Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1870-05-04

TIE Dig I1OTD country, anu the eXp6-
ditiOn soon to start for that new FL
Dorado:
OMAHA, April 16.
| Iwrite this article with all the full
knowledge of the fact that perhaps
hundreds of young, able-bOdied, hon
est men will accept every word and
assertion as true, and that, during the
year. more than a thousand from
among the communities where the
,J0Hr7dt eirculates will pack up their
kH1nsaeks and start for the new FL
Dorado of the West. And I wish to
say, in the outset, that there shall be
no attempt at stilted descriptions of
imaginary prospecting fields. What
write of the Big Horn region is eth
er from accurate and official data, or
else from notes made during inter-
views had with those hardy, trusty
men who have been on the spot.
LOCATION OF BIG HORN REGION.
By turning to the Fremont map,
the reader will see that one Of the
outlying spurs of the Rocky Noun
tains, between latitude 43 degrees and
45 degrees, and on longitude los de-
grees, is named the Big Horn range
/ so named By the early explorers of
| that country from the fact that near
where old Fort Smith now stands was
one of those singular pyramids erect
ed out of elk horns, pyramid with
a base of twenty feet square, and an
altitude of over sixty feet. The Big
Horn Mountains are drained princi- !
pally by the Yellow Some, and are
reported to be the sharpest and most !
abrupt of all the eastern range of the |
Rocky Mountains. Wind river on 1
the west, and Bad Waterereek on the /
south, divide the range from the Black
Hills and the Wind River Mountains. |
The climate of the range is a shade /
ing much more equable is less sharp.
FIRST GOLD DISCOVERIES.
In 1S49 a party of Hudson's Bay
men came across from Winnipeg to
Fort Benton, and from thence started
for the old Spanish fort of GalistrO,
Just south of Santa Fe. At that time
land, indeed, ever since) all the Big
Horn region was held by the North
ern SiOux-a tribe which has never
yet signed or kept treaty with the
whites, all reports to the contrary not
withstanding. Jacques Lamonte, the
leader of the Hudson's Bay party, by
presents of beads, knives and trinkets,
secured an escort from near Fort Ben
ton through the Cheyenne, Arapahoe
and other tribes. In due time the par
ty arrived at fort Galistro and imme-
diately reported to the Spanish COM
mandant that they had passed thrO'
a country, six days march from Fort !
Benton, that was as rich in golu as !
the sands of Ophir. Lamonte brought ,
two or three specimens of guleh gold ,
with him, and would have loaded his :
pack horses had it not been for the I ,
hostility of the Indians I
who formed his escort. They made !
no eoneealment of the value and vast :
of native gold that lay around I
loose in the ravines of the Big Horn
Mountains, while at the same time
they affirmed thatnO white man should ,
ever take up his residence in, or sue ;
work, that region. And to !
this day the sub-ehief of the Sioux, :
who made the declaration to Jacques :
has been succeeded by 9TH \
sr chiefs and sub-ehiefs, who have !,
carried out his assertion. y
OTHER TESTIMONY. Z
For some years past the Northern -
Sioux have been under the leader b
hip of Red Cloud. In 1868 this chief b
With a party of wOrriOrs, came to Fort J.
3ridger, having followed strOlling
,and of ShOshOnes, who had robbed
he Sioux of some horses which were V
grazing in the Wind river valleys F
rhe officers at Fort Bridger received p
nd entertained the warriors of Red g
loud, and, under the inspiration of b
he bottle" succeeded in cleaning "
rom two of Red Clouds men the in "a
that in the Big Horn Noun 81
aims there was more gold than in all b
t Montana. A reference to the files OF
{ the War Department will show al
hat imme lately an application was be
lade for force of men sufficient to -
xplOre that region, aud in the Ian
uage of one of the officers, he offered
} furnish gold enough to carry on the e-
'ar then raging with such violence. W
he application was denied, and the -
ig Horn region still remained an un- ed
Ithomable mystery. so
ACCUMULATION OF TESTIMONY. bU
In 1865, party of thirty men left Sc Sc
Ort Benton TO explore, or prospect" cn
lie Big Horn region. At the expira- ~
on of two months, one man alone "a
turned, the entire party, save him Ie' N
If, having been killed and scalped 70
7 the hostile Sioux. saw and talk Ies
with that man at Laramie a year va
20. He was an honest, practical pio- ,
ser, and know he had no object in n
me. He told ME that with l ns
twenty miles of Fort Smith there L ~.
as gulch gold enough to pay the Sa I,I'
ltional debt, aPd that the geological tt9 u9
and the surface indications
the country were such as to war 20,
mt him in the belief that il WAS one arr arr
st deposit of the precious ore. tiI nv
\ FIRST PRACTICAL STEP. =
In March last, Captain LycOck, I
lionel Luke Murrin, DR.. Latham, wa
Il other residents of Laramie and par
leyenne, made every available effort It !
secure the cooperation of suffi- the
mt number of men TO warrant them mo
exploring the Big Horn region the
Ie Moore brothers, of Sidney, Just Off
It of Cheyenne, ] was told, offered can
without compensation, the liey