In memory...

Memorial Day… a day of remembrance for those who have died in service to our country first widely observed in 1868.

We want to take a moment to honor those veterans.

Black Hills history, in a way, was built on the backs of civil war veterans. We don’t see a lot of indications in our local history of the politics of the war, meaning on which side they fought. We do, however, see the respect given in that many of the old timers were never addressed by their given name but were called Captain, Colonel, General. It takes a little research to identify soldiers that were stationed at Ft. Meade during that era. When they visited Deadwood, invariably they were identified by rank, not first name.

And anyone who has studied Black Hills history knows the name Seth Bullock, who later served as one of Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders, taking his troop to Texas.

So the Black Hills has a rich history based on the toil of the many veterans who came here to seek their fortune.

We also want to recognize some veteran prospectors we have known, regardless of their military history.

Bob had the rare opportunity to talk to a few of the last generation of old timers… men who worked the mines, alongside their fathers and grandfathers. There’s a lot of lost history buried with these veteran miners.

We find Fred Mosley listed in an old directory from 1933 -- Mosley, Frederick H. student, School of Mines. That would have been the beginning of a career culminating with a excerpt from Nuggets to Neutrinos, which credited Mosley as foreman of the Homestake Refinery.

Let me reinforce something a friend said recently… “I keep my mouth shut because I’m listening.”

Fred Mosley was “old Fred” by the time Bob got to know him in the late 1980’s. Bob listened to the old timer, and therefore he learned.

Bob’s memory of Fred goes like this: Fred liked to tell stories. One of the stories was that his father was working at the Astoria mine. The cage operator was drunk all the time and they would convince the operator to let them go to the bottom of the mine to play in the workings. Fred was 11-12 years old at the time.

Bob said one thing that was fun about Fred, he would pick a favored employee and teach them lab work and refining, telling them how to refine black slag, how many thousands of ounces of gold were there, how he had figured out how to get the gold out. Occasionally he’d come out with a pan full of rocks, pass them around and ask “ore or waste?” Then he’d turn around and walk away… He’d tell stories of assaying gold in the thousands of ounces per ton in the Homestake.

Fred was always willing to teach a willing pupil. A lot of the assayers in the Black Hills mines were taught by Fred.

Fred owned the Monarch Mine and would tell stories of taking samples and leaching, using simple sponge and battery technology to leach the material. He would tell stories of clays that you could smear on your hand and find gold.

The last time Bob saw Fred (before his death) was the Fourth of July. The 80s boom was over but Fred thought he would live forever!

This is just a sample of the lost history we hope to keep alive for future generations.

And we finish with a question to our readers. Above Mystic, as you wind down the mountain into that town, there is a gravesite marked by flowers.

We’ve asked a few people who should know… a local historian who indexes cemeteries online… have consulted local history books. We’ve found no reference. Someone knows and keeps the memory alive with flowers. Our only indication of the era is wooden markers worn to illegible near some old workings which might point to a mining associated death. It was also very common in that era for disease to sweep a community, so it can’t be ruled out that typhoid or the measles took the lives of several in a camp. Does anyone know the story?

As always, email us at hillshistory1876@gmail.com if you know this story or any other you are interested in sharing.