Researching that old story about the five caches of gold hidden by the Stewart brothers, I pulled up this on their old store being checked out for the hidden gold. Also a place in Sterling had dust sift thru the floor boards.
When it was believed that the Stewart brothers had hidden some of their gold dust in the area some either thought to look for the possible caches being hidden under their old store/trading post or figured that dust was lost over the years and sifted down between the cracks in the floor boards. Either way the dirt was dug up that was under the site. This also happened at another location where dust was used for currency. In Madison County, Montana at Sterling after the mining boom was over when the saloon was torn down a Civil War veteran had the sense to take a wheelbarrow of dirt from under the old building and panned it out, for his efforts he was rewarded with $1,000 in gold dust that was lost over the years filtering down between the cracks in the floor boards. In the case of the old saloon at Sterling the gold dust was dropped a little at a time by miners having a good time after payday.
These examples show that years later folks will, given the chance take up the floors of old buildings looking for wealth either placed there on purpose to hide it, or in some cases it somehow got there a grain at a time by accident. Today any of the old buildings, like those in our story are most likely protected, of course there are thousands of locations where the old buildings are no longer standing. Researching these long forgotten locations could be well worth the time and payoff with either something of value, but then again the feeling of accomplishment of finding the site where an old business once stood that was lost to history is a reward of a different kind and worth the time to people who find enjoyment from the thrill of the hunt.
When it was believed that the Stewart brothers had hidden some of their gold dust in the area some either thought to look for the possible caches being hidden under their old store/trading post or figured that dust was lost over the years and sifted down between the cracks in the floor boards. Either way the dirt was dug up that was under the site. This also happened at another location where dust was used for currency. In Madison County, Montana at Sterling after the mining boom was over when the saloon was torn down a Civil War veteran had the sense to take a wheelbarrow of dirt from under the old building and panned it out, for his efforts he was rewarded with $1,000 in gold dust that was lost over the years filtering down between the cracks in the floor boards. In the case of the old saloon at Sterling the gold dust was dropped a little at a time by miners having a good time after payday.
These examples show that years later folks will, given the chance take up the floors of old buildings looking for wealth either placed there on purpose to hide it, or in some cases it somehow got there a grain at a time by accident. Today any of the old buildings, like those in our story are most likely protected, of course there are thousands of locations where the old buildings are no longer standing. Researching these long forgotten locations could be well worth the time and payoff with either something of value, but then again the feeling of accomplishment of finding the site where an old business once stood that was lost to history is a reward of a different kind and worth the time to people who find enjoyment from the thrill of the hunt.
