Gypsy Heart
Gold Member
Old Pierre Narcelle, who settled at the mouth of Chapelle creek in 1825, was employed by the American Fur Company at one thousand dollars per year and his expenses. He thus told his story shortly before his death : "Instead of sending my money back to the states, I invested it in ponies and articles that the fur company did not want to handle. The ponies I sent out on the range with
those belonging to the Indians. The articles that I bought I sent back to friends, who sold them at a good profit and the money was sent back to me. My money in those days was always in gold and silver and as there were no banks within hundreds of miles there was nothing to do but bank in the ground. In half a dozen places around my house between the years 1850 and 1860 I had at
times from thirty thousand to sixty thousand dollars buried. These places were known to all the members of the family, but to no other persons. These banks were good enough and safe enough until the spring of 1861, when three of them broke and I lost seventy-two thousand dollars in gold and silver. Just how my bank happened to break may be of interest to those who have lost money through the operations of dishonest cashiers. Out in front of the house was a beautiful little park of perhaps five acres. It was filled with huge cottonwood trees.
These were along the stream and deep down beneath their roots I placed my gold and silver wrapped in buckskin. All of these trees were marked and in the house I kept a plat, showing the location of each bag and the sum of money it contained. The winter of 1860-61 the snowfall was very heavy-at least three feet
on the level. When warm weather came the snow went off rapidly and there was every prospect of high water. The little bottom about the house had never overflowed, so we felt secure. The house stood fully forty feet above the water, while the place where the money was buried was nearly as high. Day after day the warm weather continued and the river kept rising. Suddenly there was a
cold spell and the flood was checked. One day some Indians came down the river and told us there was a great ice dam at Farm Island, near Bad river, and that the water had backed up for miles. That night the gorge broke and the water came down. When we arose in the morning the water had over-flowed the park in front of the house and had backed up to within a few feet of the door. All day it continued to rise and at night it was on the floor and we moved out and took refuge in the barn, which was higher up the bank. In the morning we were up bright and early, but a great change had come over the situation. The house was still standing, but the bank where I had kept my money was gone. There was nothing to mark its location except a waste of muddy water. All of the trees
which had marked the spots where the money was located had been washed out by the roots and had floated down stream. After the water subsided the boys and myself hunted for the money, but not one cent did we find."
Felix Duboise, who lived upon an island a little way below Chapelle creek, lost forty-five thousand dollars in the same flood. His wife and four children and six hundred head of cattle also were lost.
This information appears in Chapter LXXX of
"History of South Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. I (1904), pages 473-476
those belonging to the Indians. The articles that I bought I sent back to friends, who sold them at a good profit and the money was sent back to me. My money in those days was always in gold and silver and as there were no banks within hundreds of miles there was nothing to do but bank in the ground. In half a dozen places around my house between the years 1850 and 1860 I had at
times from thirty thousand to sixty thousand dollars buried. These places were known to all the members of the family, but to no other persons. These banks were good enough and safe enough until the spring of 1861, when three of them broke and I lost seventy-two thousand dollars in gold and silver. Just how my bank happened to break may be of interest to those who have lost money through the operations of dishonest cashiers. Out in front of the house was a beautiful little park of perhaps five acres. It was filled with huge cottonwood trees.
These were along the stream and deep down beneath their roots I placed my gold and silver wrapped in buckskin. All of these trees were marked and in the house I kept a plat, showing the location of each bag and the sum of money it contained. The winter of 1860-61 the snowfall was very heavy-at least three feet
on the level. When warm weather came the snow went off rapidly and there was every prospect of high water. The little bottom about the house had never overflowed, so we felt secure. The house stood fully forty feet above the water, while the place where the money was buried was nearly as high. Day after day the warm weather continued and the river kept rising. Suddenly there was a
cold spell and the flood was checked. One day some Indians came down the river and told us there was a great ice dam at Farm Island, near Bad river, and that the water had backed up for miles. That night the gorge broke and the water came down. When we arose in the morning the water had over-flowed the park in front of the house and had backed up to within a few feet of the door. All day it continued to rise and at night it was on the floor and we moved out and took refuge in the barn, which was higher up the bank. In the morning we were up bright and early, but a great change had come over the situation. The house was still standing, but the bank where I had kept my money was gone. There was nothing to mark its location except a waste of muddy water. All of the trees
which had marked the spots where the money was located had been washed out by the roots and had floated down stream. After the water subsided the boys and myself hunted for the money, but not one cent did we find."
Felix Duboise, who lived upon an island a little way below Chapelle creek, lost forty-five thousand dollars in the same flood. His wife and four children and six hundred head of cattle also were lost.
This information appears in Chapter LXXX of
"History of South Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. I (1904), pages 473-476
