The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1875-07-12
MONDAY, JULY II, 1875

the Black Hills is described MS follows
by the correspondent Of the New
York Herald:
Our march to Harney's Peak has
been through a country OF unsurpass-
ed beauty. The northern and west
ern portion OF the Hills Is much less
attractive than the region which wo
entered after leaving Castle Creek.
Camp No, Is was near the mouth of
a little tributary OF Castle Creek,
flowing from the south, where Custer
rested last year after making a toll
some detour which brought him here,
only four miles from his former camp.
The bottom was so wet and Doggy
hat Colonel Dodge's train could get
no further by travelling directly
through the valley. Camp was made
a third time on the ashes of Custar's
fires. A wagon wheel was broken on
the march, and Mr.. Jenney being
anxious to examine the Lodges and
alluvium in the vicinity, il was deci-
ded that Captain Vessels should re-
main with his company to protect the
party from peril of their lives and
that the rest OF the detachment should
move on until a point where a per-
manent camp could be conveniently
place should be reached. On the eve
ming before the resumption of the
march one flake nf gold was found in
the alluvium, rear the stream, and
pronounced to be such by Mr.. New
ion. Along the valley, below Camp
"a, the rocks indicate the presence of
iron, in mica slate, at almost every
stop. Rocks in the stream, contain
ing yellow mica, appear as If full of
glistening particles of gold. The soil
from this point to the camp is impreg-
mated with gray mica, g~listening in
the sunlight like silver. Quartz is
thickly strewn over the surface of the
ground. Deer and cranes were fright
tened from the bottom as we passed
along.
On Sunday we left camp about
twenty minutes past a. IN. and
proceeded up the ravine through
which the tributary before mentioned
flows from the south into Castle
Creek. y pioneer party sent out at
six o'clock was overtaken at half-past
eight and was found engaged in re-
pairing IA corduroy" bridge, built by
General Gustav in July last year. The
trail lies through woods, vale and
and glade, over hill and plateau, and
at length leads across a large park-like
expanse of hill, meadow, ravine and
udit, DOTutItu ny utllBiNlul EIONNS vi
pines. a green hill of considerable
altitude rises in the middle of the
park, and from its top a beautiful
landscape can be surveyed. Harney's
Peak looms up, sombre and gray, in
the cast, with n bald summit of solid
rock. The upper portion of the noun
tain is an enormous crHg, composed
of carboniferous limestone. A short
distance south of Harney's Peak is u
large mountain, equally high and re-
sembling in form the neck and shout
ders of a human being. This high
landmark has been christened Mount
Dodge by the military engineer Of
ficer of the expedition, Lieutenant j.
G. Bourke. The Harvey range of
mountains, a row of gray crags, with
curiously notched and scalloped tops,
form the most conspicuous object in
the landscape, and beyond them a
chain of mountains of more perfect
formation covered with dense timber
and enveloped in a purple mist, re-
Iieved the eye by their softer beauty.
Northward the b~attlemented hills,
which enclose the valley of Castle
Creek, bound the view, except in the
northeast, where Terry's and Clusters
peaks stand like tall sentinels amid a
GRIM ARMY OF GIANTS.
They are the two most Symmetrical
mountains visible at this point. An
other peak, far northward, was con-
jectured to be Bears Butte.
From the large park we crossed a
small stream on the right, and Il low
ridge, through "A fragrant wood, de-
scending on the other side into a most
beautiful valley. 1t is watered by a
thousand springs, feeding the lovely
stream which winds through its beau
tiful verdure, under the shadow of
noble woods that mantle the sides of
the hills on either hand. As we
moved along deer were startled from
almost every shaded glade near the
margin of the stream. Whitened an
tiers, strewing the turf, showed where
the elk are wont to meet in autumn
to shed their magnificent horns. The
stream suddenly plunges into a mar
row gorge joining a larger current
that goes humming through a vale
fifty feet lower than the n we had
been descending, the only entrance to
which, practicable at that moment was
down a PERCEPTIONS bank. On the
right the mainstTeam rushes through
n canyon into the vale, at the base of
a precipitous butte, whose rocky side
has been cut down perpendicularly
by the water. The bottom of the can
yon is shaded by lofty spruce and
pine, their branches hanging with a
pendant green moss. The rocks are
also covered with thick MOSES. A
mass of mica-cyss and quartz divides
the valley at this point, forming the
narrow gorge oil the left, through
which the smaller stream runs. The
beds of quartz in the cyst are here
very large. Gneiss is also found in