Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1876-02-18
THE BLACK HILLS.
The New Dorado as Described BY a
SDring Creek Miner.

We have beeu permitted to publish
the following letter written from Hill
CITY. Black Hills, and received yester-
dav bv a friend OF ours, who assures
Us that the writer is not given to SEN
sa~tionalism and may he considered as
authentic. Following is the letter:
HILL CITY, BLACK HILLS,
Jan. Both, 1876.
DEAR - Our party arrived in the
hills perfectly safe and sound, expe-
riencing no trouble with the Indians.
We struck the foothills in December,
and since that time have been pros
pecling all over. 70 day is Sunday,
and we, having finished our washing,
all hands are engaged in letter writing.
Some are writing to the cid folks at
home, others 10 1.-THE girl they left be-
hind" and the balance to their friends.
You should see US thus engaged
stools, table and hunks have been
brought into requisition, and [ am con
tent in securing tie cover of our Dutch
bake oven to support my paper while
writing to you. But you are anxious
concerning the prospects of our camp,
and without further preliminaries | will
at once tell you about the place and
the After prospecting in a
number of places a company of US
finally selected this place to work. 1t
it located on
Spring Creck.
We have a good cabin and our table
is well supplied with game, such as
elk and venison. Deer and elk are
numerous and roam about the county
in large herds. The climate so
far IL delightful. We wear summer
clothing and work with our coats and
vests OFF. We have had one snow
Storm, tut it did not stay on the ground
over II day. 1t Gems like early fall;
but this is, without doubt, an excep-
tional winter. We find gold in every
stream, and | candidly think the
country will certainly prove very rich
wHen once developed. Those now
here have not had time to work much.
having been engaged in preparing our |
camp and building a stockade in case |
we ave to pay our attention to hostile
Indians.
The rig2ings are Very Deep.
and not much Of a prospect above bed
rock. On this account many leave the
His greatly disappointed, and say
there is no gold. | have found from
one-fourth of a cent to fifteen cents TO
the pan on gravel bars, commencing
about fou feet from the surface and
growing richer as depth is attained.
The wafer troubles us greatly and pre-
vents us reaching bed rock, and so far
1t has not been found in the main
gulch. The rim on eac side is easily
worked and pays Well. A party work-
ing three miles below US has IA sluice
working from the rim rock that pays
II dollar an hour to the man. Their
last cieaii mp, Il days sluiciiig, was $40.
This is lair wages, when taking III con
sideration that they "A g unable to work
over six hours a day now.
h god At ttfls pace is very coarse
on tile bed rock, averaging from ten
rents to fourdoliars per nugget, though
he grave, does not par out so well.
In a VI ar or two | think this will be
n of the greatest mining countries in
/ ne world. Thought Alder gulch was
never 10 be equalrd. but Spring Greek
and h other camps show better to-
day than Alder gulcn did at first, and |
think it will De put in the shade when
get TO work in good
Yours, FRANK.