The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1875-03-18

Eau Claire, Wis; Lyman Lamb, Of
the same place; Thns. II. Russell, Of
Sioux City II. K. Whitney, OF the
-anre place; 4. +. Long. Of PhIladel-
phia; Charles Caiicru, of Wichita,
Kan, a Mexican Thomas MrClaren,
or st. Louis and Henry Thomas. Of
the same place. All these old miners
pronounce the diggings good. and say
that with proper bitches, sIuicrs, tail
races and the other appliances neccs-
sary to successful work these mines
will IRy from fifty 10 one hundred
dollars II day To the man.
| am not II practical miner myself,
and cannot form any idea of what
they will pay on an average, but am
willing TO adopt the estimate made 10y
those capable Of forming n tuler,bly
correct estimate Of their value. They
also estimate that this valley alone
will give employment to from two to
three thousand miners.
We did not venture out into any
other valleys to prospect. There are
n great number Of cross gulChes put
ting down into this valley from the
Granite Hills. on 10th the north and
south side Of Il, all Of them having
small streams running through. In
these hills we found gold ~Ucaring
quartz and silver ores. Mr.. Russell
and Mr.. Lamb, who have mined in
the Georgetown mines, Colorado, say
the silver nr- Is very rich. So does
Mr.. Cadicro. who has mined in the
SILVER mines Of old Mexico. Ores were
also brought IN from the region Of
Harvey Peak said to he CinnRbaT.
We had no tools suitable for mining,
no whip saws To make lumber, and
none Of ile Necessary appliances to
make a successful test at mining. All
we aimed to do was to prospect the
country and satisfy ourselves OF its
richness.
Deposits of ~plumbago, iron and gyp-
sum ARE abundant in Thai country.
The hills are covered with fine pine
timber, ranging from one foot to three
feet in thickness. Any amount ofgoOd
saw logs can he had, and many Of the
trees will cut two and even three six
teen feet logs without a knot or limb.
The Wisconsin men in the party call
1t Norway Pine, and say the pine for
csts are equal o the best to be found in
that State.
Some good groves Of oak were also
found auitat1a Tor p,nIin,r q, n,Gar. and
some ash, but the trees were rather
small. SEIm was also met with in
places.
The country is y very fine one, and
will fill up rapidly with settlers when
once opened. All the valleys we
saw were rich and fertile, growing
good grass 4; and the hillsides too are
covered with short nutritious grasses.
The climate, except for II short period
in january was mild and there was
only n few inches Of snow in the val
lrye at any time during the winter,
which soon melted of. We encoun
tered more snow in coming out to
Fort Laramie than we met with i'll the
hills. At one place we me- with about
fifteen inches.
We struck the houth Cheyenne
about half a mile below Horse Head
Creek. From the foot hills to the
river, over a beautiful valley, wa n dis
lance of about our miles, and on the
opposite (sOuth) side there is one eX-
tended valley, formed by the juncture
of Horse Head with the South Chey-
ennc. Two Indians rode up within a
hundred wards ofus as we were crossing
the Cheyenne valley and pointed in
the direction of Red Cloud Agency,
and beckoncd us to go in that direc-
tested no hostility. On the branch VI
the White Earth river we came upon
a camp of about 100 Indians. They
acted friendly towards us, and made
no signs of displeasure. We camped
about eight miles away, and while in
camp five young bucks rode up, talked
some broken English, wanted to know
where we were from and where
going to. We told them we wert
from the Black Hills and going to
Fort Laramie. They wanted to trade
ponies for our guns. This we declined
to do and they rode off. We moved
on that night and run upon another
small village on another stream, g
tributary of the Running Water, but
passed around it unnoticed and reached
Fort Laramie uumolesteI and undis,
turbed except by our W fears.
From the South Cheyenne to the
North Platte river opposite Fort Lar.
annie is a fine stretch of good country
we'll watered, with plenty of timber