A Vigilante Hanging

Nevada City and the surrounding area, which included Virginia City, got their start when gold was discovered in Adler Gulch in 1863.

Nevada City was apart of Idaho Territory, until 1865, when it became the capital of Montana.

At this time, there was no law enforcement in the area—there was only a “miners court.”

Plummer Gang
robbing stagecoach.

So when George Ives, a member of the Plummer Gang * murdered a young Dutchman by the name of Nicholas Tibalt, in cold blood, it was vigilantes that responded.

Tibalt had been given gold by his employers, Burtchy and Clark, to buy mules. On his return trip, he was murdered, and the remaining gold and mules were stolen.

Ten days later, the body of Tibalt was brought back to Nevada City in a wagon. Ives, as he arrived in Virginia City, with the mules, had openly bragged, “the Dutchman would never trouble anybody again.”

Hearing about Ives’ boast, twenty-five men rode out to capture him. He was returned to Nevada City and put on trial. This proceeding, held outdoors, lasted three days as 2,000 area residents watched.

During his trial Ives’ “criminal friends”—including Sheriff Plummer of Virginia City-- tried to help him by planning his escape by intimidating witnesses—but neither worked.

Henry Plummer

Sheriff Plummer never arrived to lead the gang’s plan to help Ives, for he stayed away hearing vigilantes were looking for them, and the escape plan was thwarted because vigilante guards with loaded shotguns guarded Ives.

The miner’s court convicted Ives of the charges, and quickly arranged his hanging. A forty-foot pole was run through the window of an unfinished house, and a rope was draped over it.

Just fifty-eight minutes after he was found guilty, George Ives was hanged. He was buried next to his victim Tibalt—it was believed at the time that this would let Tibalt know his death had been avenged.

Outdoor museum Nevada City

Shortly after Ives’ hanging—the infamous Montana Vigilantes group was formed. Within the first month, twenty-four men found guilty by the vigilantes were hanged. Most of these men were apart of the Plummer Gang.

Just six years later, in 1869, the gold boom in Alder Gulch had ended, only a hundred people remained. By 1872, Nevada City was a ghost town.

During its heyday the placer mines of Alder Gulch yielded over thirty-five million dollars in gold.

By the early 1920s, many of the buildings in Nevada City had been destroyed.

In the 1950s a couple, Charles and Sue Bovey who collected Old Montana buildings bought Nevada City, and started to place other historic frontier buildings along the back streets of this ghost town.

They were careful to keep the original layout of the city intact.

In 1997, the State of Montana purchased the town. Today the Montana Heritage Commission runs Nevada City, as an outdoor museum. The last of the ninety historic buildings were placed on the site in 1978.

One hundred and fifty years after George Ives was hanged, three employees of the Montana Heritage Commission, Dan Thyer, Bill Peterson, and John Ellingsen were doing a research project at the site.

Historic Marker

Peterson took a photograph of Thyer and Ellingsen standing next to a historical marker that shows the spot where Ives was hanged.

When this photo was uploaded to a computer, the two men were not even in the shot. Instead, there is a mysterious, transparent figure of a man, who the three did not recognize.

They concluded this must be the ghost of George Ives.

The mysterious photo that was taken.

In the following short video Dan Thyer discusses the history of the Ives hanging, plus there is a clear shot of the mysterious figure that Peterson captured in the photograph.

* The Plummer Gang were Road Agents or highwaymen led by Sheriff Plummer. This was during the Civil War, and many wounded soldiers from both the North and South landed in Montana Territory. This made for a hostile atmosphere.

In May of 1864 Montana Territory was created by an Act of Congress and signed by President Abraham Lincoln. This insured Alder Gulch was under the jurisdiction of the United States—or the North.

The “vigilantes” were former wounded Northern soldiers who were there to ensure none of the 30 million dollars in gold mined in the Gulch in just 3 years from 1863 to 1866 reached the South.

So these vigilantes in remote Montana actually played a role in the outcome of the Civil War.

Would You Volunteer in a Ghost Town?

This summer a unique opportunity is being offered--at least that is how it is advertised.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is seeking volunteers to stay and work in a historic frontier-mining ghost town in Montana.

Garnet

The volunteers would help out with the care and upkeep of Garnet Ghost Town. Garnet at one time was a booming mining community but has been abandoned for 100 years.

Garnet is located 6,000 feet up at the head of First Chance Creek in the forested mountains east of Missoula. It is named after the semi-precious stone that was originally mined here.

Garnet 1890s

In 1865, gold was discovered at First Chance Gulch. At its peak Garnet had a population of 1,200 residents. The town had 4 stores, 4 hotels, a barbershop, a doctor’s office and laundry facilities. The town had 13 saloons.

