
Up in the mountains along a creek that fed into the Bighorn, Hurlbert and his buddies struck it rich.
For years, fear kept Hurlbert away from the site of the cabin and the mine. Finally, he decided to go back to at least get the gold that he and his friends had already mined and hidden in the floor of the cabin. to his dismay, he couldn’t remember exactly where it was.
