It was in the spring of 1850 when the word of the incredible richness of gold at a place called Downie's Flat swept downstream and sent a crowd of wide-eyed wannabe millionaires scurrying to the new gold strike.
Original discoverers were digging a pound of gold a day out of the rocky crevices with a butcher knife.
When those Johnny-come-latelies arrived at Downie's Flat they were not so cordially received by the dozen or so original discoverers who'd spent a hard winter up there. A prosp

True West May/June 2025
In This Issue:
Features
- Historic Hotels of the American West
- A Journey Through Wyoming’s Outlaw History
- A Journey Through Washington’s Wild Frontier
- Blazing The Oregon Trail
- Journey Through Time
- Did Brigham Young Order a Massacre?
- Mountain Meadows Scapegoat John D. Lee VS. A Firing Squad
- Mormons in the Movies
- An Indigenous Consultant Ensures Accuracy
- The Battle Axe And A Raw Deal
- Showdown: Bridger VS. Brigham
- The Mountain Man and the Mormon Moses
- The Ghosts of Mountain Meadows
- The War Before the War
- Mountain Meadows