The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1875-04-23
The Black Hills Country.
From the San Francisco Commercial Herald.

To the average American the lessons of
experience are of no more value than soap
bubbles. 1t is impossible to convince him
that he is no exception to those tribulations
and failures which befall other men under
like circumstances. His vanity and self
eonceit are quite enough to fill his mind
with the conviction that he will succeed in
enterprises that have resulted in disaster to
thousands. He pays very limited respect to
laws that conflict with his desires, but is a
law unto himself. The sad warnings of
Frazer River, and similar paroxysmal out
bursts of restless, unrefiecting, and ill-ad-
vised cupidity, are completely thrown away
upon him. Of that class is mainly compos-
ed the parties of men who are now fitting
out half-crazed expeditions to the Black
Hills country. Without any information of
a strictly reliable character that gold and
silver exist in paying quantities in that dis
tant region, and in armed opposition to le-
gal forbiddance, they are ready and deter
mined to brave all dangers, incur all risks,
and suffer all privations, to penetrate hum
dreds of miles through an unknown, inhos-
pitable, and hostile region, in the hope of
acquiring sudden wealth from visionary
gold mines and ideal silver mountains.
One-half of the energy, enterprise, and out
lay of capital and labor, directed to other
fields of industry, would render them indie
pendent, but to their heated imaginations
-" castles in the air "-possess infinitely
more attractions than real, substantial
homes. So vivid are their anticipations, so
highly colored their pictures of ultimate
success, that they willingly abandon regions
absolutely stuffed with the precious metals,
and consign themselves to the lures of rcck-
less adventure in an undetermined waste.
Supplies of no kind needed by civilized
men can be obtained within hundreds of
miles from the point of boundless expecta-
tions. ALI trains conveying such supplies
will be subjected to the certainties of hos
tile interference from the Indian tribes in
that district, and from the military arm Of
their own country. Provisions, arms and
dininuultloll, lIieulClneS dhl CloaAlnS, Hiih-
ing tools, building implements, and host
of other Indispensable articles, must be
conveyed into the Black Hills country from
far distant sources of supply, before any
thing like permanent footing could be Sc
cured, even under the most favorable cir
cumstances. The transportation of those
necessari S will cost a great deal of money;
the terrible risks to be incurred will be put
into the account, and that money will have
to be paid by the honest miner and consum-
er, for whose apparent benefit. contractors,
schemers, mule and wagon-owners, and
host of unselfish men, are willing to take
the responsibility. Government officers of
hconceded rank and ability, selected to ex-
anime and report upon the Black Hills
country, are united in the statement that
they saw no gold or silver there in paying
quantities, but eur honest miners refuse to
believe them, and insist upon going there
to see for themselves. If it be true that
the region is rich in precious metals, it may
be accepted as foregone conclusion, that
the government will take prompt measures
to make some arrangement for its cession
by the Indian tribes who inhabit it, but fail
to utilize its mineral wealth so long as it is
in their possession, and will then throw it
open to the enterprise of legitimate explor-
alton and mining. But this fact has no
force with adventurers of the class We are
now discussing. They are in hurry to be
the first on the ground, and first in posses
sion. Here let us ask, what has become of
the first on the ground, and first in posses
sion, army OF early California miners?
Where, as rule, are now their mines,
mills and stamps, their numerous and val
liable appliances, and where their lordly
revenues? Are they not in the hands of
men who came long after them? Have
they not fallen to the heritage of those who
move less hastily, but far more judiciously?
The lessons SO often taught by a multitude
Of experiences are as completely ignored by
the Black Hills adventurers as if they had
never existed. Go on, gentlemen add an
other terrible chapter of suffering, starva-
ton, disaster, and agonized death, to those
already written, and perhaps, in due course
Of time, the average American may come to
learn something from his predecessors.