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Black Hills Gold History
According to legend, a young Frenchman lost his way while searching for
gold during the gold rush days in the Black Hills. Growing weak with hunger
and frustration, he fell asleep beneath a tree and dreamed of the beautiful
grape vines and grapes of his homeland growing near the sides of a babbling
brook. Inspired by his dream, he created a tri-colored gold jewelry with
the grapes, leaves and vines -- known today as Black Hills Gold.Black Hills Gold history actually began in 1874. An expeditionary force of one thousand men were led by the infamous George Armstrong Custer into the Black Hills area, a 1000-square-mile region held sacred by the Sioux. A few months after the group's arrival, a man named Horatio N. Ross discovered gold along French Creek in the central Black Hills. One of the last great North American gold rushes inevitably followed.
White
settlement of the region increased dramatically with the discovery of
gold. The city of Deadwood grew out of this Wild West era of prospectors,
saloons, and legendary figures like Wild Bill Hickock and Calamity Jane.
This historic mining town was also home to S.T. Butler (pictured at left),
widely acknowledged as the father of Black Hills Gold jewelry. The three-color
grape leaf style that Butler used may have originated in California during
the 1849 gold rush and worked its way eastward through the mining camps
of Nevada, Idaho, Montana and finally, the Black Hills.F.L. Thorpe, grandson of S.T. Butler, was a third generation goldsmith artisan who expanded his grandfather's original designs into the hundreds. In 1919, a partnership was formed between Frank Thorpe and and E.O. Lampinen under the name F.L. Thorpe Company.
When
the partnership of Thorpe and Lampinen was dissolved, Lampinen operated
his own shop in Deadwood under the name of Black Hills Jewelry Manufacturing.
F.L. Thorpe Company also continued operating.In 1944, Ivan Landstrom bought Black Hills Jewelry Manufacturing from Lampinen and moved the firm from Deadwood to Rapid City and continued to operate under the name of Black Hills Jewelry Manufacturing, manufacturers of Landstrom's Original Black Hills Gold Creations.
Also in the early 1900's, a 16-year-old woman named Clara Arnold learned the art of making Black Hills Gold from relatives of S.T. Butler. By the 1940's she owned and operated her own manufacturing plant in Rapid City. She sold her company to the Stamper family in 1959, and it has since operated under the name Stamper Genuine Black Hills Gold Jewelry.
In
the 1980's a federal judge ruled that if a manufacturer was to call its
jewelry Black Hills Gold, then it must be made in the Black Hills. Several
new companies were born in the Black Hills after this, including South
Dakota Gold, Mount Rushmore and Coleman. These new manufacturers brought
increased competition and new styles to the marketplace, branching out
the original vines of Black Hills Gold tradition.History had travelled full circle in 1995 when Landstrom's purchased F.L. Thorpe, reuniting the two original Black Hills Gold manufacturers. Landstrom's still manufactures most of the original Thorpe styles, in addition to expanding Thorpe's product line to include new styles.
While much has changed in the Black Hills Gold marketplace in recent years, the intricately hand crafted grapes and pink and green leaves remain the traditional centerpiece of all manufacturers' jewelry. If you would like to know more about this unique, heirloom-quality jewelry, just contact us here at the Black Hills Gold Outlet. You, too, could own a piece of this history.