In the 1860s, Frank McGovern was the erstwhile son of a wealthy Chicago family. He was well-educated and set up for high society. Instead, he left his city life behind and made his way to the gold camps of South Pass City, Wyoming, where he passed the time drinking and gambling rather than mining for gold.
McGovern quickly gained the reputation as the terror of the Sweetwater Mining District through his wild lifestyle.
McGovern would have faded into the murky past except that one night, he literally stumbled upon the richest mine in the Sweetwater Mining District. His discovery became known worldwide as Miners Delight.
The 1907 Sheridan Post later reported that McGovern had literally "found rock and soil fairly alive with gold” when he had discovered Miner’s Delight in 1867.
George McKay, who directed the milling operations at the Miners Delight mine during these first few years of phenomenal gold production, estimated that the production was worth fully one and a quarter million dollars.
“No wonder these men went wild, lost their heads and indulged in the wildest excesses,” the Post said. “During 1867, 8, 9 and for 10 years afterwards men’s heads were turned.
“Such a scene of drunkenness, gambling and debauchery as followed during the first three years of the mine’s history is without a parallel in the intermountain country.”
Stumbling Onto A Fortune
According to James L. Sherlock, who heard the story directly from his own family and recorded it in “South Pass And Its Tales,” it was the summer of 1868 when McGovern struck gold. Newspaper accounts of the time also attest to the following story although they state it was the fall of 1867.
McGovern’s chief occupation, Sherlock said, had been gambling and hard drinking. McGovern had just emerged from a protracted spree and had wandered out into the evening from Atlantic City in a half-dazed condition.
When McGovern came to his senses the following morning, he found himself lying in the bed of a gulch, with no familiar object in sight.
McGovern roused himself and stood up from where he had fallen in his drunken stupor. He looked around trying to determine where he was when his attention was attracted by a considerable quantity of broken quartz. The rock lay scattered over the ground, a few feet from where he had spent the night.
“He picked up a piece of the quartz and was surprised to find it covered with many particles of gold,” Sherlock said. “He examined other pieces of the quartz and found that many of them showed free gold.”
McGovern pocketed his discovering and then climbed the hill along the west side of the gulch. From the top of the hill, he was able to distinguish landmarks.
He was then able to retrace his steps back to Atlantic City and gathered up his friends who were ‘of his own stripe.’ McGovern showed them samples of the rich ore he had found, and the group at once started out to investigate the find.
When they arrived at the scene, they quickly discovered that the pieces of ore scattered over the surface had been broken from a vein of quartz, the outcroppings of which were plainly visible a few yards up the gulch.
The Sheridan Post stated that Jonathan Pugh and Frank McGovern dug the first hole in the gulch. This first pan yielded about two cents and when bed rock was reached, the pan showed up several dollars, a hefty sum in the 1800s.
It was then that excitement reigned supreme.
James L. Sherlock grew up in South Pass City, Wyoming, long after the rough miners had moved on to Deadwood and other mines. He heard the story directly from his own family who operated the Smith Sherlock Store for decades and recorded the stories in his 1971 book, “South Pass And Its Tales.” (Courtesy Friends of South Pass City) 
In the 1860s, miners swarmed to the Sweetwater Mining District of Wyoming. They searched for gold all year round and many fortunes were made and lost at the saloons. Frank McGovern had discovered the Miners Delight and squandered up to a million dollars in gold drinking and gambling. ((Courtesy Friends of South Pass City)) 
South Pass City, Wyoming, was a short-lived gold town in the late 1800s. In 1867, the richest mine in the mining district was discovered by a gambler and hard drinking miner by the name of Frank McGovern. He spent time in South Pass and was considered a terror although his pockets were lined with gold. In 1870, he murdered another miner at South Pass and was sent away to prison. He visited his old stomping grounds for the last time in 1883 before heading to the gold fields in Rock Springs. ((Courtesy Friends of South Pass City) 
Frank McGovern, the son of a wealthy Eastern family, came to the gold fields to seek his own wealth. Instead, he spent the time at saloons such as the Exchange Saloon in South Pass City, and spent an estimated one million dollars in gold in less than three years in the late 1860s. ((Courtesy Friends of South Pass City)) 
In 1870, Frank McGovern was working the Miners Delight mine in the Sweetwater Mining District, near South Pass City. It was here that he murdered two men, one over cards, and was sent to prison for a year. Before the shootings, he squandered over a million dollars in gold mostly through gambling and hard drinking. ((Courtesy Friends of South Pass City)) 
1895, South Pass City. This mining town was the scene of many shootings, brawls and hard drinking from miners spending their fortunes at the saloons. ((Courtesy Friends of South Pass City))
Richest Mining Claim At South Pass
Untold wealth was suddenly in the hands of Jonathan Pugh, Frank McGovern, John “Jack” Holbrook, and one other who the Post thought was Major P. A. Gallagher.
