The first gold found in the Black Hills was on July 27, 1874 when a miner in Custer’s 7th Cavalry named Horatio N. Ross discovered it in French Creek in the Black Hills of South Dakota. This discovery eventually led to the Black Hills gold rush of the late 1800’s, which has been referred to by many historians as the last great American gold rush. It also brought a number of jewelry makers to the area and in 1878, a man named S.T. Butler opened the first Black Hills Gold jewelry manufacturing store in Deadwood, South Dakota. Over the years, the company was split into various different jewelry companies until 1944 when Ivan Landstrom bought back all of the components making Landstrom’s the sole owner of all the original Black Hills Gold designs. So Landstroms is the Continue reading →