Burnt Ranch Norman McCully Gold Dust

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Burnt Ranch Norman McCully Gold Dust

Lost Treasure SD • Pennington County County
Description
1870s Pennington County legend of miner Norman McCully murdered near Burnt Ranch while carrying $3,000 in gold dust from his diggings toward Rapid City — a deserting cavalryman buried the dust and was hanged at Fort Benton without revealing the spot.
Historical Notes
General Crook's troops camped near Sheridan when a soldier AWOL from Camp Sheridan stumbled on McCully's body east of present Sheridan Lake. Cavalry boot tracks implicated the missing trooper, who later killed a fellow sawmill convict at Fort Benton and was lynched by workers. The U.S. Congressional Record of 1968 and South Dakota Magazine still point searchers to the old Burnt Ranch mining camp valley near Sheridan.
Status / Verification legend — Legendary or approximate

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