The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1875-03-19

49, - tH@AA "AAANu W.
the same place ThyS. II. Russell. Of
Sioux City; r. Il. Whitney, Of the
-aUe place a. r. Long. Of PhiladrI-
phin; ChATIrs CaLicru, OF Wichita,
Kan, a Mexican Thomas McCluTrn,
or ST. Louis and Henry Thomas. Of
the same place. All these old miners
pronounce tn" d~iEgimgS good. and say
that with proper bitches. sluices. tail
races and the other appliances ncccs-
sary to successful work these mines
will pay from hny TO one hundred
dollars a-dny To tht man.
am not 1 practical miner myself,
and cannot f"rm any Idea Of what
they will pay On an average, but am
willing to adopt the estimate made 10y
those capable OF forming a tolerably
correct estimate of their vnlur. They
also estimate that this valley alone
will give employment 10 from two to
three thousand miners.
We did not venture out into any
other valleys to prospect. There nre
= great number Of cross gulchrs put
ting down into this valley from the
Granite Hills, on both the north aud
south side Of 1t, all Of them having
small streams running through. In
these hills we found gold bearing
quartz and silver ores. Mr.. Russell
and Mr. Lamb, who have mined in
the Georgetown mines, Colorado, say
the silver ore is very rich. So does
Mr.. Cadiero. no has mined in the
SILVER mines of old Mexico. Ores were
also brought in from the region OF
Harvey Peak said Ia lie Cinnabar.
We had no tools suitable for mining,
no whip Jaws to make lumber, and
none Of the Decessary appliances to
make n successful test at mining. All
VIC aimed to do was to prospect the
country and satisfy ourselves OF its
richness.
Deposits OF plumbago. iron and gyp-
sum are abundant in that country.
The hills are covered with fine pine
timber, ranging from one foot to three
feet in thickness. Any amount ofgood
saw logs can be had, and many of the
trees will cut two aud even three six
teen feet logs without n knot or limb.
The Wisconsin men in the party call
1t Norway Pine, and say the pine for
ests are equal % the best to be found in
that State.
Some good groves Of oak were also
found suitable for making lumber and
some ash, but the trees were rather
small. Elm was also met with in
places.
The country is a 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 ; and the hillsides too are
covered with short nutritious grasses.
The climate, except for IL short period
in January was mild and there was
only n few inches of snow in the val
lcya at any time during the winter,
which 1on melted eff. We encoun-
tered more snow in coming out to
Fort Laramie than we met with in the
hills. AT one place We met with about
IileeN llcIleS.
We struck tho fouth Cheyenne
about half a mile below Horse Head
Creek. From the foot hills to the
river, over n beautiful valley, was a dis
lance of about four miles, and on the
opposite (-outh) side there is one ex-
tended valley, formed by the juncture
of Horse Head with the South Chey-
enne. Two Indians rode up within a
hundred wards of us as we were crossing
the Cheyenne valley and pointed in
the direction of Red Cloud Agency,
and beckoned us to go in that direc-
ton. They were armed but mani
tested no hostility. On the branch Of
the White Earth rive" we came upon
n 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 were
from the Black Hills and going to
Fort Laramie. They wanted to trade
ponies for Il guns. This we declined
to do and they rode off. We moved
on that night and run upon another
small village on another stream, a
tributary of the Running Water, but
passed around it unpoticed and reached
Fort Laramie unmOlestel and undis-
turbed except by our own fears.
From the South Cheyenne to the
North Platte river opposite Fort Lar
annie is a fine stretch of good country,
well watered, with plenty of timber
along the streams, and an abundance
of excellcnt grass. There are no OBJ