Natural Resources

In years after California’s gold rush, a rumor began to spread that gold had been found in Hardin County.

Farmers neglected their fields to wield picks and shovels. Prairie schooners brought prospectors, but no one struck “pay dirt” and the excitement died down nearly as quickly and it had begun.

In 1876 quite an excitement prevailed, and one hundred men worked there for some time. L.E. Campbell,
R.H.Waite, R.C. Wright, E.M. Campbell, and others were among the number.

John Royal, one of the town’s founders may have come from California seeking gold. Old Doc Wright who had prospected with Royal in California followed him here a few years later. Some credit Doc Wright with starting a gold rush of his own.

In 1857 O.M. Holcomb the first publisher of the Hardin County Sentinel, prospected up and down the Iowa River and reported that he too had found gold.

Years later on April 5, 1877 the memories were revived when it was reported that a bed of black sand had been found two miles north of Steamboat Rock. It had been noted that sparkling among the emery-like particles were some glittering specks.

Some old miners got pans and went to work. Each pan of the black sand yielded 50 cents worth of the bright metal which was pronounced pure gold.

The Eldora Ledger of April 6, 1877 stated: ”Wm. A. Saucer of Eldora happened along, gathered some of the metal from the workshop of Lew Lytle, and brought it to the Ledger office for inspection. It is gold
beyond question. Some was taken to the Jeweler, Mr. Nickolls who submitted it to every test and then declared it to be “true grit”. No one found the source of the gold and no one became rich.

The fact that gold exists among the rocks and hills along the Iowa River can hardly be questioned, but it has never been found in paying quantities.

The place on the east bank of the river where the gold was found was known to the people of Steamboat Rock as the “Gold Diggins”. It is across the river from a very famous former camping spot known as “Sand Springs”.