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Treaty of Fort Laramie

Treaty between the U. S. government and the Sioux Indians, signed on April 29, 1868, to end hostilities on the frontier.[1]

The treaty ceded the land in the Dakota Territory west of the 104th meridian and east and south of the Missouri River to the Sioux, establishing the Great Sioux Reservation and restricting its use to the Indians.[1]

Stage West: In June of 1875,[3] Sam Harris, intruding on Sioux land, discovered a pocket of free gold on the Great Sioux Reservation in the Black Hills.[4] In July,[3] Harris was shot and left for dead by Wes Fallon. Bret Maverick, traveling through the Black Hills independently, found Harris still clinging to life. Bret tried to remove Fallon's bullet from Harris, but was unsuccessful. Harris continued to lose blood and weaken, but showed Bret the location of his gold strike. Harris explained to Bret that his wife was due to arrive on the west-bound stage from Boston at the Packsaddle Station a few days hence. Before he died, Harris asked Bret to take as many gold nuggets to his wife as he had already unearthed as a legacy for their son Timmy back in Boston. Bret agreed and Harris died. Bret buried Harris at the mine, took the gold and headed for the Packsaddle Station[4] in Nebraska.[3] Two hours away from the Harris Mine, Bret was spotted by a band of Sioux, who gave chase. Bret dropped several nuggets as he rode, hoping to slow them down but they kept pursuing him. Bret was forced to kill two of them in self-defense before he could elude them and cross the Dakota border[4] into Nebraska.[3]