The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1875-04-29
A DREADFUL DELUSION.


A DREADFUL DELUSION.
THE BLACK HILLS BONANZA.
THE TALE OF THREE CIuEs-THE SHARP
WORK OF sCHEMING s2ECULATORS-TH0sE
MOUNTAINS OF SILVER AND SLABS OF GOLD
BUT BowLDERS OF LIMESTONE AND RE-
FRACToRY ORES.
"Jason" writes the Cincinneti Enquirer
some csustic correspondence concerning the
Black Hills and the excitement that exists
in regard to the rich mineral deposits re-
ported to repose in them. After alluding to
the existing enthusiasm over the delusion
that prevails in the public mind Jason makes
this delicate disclosure ola state secret: The
first seemingly authoritive assertion TO the
effect that gold was to be had in rivulets and
silver in slabs was contained by implication
(onlv) in the report of General Custer to the
war department in the summer OF 1874. His
report was sent by runner TO Bismarck,
Dakota; thence via Sioux City by telegraph
to Washington. At Sioux City a dis
employed By the managing officer ofthe Da-
kota Southern railroad 10 catch the dispatch,
and ne did his duty with real accuracy, but
the generals report was changed very ma
teriallv 70 suit the circumstances. When
surmisss were made they were omitted;
want of evidence to justify conclusion, con-
illusions positive in their Endorsement of the
Black Hills country as being the richest min
eral region in the West were expressed. The
correspondent next gives the route TO these
regions aud q ftsr describing the country and
touching upon other points. he enters upon
his exposures in earnest. People of Sioux
City, Yankton and Cheyenne have been
guilty of
MAKING GROSS NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
to the public, and while it is possible for
them to derive some little benefit in the way
of trade, to the extent that may be made
necessary By the Quitting a. these places
of those few who may be deluded into the
belief that gold and silver can be found in
paying quantities in the Black Hills coun-
irV, what little profit may accrue to them in
this way will be but trifiing, when compared
to the amount they will lose by running
their credit in a moral, as we'll as in a mer-
camille sense. Many of the merchants of the
pla.es named have ordered immense stocks
of goods from Chicago and St. Louis, aud
some in fact, from Cincinnati. They
did so in anticipation OF a big
trade Already they begin to realize that in
| their fondest hopes they are to be disap-
pointed. In thus overstepping they will
riya the commercial agent cause TO rate
them Slow and, a result to prostration
in their business, nothinSelse should Do ex-
pected by them but failure. In proving
themselves falsifiers, they forfeit their ia
tegrity of character, and their word will no
longer ego" To commence With the ; ouX
CITY people. and to take into consideration
| their object as in contrast with those of the
l Yankton and Cheyenne people for the open
ing mp of the Black Hills to settlement. 1t
must be observed that majority of the
well-to-do people of that city acquired what
they have mostly by what they would term
in the Far West hog luck. That
by nature, both inherent and acquired,
thew are monopOliZers, no one
will dispute; and whenever competed with
by a healthy and lively competition, they
very naturally fail. The building OF the
Dskots Southern Railroad from Sioux City
to Yanktoa was somstbiHg they had long
wished for; but when Manager Mscklin and
his two partners, the three joint proprietors
of the road, made a combination with one
Of the Chicago roads running into Sioux
City, by which the Yankton people could
obtain Heights as cheap as they could at
Sioux City, notwithstanding the 81 miles
differences, then the Sioux City people
kicked and swore vengeance. Their main
object in getting up a Black Hills excite
ment, aside from the ordinary motives
which generally actuate business mon, Is 20
build railroad-one to be
A BENEFIT TO THAT PLACE ALONE.
The route decided upon is along the lower
side OF the Missouri to st. James; thence
westward to the Niobrara; thence along the
Niobrara and its tributaries to Fort Lara
mic. With the completion of such rail
road route they would be enabled to induce
considerable emigration to the valley coun
try, and would have a monopoly OF the
government freights for the Indian agencies
and military posts OF the Northwest. Wha
allied the Yankton people more than any
} thing else was the desire to get ahead o
Sioux City. They were fully aware of tbs
fact of their town being the nearest outht
ting point along the Missouri river to the
Black Hills, but they could not pre-
vent the Sioux City fellows from
coaAing the emigrants Off the train, selling
them goods, and shipping all such goods
through to Yankton free of charge. Hence
they commenced the lying. and Sioux City
people continued In q similar strain until
the representations from both sides, In
tended for the newcomers, were nothing
but lies from beginning to end. Finally
the manager of the Dakota Southern took
an active hand in the fight, and at the time
J Witcher was in Chicago recruiting for tbs
mythical expedition, Mecklin, on behalf o
his company, offered to carry passengers
from Chicago to Yankton, 2 distance of Over
five hundred miles, for eight dollars head
But even in connection with thiI
there was a catch which would have
baen realizen had not Witcher ruT
off with the ''fve-dollars-a-h head
, money obtained from each of about fiv,
hundred recruits in this-that no passenge
would be allowed more than 100 pounds o
baggage, and that for all over such amour
they were to be charged full extra baggage
rates for every thing they might wish, t.
carry with them this to be exacted undo
the pTetense that " was deemed b0St TO rus