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Harris, Sam

Prospector in the Black Hills[1] in 1875. (September 2, 1849 – July 26, 1875)[2]

Husband to Linda Harris, father to Timmy Harris and mining partner of Matson.[1]

In 1871,[2] Sam Harris left his wife Linda and son Timmy in Boston to go prospecting for gold in the West.[1] In June of 1875,[2] he discovered a pocket of free gold on Sioux land in the Black Hills. Gold nuggets he unearthed from the strike were appraised as ninety percent pure at the assay office in Twin Bluffs,[1] Nebraska,[2] leading Harris and others to believe the full value of his mine to be a million dollars.[1]

In July of 1875,[2] Harris sent a letter and a map to his mine, to his wife Linda in Boston, asking her to meet him at the Packsaddle Station[1] in Nebraska.[2] He partnered with Matson to help him work the mine and protect it against claim jumpers and the Sioux. As word in Twin Bluffs got out about the Harris Mine, Mart Fallon and his sons, Wes and Rip, decided to follow Harris and Matson into the Black Hills to force Harris into cutting them in as partners. Knowing he and Matson were being followed, Harris led the Fallons in a wide circle away from the mine. After several days, the Fallons caught up with the mining partners and tried to pry the location out of Harris at gunpoint. When Harris refused and tried to protect himself with a shotgun, Wes Fallon mortally shot him in the stomach, and he was left for dead.[1]

Bret Maverick, traveling in the Black Hills, happened to find Harris dying where the Fallons had left him. Bret tried to remove the bullet from Harris' body but failed. Harris was able to lead Bret to the mine, where Bret determined the strike was only a pocket of free gold, already played out and worthless beyond the nuggets Harris had already found. Harris told Bret the story of the Fallons, and asked him to take the nuggets to his wife, who was to meet him at the Packsaddle Station.[1]

Harris died of the gun shot, and Bret buried him at his mine,[1] where he rests to this day in an unmarked grave.[2]

See: Stage West