Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1874-09-17

y is rock, and the soil is eXcavated with diff
Guilty, while in the other the pans are easily
filled. Where the soil permits, miner can
shovel into sluicc 800 pans Il day, which
| ut ten cents pan would yield $3.50 to the
man. This is considered pretty rich yield.
The last pans taken out on Custar Gulch-
for SO the miners call t-avcraged ten cents
pan, but this was from the richer bars.
The general yield would average less. Mr..
Ross Is of the opinion. however, that the
! gulch where the hole was sunk would yield
I $50 day to the man, and in some places
! 81 N the upper bar of the creek there are
not five inches of water. by cutting across
! the stream and putting in 4 dam the miner
could then get to the bed rock without much
difficulty.
Thus far. though we have found large
quantities of quartz on the surface. no gold
hearing le,lyes have been found. Our miners
feel sanyuinc. however. that they exist in the
| Hills. but they have neither had the time nor
| the machinery to prosecute the search. For
| miners of small capital placer mines such as
those discovered offer the most inducement,
and are attended with the least risk. The
cost of machinery and outfit for quartz
mine would not hc less than $4,000. For
placer mine all that is needed is pick, pan,
J spade and whip-saw. The sluice-boxrs are
easily made. The remainder of the expense
incurred is for personal outfit. 1t is usual
! for three or four miners to club together, the
division Of labor diminishing the expense
and increasing the profits.
EXTENT OF TIE GOLD AREA
1t is hardly possible to speculate with accu-
racv on the extent of the gold field. AS AL
ready remarked our miners have had no such
opportunity to explore as would have been
! afforded were the country free from Indians,
/ ,,f ls,SS teu
Many valleys lying ut right angles to or run
! ming parallel with the course Of the eXpedi-
tion were left unnoticcd. though apparently
as favorable for prospecting as Custar Gulch.
In the latter place. so far as tested. the gold
! section had an extent of fifteen miles, rum
ming some eight or nine miles below camp
and about five miles above. In a stretch of
al'ou, ten miles along the creek our miners
report nearly "a hundred bars, in some places
three or four bars to the mile. in others eight
or ten. These bars were not all ''prospected,'
and those tested were not uniform in yield.
>TAKlN,. OUT CLAIMS.
Though the announcement mt of the discovery
of gold created less excitement than might
have been expected score Of teamstcrs and
wagon-mastcrs were provident enough to To-
cate claims in Cnstar Gulch, and recorded
their priority in the following paper:
CrsrER GrLCH. Black Hills. d. t.
August ), 1874 }
Notice is hereby given that we. the under
signed claimants. do claim 1900 feet. COM
mcncing at No. = above discovery, and run
ming down to No. IL below discovery, for
mining purposes. and do intend to work the
same as soon as ptaceable possession can be
had of this PORTION Of the Territory by the
General Government. And we do hereby
locate the above claims in accordance with
the laws Ot Dakota governing the mining
districts
Perhaps if this notice were translated into
Sioux, and copies sent to Red Cloud and Two
Bears. this announcement would create more
of a sensation than it is likely to make in
Wall street. AT present the Black Hills ore
included in the Indian reservation, and are
not eligible to white settlers; but sooner or
later, say the claimants, the Government
must remodel the treaty. and open the doors
to the white man.
A WORD TO ADVENTURES.
A friendly bit of advice to these people
may not he out of place in conclusion The
simple mention of the discovery of gold in
any new section of country may be enough
to fire the imagination and unsettle the minds
of great many persons. who are always
waiting for something to turn up. Somehow
there is fascination in digging gold directly
from the earth instead of getting it's equiva-
lent by other forms of labor. The effects of
the reports from the Black Hills, therefore,
may be to create, especially in the West, 4
new gold fever, which, like all such diseases,
must have its run. Reason and advice
have little power to check the mslady when
once it has begun. Possibly they may be of
use in preventing it.
To those. therefore, who contemplate an
immediate rush to the Black Hills gold dis
trict, let me administer friendly caution,
based on two or three considerations.
First, tina, the country is the recognized
home of powerful bands of hostile Indians,
who have sworn to repel any intrusion of the
white man. This country is part of their
reservation. Until it is purchased from them
by the Government they have a prior claim
and perfect right to protect it. BE assured
they will do sd. That they have not met and
opposed the present expedition is nothing in
the argument They were informed OF its
object, which was not to settle, but simply to
explore. They knew also it, great strength,
and feared an encounter. Small parties of
whites entering the Hills in defiance Of the
red man. right. a. well AS the laws of the
Cove nnnent. would find themselves bctwecn
two fires. and would bc pretty sure to te burnt
bv one Of them. The scalp-dance n favor
i,e past,ne Of the Sioux. and few uDprs'-
tecttti miners might easily afford them ma
terial for this sport.
Secondly. though have no reason tO doubt
the trutl,fulness and skill Of our miners, aDd
the correctness 0f their reports as to the ex-
tent end value of the gold field, vet it must he
remembered that the yielding ARA, ~ far %
determined. ia MT great; nor can It I've said
with any certainty how long il would last.
The results thus far. though promising aud