It was back in July, 1874 when General George Armstrong Custer led a battalion from the US Cavalry into the Black Hills region of what is now South Dakota. During this time this Dakota Territory was inhabited primarily by the Sioux Indians which were considered to be a hostile threat to settlers. Custers expedition consisted of a host of skilled personnel and had been dispatched mainly to protect railroad workers from the Sioux. One of Custers workforce, Horatio N. Ross served as a miner for the Cavalry and it was he that found the first twinkle of gold in the clear waters of French Creek leading to what is praised today as the last great North American gold rush.
As a result, the area boomed with prospectors, outfitters, gamblers and prostitutes giving rise to the town of Deadwood. The lawlessness of the town attracted both the famous, and the infamous. Notorious figures such as Wild Bill Hickok , Calamity Jane and Hickok's murderer, Jack McCall all sprang from the wild rowdiness of the area.
During this time, Henri LeBeau, a French prospector and goldsmith came out west to make his fortune. Lost, destitute and nearly starving, LeBeau dreamed one night of the lush vineyards of his French homeland. When he had awakened, he heard water running from a stream. Following the brook, Henri found and ate grapes native to South Dakota, giving him the strength to survive.
Henri settled in the Black Hills and began making jewelry using three colors of gold (pink, green and yellow) with designs representing the grapes and leaves that had saved his life... and Tri-color Black Hills Gold jewelry was born!
Landstrom's roots date back to 1878 when S.T. Butler, trained by Henri LeBeau, opened the first Black Hills jewelry manufacturing store with his son, George M. Butler in Deadwood. In 1919, the company was split into two companies, the F.L. Thorpe Company and the Black Hills Jewelry Manufacturing Company. In 1944 Ivan Landstrom bought the Black Hills Jewelry Manufacturing Company and in 1995 Landstrom's acquired the F.L. Thorpe Company making Landstrom's the sole owner of all the original Black Hills Gold jewelry designs!
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