New-York tribune., 1874-08-04
BLACK HILLS EXPEDITION.
AMENITIES OF THE CAMPAIGN.

STORY rxPIoDED-A TRAGIC FEATURE OF THE
EXPLORATION
IFRoM THE SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRmUSEI
CAMP No. 10, July 12.-One day during the
week preceding the departure Of the Black Hills Expe
dtion from Fort Lincoln Goose OF our Sioux guides
engaged TO conduct the Black Hills. came to Gen
Clusters HEADQUARTERS and asked the long
ohef Gen Custer though almost pestered 10 deatn py
the frequent begging visits Of the Indian SCOUTS Aau
long-suerng enough to invite Goose to come In uooo
entered said How the Genera-the Indian iorm u
salutatiou-shook hands, aud sat down. den Ou''o,
,neekv faced him aud prepared to hear the sereoypeu
ta,e of Indian woes and wants Perhaps Goose's morse
WAS lame aud wanted to exchange hD; perhaps MS
ration did not him, and he had come 10 ASK ior
change Of diet; perhaps he wanted some yellow stripes
on his paDtaoOns three stripes on his arm, suon
as Bloody Knife has But no. Goose uiu NOV
come as a beggar this time, and he Ola
not have the air Of beggar. As far as an ihuiah ca
presses any feeling at ALL Gooses bearing was tna' vi
man who comes 90 tell you something that you "ouu
be very glad to know He had come to make grea.
disclosure He going to tell secret ~hleh ne nau
never before revealed to white man. "What Is l.'
Goose - said the General " what can de for your
Goose opepe large aperture his great bronze race
and unroled string Of Indian guturals which deneu
all the resources Of phOnography and which, II utereu
by any smooth voiced white man. woud nave Oee"
equivalent TO an attack OF sore throat
smoothed and Strengthened by the interpreter dooses
statement was substantially this Far out toward tue
setting sun several days journey from the MISSOURI
River is great hole in the ground where tne "niVo
man has never BEEN 1t is hole with a great "iio
mouth In tho OF big hill Before THIS great hoie
he had once oamped with some OF hs tribe ana nau
gone inside OF It. bat he had never foqnd the emu VI ~
nor had any other Indian that he knew
The entrance to this larger he said than the
s!e of the Generals He had gone INTO IL as ai
as from the neras house to the Missouri River ID uS
tance OF over 800 yardS He was AFRAID TO go any
further II was very dark, and he had no hght Ihere
were some places in the cave where man hau
TO crawl on his hands and knees TO get through
IL you brushed your coat blanket against
the side II would be covered all over "ith
a yellow powder There was no water In the cave
but there was very strange smell, which frlghtened
the Indians and made them turn back The top OF the
cave was rocky and covered with different designs cut
into its surface There curious pictures and slnSu
lar characters Which he was the Indians had not
made. Perhaps the Great Spirit had made them
Gen Custer asked these pictures cut into the
rock or SIMPLY painted showing him the paper on the
wall Goose said they carved into the rock the
Indians he said. regard the cave with great awe
Whenever an Indian goes by, he throws piece OF to-
hacco or an arrow into the opening, 70 propate the
Indian Pluto. Tae Slim Butte, which the
expedite. II lad pass going to the Black HIS ana
he thought The white would Ike to 90 to it, Goose
assured the General that 1t would be very te II any
out Of his way.
Gen. Custer WAS naturally very much interested in
this cave the more so Goose had said chat the
bones OF animals had been found IN IT, He hoped the
cave itself Of interest to find perhaps some
fossils which would more than pay for the
visit probable that the story OF Goose was
simply an Indian fable since Goose had asked them
TO 20 and see 1t and had offered guide tho expedition
there himself Tue therefore made one OF the
objective points OF the expedition since 1t was almost
directly the proposed ine OF our march In suDse
Quent conversation Goose said that the Indians had
told him that they went into ths morning at
sunrise and did return until sunset he refused.
however TO be responsible for the truth of the state
ment. and laughed very much when he said that he
thought had fallen asleep.
Goose's story soon spread through camp, and was
received with considerable enthusiasm In the course
OF lis circulation il received divers embellishments,
which contained in the original narrative. As
thus reconstructed, the story became very atrac
tive BY mutual consent the size Of the entrance was
considerably enlarged seyeT6l passages and cham
bers were created 1t thought advisable to extend
the corridors TO hayo small back window ID the cave
admitting few CLEANS OF daylight to reward the be-
grmed explorer who should cgrkscrew his way through
It's toruous windings GoOse's that the
did not contain Tepudiated Indian fc-
ton Sucn a would be perfectly rldlcuous-a very
dry affair Certainly there water there 1t flowed
In pure musical streams through the rocky channels
had carved dropped in mOnoones from the roof AMI
fashioned the gtering spears OF crystal which de-
pended in the grOttOes. Ia the general improve
meut the handwriting on the walls was
not overlooked. II surprising what number OF
arehOOgsts ccted with the expedition at the
pay OF Sl3 month Goose, it was argued, had never
read L1yard or Wilkinson, and therefore was utterly
unable to interpret the which adorned the
entrance to the cave But archgOogst furnished
an Interpretation In advance 1t perfectly evident
that the strange inscriptions the walls were cunei
form in character, and that the singular pictures seen
were hierogyphs, TO which the genius OF ChamDolon
had furnished key. Others favored the Ph@niclan
theory and referred the characters to the time OF King
Hiram himself The conclusion was strongly disputed
by the He6rlsts who in this mural writing another
evidence CT the fate Of the lost tribes OF Israel From
oose description It was certain that Of the letters
was an early form Of the Hebrew Aleph. The
rude camel-they were certain it was a camel-which
shared the recOrd with the wolf and the prairie
dog nothing but pre-aphabetic form OF the He
brew Ginlel while the hand the wall il not q survv-
Ing emblem OF BelshaZzar's feast the chlrogrdpmc
source os the Hebrew Kaph. How unfortunate 1t was
that we had no good squeeze paper to take impressions
of an inscription which mignt rival tho Moabite stone
Itself In value. Poor Goose he Aladdin and the
light Of his wonderful lamp had Illuminated our I'M
agnaton that ii made gorgeous palace ont or pile OF
yellow Dakota sandstone. Hcncelorth the cave became
the object OF intense interest and great socitnde
What Goose who had not been there for year, should
not be able nd IL! But Goose was confident and we
waited impaticntly the realization.
On the 10th Of Jdly we within one days march
Of the goal Our scientific corps were somewhat in
creduous but with Gen. Custer hoped TO find some in
teresng revelation in geology, and to get fossils,
which had thus far kept entirely out OF sight Gen.
Custer GoOse's representation that wood and water
could found plentully at the cave decided to stay
there Sunday give the men chance to rest and
wash. and OF to the cave Leaving
ond camp Grand River pursued westerly course,
running nearly parallel with the river, but leaving it
la1 flat