The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1875-07-10

M before a fresh wind which had
recently sprung up. 1 rode up the
valley and met three men, bronzed
and unshaven, In citizens clothes.
They said they were miners They
belonged to a party which had been
in the Hills about two weeks, and
were now engaged In prospecting and
laying out their claims. They had
come from Fort Laramie. starting the
day after the expedition. Six of them
had united in partnership for placer
mining or the stream, ard three of
these had swum the River Platte on
the day Of starting, then very swift
and dangerous. The site Of their
claims is about four miles west of
Gordon's stockade, called by the mi
ners Harvey City. On the hewn side
of an upright stake 1 observed the
following inscription:
NOTICE.
We the undersigned, claim 1000
feet; six hundred feet from this stake
up the creek and six hundred t6O0)
feet down the creek from this stake,
for mining purpoaes.
H. ALISTON,
+. NJ. UMPHREYS,
w. HARRISON,
j. McCOLY,
j. SMITH,
Being 800 feet each.
These miners have dug two pros
pecting holes on their claims, and one
ofthem was industriously making n
sluice ditch along the bank, by Dieans-
of which they expect soon to operate
extensively in the bed of the stream.
A ffnF HnAfnU thar thu nniltfarNr
would not disturb them the miners
expressed themselves as glad that we
had come, and invited US to a dinner
at their camp among the rocks, saying
alphabetically that they had little be-
sides meat on which to subsist. At
this moment an old gentleman, adj
dressed by n of my i~nterlocutors rs
"Uncle Jake" approached and was
requested by the same person 10
hibit to me
A PIECE OF GOLD,
which he had washed out of pan
yielding twenty-seven cents. At the
same time the younger miner re-
marked
Hes got a rich claim, he has, up
the creek"
The old man had a very intelligent
vi CAiC 4
searching in his pocket-book he
brought from a deep recess a yellow
paper, carefully folded, in rectangular
form. into a minute package, which,
on being slowly opened, was handed
me. 1t contained somewhat less than
a grain of apparently pure gold, in a
single flake. The color of the metal
was a very rich yellow. The old gen
tleman is engaged in making u sluice
OF his claim, about a mile further up
the creek. The other miners inform
cd me hat one of their company had
left the day before for Fort Laramie,
with all the specimens of gold they
possessed. He went purpOsely to
spread the rumor of the existence of
gold on French Creek, and from his
lips the news will undoubtedly spread
rapidly over the land and arouse a
tide of emigration that within two
months will people these valleys with
Il dense population. The miner with
whom we had previously conversed
most kindly remarked, with an limo
cent cruelty that WIS heartrending,
that if we had come a day earlier we
could have dispatched our mail by
their courier. He offered me a gold
washing painful of cool water from
the creek, from which L drank and
was refreshed. The pan then was fill
ed with sand from a pit about two
feet below the surface, and yielded
several scales of fine gold.
A Frenchman who accompanied
the expedition hither subsequently
''pannedo out a short distance further
down the stream from sever to If
teen cents worth of gold from each
shovelful of earth. Colonel Bullock,
an old Indian trader, who has a most
thorough and intimate knowledge of
the social character and habits of the
savages, industriously washed out
several flakes of the precious metal.
1t may be remarked that he declares
that he has frequently heard from
squaws that there was gold north of
the South Cheyenne.
The excitement grew apace, and
the camp had scarcelyNbeen establish
ed before the creek was lined with a
long array of Uncle Sans soldiers
engaged in washing mud which they
dug up with their bare hands and
with shovels. To-day they resumed
the pastine. Even some of the officers
enthusiastically ''panned out" speci-
mems of gold. The excitement has,
however, been thus far very temper
ate, and / do not believe a single SOL
dier would feel an inclination to de-
sert and become a miner were the
country already legally opened to new
corners. Gold has only been found in
very moderate quantities. One of the
miners of the party encamped in the
rocks asserts that he knows the situ-
alton of a very rich quartz lode. If
such exist they may prove profitable
when worked with sufficient capital.