The Kansas herald of freedom., 1858-10-30
From th. Cold Mines.

We were favored with visit, on Tues
day last, from Capt. G.. W. SMITH, SON of
Judge SMITH, who went out with the
company from Lawrence to Pixies Peak,
and who returned on the 18th inst. The
party left Lawrence on the 25th of May |
last, and travelled by way of Council
Grove, the Great Bend of the Arkansas,
Bent's Fort and the Mexican settlement
of Huerfarro, and arrived in the region OF
their destination about the 9th of July,
having consumed a considerable time
prospecting for gold on the route. The
company numbered forty-seven persons,
all males but two. They elected ]. Fl.
TURNER, formerly of Ohio, an experienced
mountaineer, as their Captain.
Capt. SMITH, accompanied by W. B.
Parsons, F. Il. Britain, Robt. PEBBLES, and
VIM. H. Prentice, left the Lawrence party
at new town, called Montana, which
they have located on the south bank of
the Platte, eight miles above the mouth
of Cherry Creek, where most of the party
purpose remaining for the winter, on the
10th of September, and made the journey
back down the valley of the Platte to the
Great Salt Lake Road, by way of Fort
Kearney and Marysville. No member of
the company had been sick since leaving
Lawrence, and but one accident, and that
of trifing nature, had happened since
they had set out on their journey. Mr..
Smith states that they met about 600
persons making their way to the mines.
He is under the impression that the cold
weather will prevent their reaching their
destination before winter sets in.
Of the two routes, Capt s. greatly ia
vors that by way of Council Grove and
Bents Fort, though fully hundred miles
the longest. He states that on the north
ern route there are at least one hundred
and fifty miles barren of timber, and the
sand is fetlock deep for animals, for two
hundred miles.
Indians of all the various tribes of the
plain, to wit: Camanches, Apaches, Chey-
ennes, Arappahoes and Kiowas, were met
on the route, and no difficulty whatever
was experienced, though they were met
in immense numbers.
| Bufaloes were only seen on their out
ward journey in the region of the Arkan-
sas. The game of the mountains was
mountain sheep, black, brown and occa-
J sionallya grizzly bear, deer, antelope, elk
and turkeys. Of small game, there were
} sage hens and jack rabits-the latter con-
siderably larger than the rabbits of this
country.
Flour, at the mines, was selling at $25
hundred, and everything else at cores
} ponding prices. Game is abundant. No
apprehension is entertained that anybody
will die of starvation this winter, but there
| must necessarily be great amount of suf.
fering.
As regards gold, Capt. s. thinks 1t will
: rival California, and such, he states, is the
opinion Of the most experienced Califor.
mia and Australia miners he has met with
in his route. Much time, however, will
o Of course, be wasted in prospecting; and
! Others, not accustomed to labor, will sac
, rifce everything in pursuit of richer leads
q but those who go there to labor with thei
i, own hands, he thinks, will realize com
, petence from their exertions, in q few
years.
The reason of the unfavorable report
! brought back by the Adventures from Ra,
and Cass counties, Missouri, and also from
the Cherokee Nation, were apparent afte
our inquiries of Capt. S. in regard to them
They were mostly persons who were un
accustomed to labor, and who went ou
on the expedition filed with goldel
dreams but who lacked energy to accom-
plish anything. Of course they woul
not ascribe their defeat to its true cause
SO they misrepresented the facts in regar
to the country. The best proofs we ca
furnish that there is gold in Western Kan
> sas, is the fact that every creditable perso
who has returned has brought favorabl
accounts with him, and in nearly ever
!. instance they are preparing to return
the spring with proper implements fc
, working the mines.
Of the general face of the countr!
Capt. Smith says it is high rolling pra
rie, best described, perhaps, by the ter
hilly. The valleys are rich, and produc
!. grass of the best quality, in abundance
, but the hills and upland prairie are auri
\ erous, quartz bearing, and the little SO
; is of reddish earth, capable only of pr
ducing prickly pear. thin growth
/, grass, and rattlesnakes.
. The distance to the mines is estimate
- by the southern route at 700 miles, an
=. thirty days as the shortest time for NAL
I'd ling the distance.
Fatality Of Nswspapsrs-
We find that some tt0enty ,fve newspaper
n which have been started in Kansas sin,