“Following upon the heels of the placer discovery was that of the quartz mine known here and beyond the confines of America as the Miners’ Delight,” the Sheridan Post said. “The mine was known as Miners’ Delight.”
The group of gamblers, Sherlock said, posted notices, locating several claims on this vein, and these claims, for a few years, eclipsed in production the output of any other property in the entire South Pass country.
Some of the ore was hauled to the Carissa Mill on Willow Creek, where it yielded as high as $5,000 per ton. Comparatively, an average mine yielded only half an ounce of gold per ton, valued at fifteen dollars according to historical gold prices.
Not all the money was spent on gambling and alcohol by the partners, at least at first. They bought mining machinery and a ten-stamp mill for Miners Delight.
This began three years of a bountiful golden harvest which led to unrestrained, profligate spending that consumed all profits, regardless of their size, as fast as the gold was mined.
Gambling The Days Away
Within months of the rich discovery, Miners Delight had become a booming mining town, complete with stores and saloons. Sherlock shared the following story to illustrate how the mining partners spent their money.
It was a cold, winter night, in one of the saloons in the town of Miners Delight and a big poker game was in full swing. Two of the partners, most likely McGovern and Pugh, were seated at the table, taking part in the game. As the night wore on, these two mining men found that they had lost all of the money they had with them.
With this discovery, they withdrew from the game and hurried off up the gulch about half a mile to the mine, where they closed down the mill, cleaned a considerable quantity of amalgam from the plates, and then proceeded to retort the amalgam, the dangerous process miners of the day used to separate the gold from the quartz.
This concluded, and being in a hurry to get back to the game, they removed the cover from the retorting crucible and tossed the ball of hot bullion out onto a ten-foot snowdrift to cool. The hot ball of gold, worth several hundred dollars, at once melted a hole in the snow and quickly settled down to the bottom of the drift.
“Oh, let it go,” said one of the men. “We can get it next spring, when the snow melts.”
They then reentered the mill, made another clean-up and this time exercised a little more care in cooling the ball of hot bullion. With this task successfully completed, they took the ball of bullion and hurried back to the saloon, where they once more sat down at the gambling table.
The 1907 Sheridan Post said that these partners would stop their men from work in the middle of the day, clean up the sluice boxes, and rush to Holbrook’s saloon at Miner’s Delight and proceed to spend their gold in the most reckless manner.
“Why shouldn’t they do so?” the Sheridan Post said. “They argued that their possessions rivaled King Soloman’s Orphir, from which he drew nearly four hundred million to gild and finish the temple of the Lord.”
In 1868, 200 men had found employment in Miners’ Delight. Other mines were opened and what the original owners didn’t squander, was stolen by these newcomers.
“This method, or lack of method, of business procedure made no provision for setting up a reserve fund, to take care of any adverse conditions that might arise,” Sherlock said. “Therefore, when the rich oxidized ores were largely exhausted, and the low-grade primary ores encountered, the owners found themselves unprepared and their property soon passed into other hands.”
Gun Battles
Before losing his once rich mine, McGovern killed a man over a game of cards. It was 1870 when he shot Cornelius Crimmine, a freighter, in the tiny mining town of Miners Delight.
“No spectators being present he was discharged by the examining Justices,” the 1878 Cheyenne Daily Sun said, eight years after the fact.
