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Harris Mine

Pocket of free gold discovered by Sam Harris in the Black Hills[1] in June of 1875.[2]

Located on Sioux land between two hills along the northeast rim of the Black Hills, south of Bear Butte Creek, just east of present-day Sturgis.[2]

When Sam Harris made his strike, he unearthed several nuggets of free gold. One nugget was appraised at ninety percent at the assay office in Twin Bluffs, Nebraska, valuing the mine at a million dollars.[1]

When word got around about the valuable gold strike, Mart Fallon and his sons Wes and Rip conspired to track Harris and his partner Matson to the mine and force them to cut them in for a lucrative share. When Harris refused, Wes Fallon shot him and left him for dead.[1]

Bret Maverick found Harris, still clinging to life, and tried to help him. Unable to remove the bullet, Harris died. But before he passed, he was able to show Bret the site of the mine. Bret realized the mine was nothing more than a pocket of free gold, no more valuable than the nuggets Harris had already unearthed.[1]

Bret buried Harris at the mine, where he remains to this day in an unmarked grave.[1]

Bret's hand-drawn map shows the location of the Harris Mine.[1] Details include a trail which today is Highway 79 leading through Sturgis, a creek approximating Bear Butte Creek or a tributary, and a stoney gap now known as Stone Road.[2]

See: Stage West