Gypsy Heart
Gold Member
By S. C. Turnbo
Another pioneer hunter of Crooked Creek, Boone County, Ark., is gone. We refer to Gideon Baughman who come to this stream in 1841 and located 7 miles below where Harrison is. He died in 1898. For 57 years he lived on the bank of this water course and drank of the cool bubbling spring of water which gushed out of the ground near his cabin. Here in the shade of the beautiful forest trees which stand near this spring he has repeatedly rested his weary limbs after returning from a chase after game. Gideon Baughman is a son of John Baughman and was born in Sevier County, Tenn., December 27th, 1821 and was about 77 years old when he died. The remains of his father rest in a graveyard 3 miles below Harrison. His mother, Mrs. Dorothy (her maiden name is not known) Baughman, died on Marble Creek in Iron County, Mo. Mr. Baughman was nearly 20 years old when he first saw Crooked Creek with its then beautiful prairie, valleys and nutritious grass. His principal occupation was hunting. Some of his experience as a hunter on this famed water course are interesting. He said that when him and his father come here nearly all the Indiana were gone, but a big Indian story was going the rounds of the settlers. The substance of which was that there is a mine on Buffalo which the Indiana called the Silver Cave. The Indians reported that there were two leads of silver ore in this cavern, that one lead had been worked 30 feet and the other 20. The Indians claimed that the mouth of the cave was so well concealed that it was hardly possible for the whites to discover it. Two Indiana of the names of John and Alpherd proposed to reveal the exact locality of this mine to two white men named John Smith and William Ashbrand provided the chief who lived in Shawneetown gave his consent. When the two Indians placed the matter before him he peremptorily refused saying, "If you reveal the whereabouts of this cave I will put you both to death and I will also slay the two white men." I am not vouching for the truth of this tale, but tell it to you as I heard it when I come here in 1841, " said Mr. Baughman.
Another pioneer hunter of Crooked Creek, Boone County, Ark., is gone. We refer to Gideon Baughman who come to this stream in 1841 and located 7 miles below where Harrison is. He died in 1898. For 57 years he lived on the bank of this water course and drank of the cool bubbling spring of water which gushed out of the ground near his cabin. Here in the shade of the beautiful forest trees which stand near this spring he has repeatedly rested his weary limbs after returning from a chase after game. Gideon Baughman is a son of John Baughman and was born in Sevier County, Tenn., December 27th, 1821 and was about 77 years old when he died. The remains of his father rest in a graveyard 3 miles below Harrison. His mother, Mrs. Dorothy (her maiden name is not known) Baughman, died on Marble Creek in Iron County, Mo. Mr. Baughman was nearly 20 years old when he first saw Crooked Creek with its then beautiful prairie, valleys and nutritious grass. His principal occupation was hunting. Some of his experience as a hunter on this famed water course are interesting. He said that when him and his father come here nearly all the Indiana were gone, but a big Indian story was going the rounds of the settlers. The substance of which was that there is a mine on Buffalo which the Indiana called the Silver Cave. The Indians reported that there were two leads of silver ore in this cavern, that one lead had been worked 30 feet and the other 20. The Indians claimed that the mouth of the cave was so well concealed that it was hardly possible for the whites to discover it. Two Indiana of the names of John and Alpherd proposed to reveal the exact locality of this mine to two white men named John Smith and William Ashbrand provided the chief who lived in Shawneetown gave his consent. When the two Indians placed the matter before him he peremptorily refused saying, "If you reveal the whereabouts of this cave I will put you both to death and I will also slay the two white men." I am not vouching for the truth of this tale, but tell it to you as I heard it when I come here in 1841, " said Mr. Baughman.
