Frank and Alexander Jardine overlanded a herd of cattle to establish a pastoral station near Somerset to supply the settlement with meat. The Jardine brothers had several skirmishes with Aboriginal people on their journey to Cape York that culminated in what the Jardine brothers named the "Battle of the Mitchell". On arriving at the Mitchell River:"Whilst the cattle halted … they came on to a number of blacks fishing, these immediately crossed to the other side, but on their return, swam across again in numbers, armed with large bundles of spears and some nullahs and met them ... The natives at first stood up courageously, but either by accident or through fear, despair or stupidity, they got huddled in a heap, in, and at the margin of the water, when ten carbines poured volley after volley into them from all directions, killing and wounding with every shot with very little return… About thirty being killed.’"After this fatal encounter, the Jardine brothers continued north, crossing the Coleman and Edward rivers and on to Somerset. Gold mining brought further European settlement to Cape York, after William Hann’s expedition found gold on the Palmer River in 1872. In 1876, Robert Sefton found gold while prospecting at the Coen River. His return to Cooktown with 140 ounces in 1878 prompted a subsequent gold rush in Coen.