The Thoen Stone: A Saga Of The Black Hills

FRANK THOMSON

Publication: The Harlo Press, 1969, Detroit

First edition. Second printing. 8vo. Signed by the author at top of front pastedown sheet and also a full-page inscription to friends visiting him signed "Sincerely, Frank Thomson, age 92 - on Oct. 20, 73." Laid-in is a typed sheet signed by Frank Thomson with additional information regarding the Thoen Stone. Salmon colored cloth, titles stamped in gilt on the spine, 176 pp., preface, foreword, acknowledgments, illustrated, portraits, index. This title was originally published in 1966 and this edition includes a section on information gathered since the publication of 1966. 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. Includes information on trapping for furs and gold mining and how the two subject areas interacted to create a tragic event in South Dakota. Fine in lightly rubbed dust jacket with light wear to the spine ends.