A few months later, McGovern shot and killed a second man. This was a fellow miner who was known to be of a quiet disposition and called Fleming.
This murder occurred at South Pass City and since there were witnesses this time, McGovern was indicted. He got a change of venue to Cheyenne, and the trial was held in the winter of 1870, before Chief Justice Fisher.
McGovern was convicted and sent to the House of Correction at Detroit for one year. Afterwards, he returned home to Chicago, where his wealthy mother had resided for many years. Despite her encouragement to lead a reputable career, he went to the Black Hills of South Dakota during the gold rush of 1876 with a stack of goods.
However, he met with poor success as a merchant and returned to mining.
Deadwood Years
There, according to Sherlock, McGovern acquired and operated some rich placer ground. He had hit gold, but living up to his reputation as a profligate spender, he dissipated his profits as fast as they were received.
Less than a year after arriving in Deadwood, South Dakota, McGovern once more made headlines under the title “Belligerent Black Hillers.”
The Cheyenne Daily Sun reported on the shooting of February 18, 1878.
“Frank McGovern, a notorious character, and some years ago the terror of the Sweetwater mining country, became involved in a quarrel with Joseph Ludwig, a well known businessman of Central City,” the Sun said.
Both men drew revolvers and fired at each simultaneously. Ludwig hit McGovern in both thighs, and the wounds were regarded as life-threatening.
“That Mr. Ludwig was justified in using his pistol is the universal opinion of the best citizens here,” the Sun said, discussing the previous murders and drunken behavior of McGovern.
A few days later, the Laramie Daily Sentinel took up the story and reported on McGovern’s antics while recovering from his wounds.
“Frank McGovern, who for the past two days has been in a delirious condition, escaped from the hospital last evening by springing through the window,” the Sentinel said. “He ran to the land office, however he was captured by a hospital attendant and taken to jail, where he is at present confined.”
The reporter said that McGovern’s wound was healing nicely, and if he remained quiet, he would soon recover.
His delirium, the Sentinel said, is caused by excessive drink.
Rocksprings Bar Fight
McGovern then returned to the South Pass Country for a visit of a couple of months in the summer of 1883, and traveled to Rock Springs that fall, according to Sherlock. There he became involved in a barroom brawl.
A letter was written to the Uinta Chieftain on Nov. 10, 1883, detailing the end of McGovern.
“Frank McGovern, well known in Wyoming as one of the original owners if not a discoverer of the Old Miners Delight mine, died at Rock Springs this morning, from the effects of a severe beating, brought on by his own foolishness, so characteristic of him when under the influence of alcoholic stimulants,” the letter writer said.
The brawl occurred at Musgrove’s saloon. Musgrove and a man named Kelly were the only known witnesses of the affray, besides the dead man.
McGovern, Musgrove told authorities, came into the saloon intoxicated on Sunday night and got into a difficulty with Musgrove which ended in his being forcibly put out. When outside, McGovern hurled a large stone through the saloon window. McGovern was very intoxicated and subsequently fell down the stone steps leading to the saloon which was located in the basement.
The authorities did not believe this version and placed Musgrove and Kelly under arrest.
“A fall down the stone steps is entirely insufficient to explain the fractured skull and the contusions with which the body is covered,” the letter writer opined. “It is quite probable that McGovern was drunk and quarrelsome, but whoever administrated the terrible kicking and beating went far beyond necessity and richly merits heavy punishment.”
McGovern had been so bruised and battered that he was barely recognized. He survived in misery until his death on Wednesday morning. McGovern was thus remembered in the newspapers as an educated man and well connected in the East, but had become a total wreck through the use of liquor. He had once been a one-fourth owner in one of the most profitable mines in Atlantic City, Wyoming, but at the time of his death he was fireman at one of the mines in Rock Springs.
McGovern and his partners had over $1 million in gold that they spent in one of the wildest spending sprees in Wyoming and was remembered for what he could have been with all his opportunities for wealth rather than how he ended his life, broke and destitute.
The saloon brawl ended the colorful career of one of Wyoming's richest men who had lost it all.
Jackie Dorothy can be reached at jackie@cowboystatedaily.com.