Garnet unlike many other mining towns also had a school and a stage line.

The buildings in Garnet like most built in frontier mining towns were not meant to last but many remain standing even without foundations. Today 30 buildings remain.

Volunteers are provided with a furnished cabin complete with propane refrigerator and range--there is no electricity or running water in the town. Volunteers are provided a stipend and food allotment.

Volunteer Cabin

Duties include--helping with tours and setting up exhibits. Help is also needed in the gift shop. Volunteers also help with general upkeep--I imagine this means general custodial work.

Volunteers typically stay one month--several couples from back east have been doing this for years--this summer the months of August and September are still unfilled.

So what is the payoff for giving up all modern conveniences?

Garnet is haunted. Volunteer’s shifts end at 5:00 p.m. and after this they are allowed to explore this interesting ghost town.

Creepy sounds, laughter and phantom music are heard coming from Kelly’s Saloon--one of the most active spots in town. When people approach the sounds stop.

Many volunteers and staff have observed doors opening and closing on their own when no one is present and footsteps are heard running through the old Wells Hotel--even in the dead of winter.

If you are interested in a rustic lifestyle with little pay and a few ghosts the contact information is here.

Phantoms of the Lost Dutchman Mine

“The mines men find are never so rich as those lost.”

                                                 --Old saying about gold mines.

Photo: Chris C. Jones
Weavers Peak is said to be a
prominent landmark in locating the mine.

The story about the Lost Dutchman Mine in Arizona is a favorite story told about a lost mine in America.

Modern day prospectors still flock to the Superstition Mountains located 30 miles east of Phoenix in hopes of finding the rich deposits of gold it is said this mine contains.

Many people, unwaveringly hopeful, have bought what they were told was the “real treasure map” that would lead them to wealth and prosperity.

Various versions of supposed treasure maps.

Over a dozen men were killed in the 1800s in pursuit of this gold. It is stated that they may be the phantoms that still protect this treasure today.

Gold Found and Lost

After the Mexican War in 1848 the territory of Arizona was transferred to the United States. But with plans made to build a southern transcontinental railroad to Los Angeles the U.S. discovered they needed the land south of the Gila River.

James Gadsden, the U.S. Minister to Mexico facilitated the purchase of another 45,000 square miles between the Gila River and the present Mexican border.

With the onset of the Gadsden Purchase, a young Mexican man fled his home in Mexico and went into the Superstition Mountains. It is said he escaped a fathers' wrath because he had violated the virtue of this mans’ young daughter.

Superstition Mountains

Supposedly, he found a rich deposit of gold in 1852. He then returned to his village and convinced several of the men to return to the Superstition Mountains to help him remove part of the gold before the purchase of the land was complete.

This group mined a large amount of gold and happily headed home. But they didn’t get far before a band of Apaches ambushed them. All were killed except for two young boys who hid. The Apaches not caring for the gold left it where it fell.

It is said the two young boys then buried the gold and ran for their lives. Years later, these two told their cousin about the gold and the three men then returned to the Superstition Mountains to retrieve the buried gold and reopen the mine.

As they pursued this they unfortunately met up with a German or some say a Dutch prospector by the name of Jacob Walz--sometimes spelled Welz.

Greed and Murder

Jacob Walz

The three Mexican men shared their secret with Jacob Walz, and he then promptly killed them.

Walz then recruited his nephew and two friends to help with the heavy labor of digging into the mountainside to retrieve the gold. After they completed this task, Walz killed the three and buried them deep within the mine.

Several other prospectors who had the misfortune to wander near the Dutchman’s mine suffered the same fate.

When Walz returned to Phoenix, rumors about a rich mine began to circulate. Several men tried to follow Walz into the mountains, but they never returned to Phoenix. It was believed Walz killed them.

When Jacob Walz died in October of 1891 his family found a shoebox under his bed that was filled with gold nuggets. Supposedly this box also contained a map to the mine, but it was written in code, which was never deciphered, so the location of the Lost Dutchman Mine remains a mystery.

Guardian Ghosts

A well-known legend that surrounds the Lost Dutchman states that if anyone comes too close to this mine they will encounter ghosts.

Several witnesses have claimed to be frightened off by the Apache warriors who murdered the Mexican villagers.

Others state these phantoms are the ghosts of the various men murdered by Walz--most often they are said to be the three whose bodies Walz placed deep in the mine.

Jacob Walz in New York

Yet other prospectors have claimed they saw the ghost of Jacob Walz. These stories include tales of Walz drawing a gun on these unsuspecting miners.

So be forewarned modern day prospectors--if the Arizona heat or the Superstition Mountains’ rugged terrain does not get to you-- a ghost or two just might.