The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1875-06-25
black Hills.

Gen. Custer, IN an interview with
a New York Herald reporter, says
of the BiackHills: Reporter-"It
must be beautiful country - Gen.
Cnster--"The finest ] have ever
seen in the world .
He then goee on TO describe the
country as cluster OF mountains
set out on the piains BY themselves
that you can 20 eisff Fouad them
that the lower levels are from
1000 to 5000 feet above the sea lev
ell, and that Harneys peak, The
highest among them, Is about 8 600
feet. The formation OF the interior
of the hills is very peculiar. and il
appears TO be made up of ridges
separated by narrow valleys from q
quarter of mile to three or four
miles wide. and boundedi by rocky
ridges witfpnt timber. The regio4l
is full of parks of all sizes, and he.
passed through a succession of them
last summer, varying from half an
acre 10 miles III extent. Nearly all
of these marks are surrounded by
the ridges mentioned. Beautiful
streams of water flow through
every one Of them, and the grass is
luxuriant. The timber on the hill
sides is of good quality, and wonld
be valuable were the country open
to settlement. There is enough for
an inexhaustible supply of lumber
and fuel. lie further says-"that
none of the peaks of the Black Hills
have snow on them in summer.
They are visible, the scenery is
magnificent, and it surpasses any
thing / have seen in America"
He also speaks of the game-"1
saw more in the Black Hills than L
have ever seen in one locality on
the plains, excepting buffalo. new
er saw deer SO abundant-the COM
mand killed rs many as hundred
in a single day-black tail deer and
the common white tailed deeF-also
plenty of elk. There are three va
rieties of bear-grizzly, brown, and
the small black bear. lie mentions
the fact that he saw no singing
birds, and did not hear single note
of bird while in the country. lie
attributes this absence of birds to
| the cold nights, which even in Au-
gust made camp fire and two or
| three blankets comfortable. The
dayr were as warm as is character
istic of August, but after the hottest
| days the thermometer went down
| fifty degrees OF night.
OF the water he says-''it was the
coolest and purest that ever passed
my lips IN Its natural state. By act
ual test we found it twelve degrees
above the freezing point, and this
| was in midsummer" And the
streams possess a popularity that
he never saw in any other country
the streams are large as you APP
proach their source. As you fol-
| low down Il stream toward the
plains, the water gradually disap-
pears, and at the boundary of the
hills tbs bed becomes dry, and when
it comes to the surface again, be-
yond the hills, it is filled with all
| kinds of impurities. There were
| fish of inferior qualities in the
streams, but not single trout was
| found in all the Black Hills country.
AS to gOid-he says il was found
but from the nature of the case,
he cannot tell whether it is in "pay-
| ing quantities" His orders were
for an expedition of sixty days, and
his supplies were only for that
time. All the prospecting that was
done was during camp hours-the
daily routine was to go into camp
at one or two o'clock in the after
noon, and resume the march before
daylight. Only once was there a
longer stop, and all the time had for
prospecting was five days, and these
fragments of afternoons. Yet with
all this ''they mnnged ID find gold
in many places along the streams.
| He sums up in these words: 81
am not satisfied that there is enough
to justify people in going there to
mine it. But If they wish to go TO
till the soil, raise stock, or build
homes, | can say that / know of no
place in the West that offers so
many inducements. While the sur
rounding country is burned by the
sun and situated so that it cannot
be irrigated, the Black Hills offer
every advantage and no section sur
passes it for grazing. Our eXpedi-
lion had one hundred head of cattle
and although we marched from ten
to thirty-fiye miles a day, they i'm
proved and became very fat.
"The Black Hills occupy a space
of country about 40 miles north
and south and about ninety east and
west"
And this is the coveted country
as Gen. Custer saw it and describes
it.