The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1874-08-30

VALLEY BLOOMING WITH A GREAT VA
RIErY OF FLowERs-A NEW EDEN
DIscoyERIEs OF GOLD, LEAD, AND INDI-
CATIONS OF SILVER.

y Correspondence of tho world.l
The following is part of the officia
report of Gen. G.. A. Custer to the Assistant
Adjutant General of the Department o.
Dakota:
My last dispatch was dated July Is, and
sent from Prospect Valley, OAK, longitude
lob deg. 46 min, latitude As deg. % min.
After leaving that point this expedition
reached the valley of the Little Missouri
river, mp which we moved twenty-one
miles. During our passage mp the valley
of the Little Missouri we had entered and
were about to leave the Territory of Mon
tana. Our course was nearly due south.
We reached the Belle Fourche on the even
| ing of the 18th of July, encamping where
| good grass, wood, and water were abundant,
and at point short distance above that
marked U.s. Is y" fifteen on Reynolds map,
just west of the line separating Dakota
from Wyoming. The following day was
spent in camp.
On the Goth we crossed the Belle Fourche
and began, as it were, skirmishipg with the
Black Hills. We began by feeling our way
carefully along the outlying ranges of hills,
seeking weak point through which we
might make our way to the interior. We
continued from the time we assembled from
the valley of the Belle Fourcbe to move
through very superior country, covered
with the best grazing and an abundance of
timber, principally pine, poplar, and sew
eral varieties of oak. AS we advanced the
country skirting the Black Hills to the
southwark became each day more beautiful.
On the evening of the 22d we halted and |
encamped east of and within four miles of
the base of Inyan Kara. Desiring to as
cend that peak the following day, it being
the highest in the western range of the |
Black Hills, did not move camp the next
hnf 70 h ro, an
ceeded to the highest point of this promi-
nent landmark, whose height is given as
{, 900 feet. The day was not favorable for
obtaining distant views, but decided on
the following morning to move due east
and attempt the passage of the hills. We
timber which lay in our pathway. With
this exception, and very little digging,
'endered necessary in descending into q
,aliey, the pioneers prepared the way for
he train, and we reached camp by 9
'clock, having marched eleven miles. We
'est quality and in great abundance.
On the following day we resumed our !
march up this valley, which Ihad explored
everal miles the preceding evening, and
which led us by an easy ascent almost 5
outheast. After marching nearly twelve !
niles we encamped at an early hour in the {
anne valley. This valley in one respect
presented the most wonderful AS we'll as
beautiful aspect Its equal l have never &
cen and such, too. was the testimony of G
III who beheld it. In no public or private '
'ark have ever seen such a profuse dis '
lay of flowers. Every step of our march q
hat day was amidst flowers of the most /
xqulslte colors and perfume. So luxuriant a
growth were they that men plucked them {
Without dismounting from the saddle. a
ONE belonging to new or upclassified t.
pecies. 1t was a strange sight to glance is
n col linn ,T IL | r
nd behold the men with beautiful bouuets il
/ their hands, while the head gear of their it
orses was decorated with wreaths of G,
overs tit to crown queen of May. Deem n
lg 1t most lifting appellation, I named 8
1is Floral Valley. v
Gen. Forsyth, at one of our hating n
IaceF, chosen at random, plucked seven a,
en- beautiful flowers belonging TO different I'll
'ecles, and within space of twenty feet IL
luare The same evening, while seated at d.
10 mess table, one of the officers called ct
tention TO the carpet of flowers strewp no
lder our feet, and it was suggested that IL n,
> determined how many different flowers X
uid be plucked without leaving our seats Ill
the dinner table. Seven beautiful va d,
cites were thus gathered. Professor &C
onaidson. the botanist of the expedition, ar
t'mated the number of flowers in bloom n,
Floral Valley at fifty, while an equal is
imoer of varieties had bloomed or were as
't to bloom. The number of trees, shrubs tn
ID grasses were twenty five, making the eli
tai fora, of the valley EN- brace I25 species. be
through this beautiful valley meanders
stream OF crystal waters so cold as to rem
r Ice undesirable, even at MONDAY. The 10,
npeTature of two of the many springs in
md flowing into it was taken, aud ascer- dn
ely. ni'
AZ there are scientific parties accompa- taI
ing the expedition, who are examining NJ;
% the mineral resources of this region, hill
result of whose researches will accom- Nv,
by my detailed report, omit all present ror
eTence to that portion of our explorations dri
I'll the return of the expedition, except to m a
te what will appear in any event in the onI
ollc prInts-tbat gold has been found at car
eral places, and it is the belief of those an
that f. If I aC.s!Cion TO tnis SUD ref
). l have upon my table forty or fifty tios
tlcies of pure gold, in size averaging be
OF small pin head, and most of it Ne,