The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1876-05-26
LIGHT ON A DARK SUBJECT.
The Truth About the Black Hills" Tell
the Boys to Stay at Home."
[From the Cleveland Herald.l

the Boys to Stay at Home."
[From the Cleveland Herald.l
At last we have received genuine let
ter from the Black Hills. Our cores
pondent is Millersburg man who was
sent out to the Black Hills by company
at Scranton, Pa, to ascetain the exact
facts. His letter is dated at Custer City,
on French creek, which he says has 332
houses built or under construction.
Eight of these are frame and the re-
mainder of hewed logs, about ten feet
high and rooted with poles laid close
covered with dirt about a foot deep.
About 5000 persons are on this creek,
which is valley about quarter of q
mile wide, with a small, winding stream
having scarcely perceptible current,
sometimes above and sometimes under
ground. The bed rock of the valley is
about twenty feet beneath the surface.
At the top of the soil the finest par
ticles of gold are found, but nothing
more until the bed rock is reached,
and then from "color" up to one dol
lar, by scraping the rock. The yield
is more frequently the tenth part of q
cent than over. Nothing has yet been
discovered that will pay the miners
board. There is a good deal of mica
rock. Three sawmiils have been built
but no market can be found for the
lumber, which is offered at twenty
five dollars per thousand for pine lum-
ber. The logs will average twenty
inches and cut two twelve-feet logs to
the tree.
Hill City, on Spring creek, has 100
log or pole houses, of which about a
score are finished, and the remainder
abandoned after the sides were up. Only
about thirty persons remain in the place,
and not a dozen miners are making their
board. A large amount of work was
begun and abandoned. The bed rock is
about thirty-two feet wide, with but lit
tie gold. Cassel, Rosewood, Deadwood
and Whitewood creeks and Bear Gulch
streams running north some hundred
and fifty miles-have all been thoughly
prospected, and but little gold found, or
diggings that will pay miners board.
No snow exists to interfere with min
ing. Timber on the hills is of a better
quality than in the valleys. The hills,
instead of being regular chain of
snow-capped mountains, appear like q
knot or snarl of detached and twisted
elevations. Some break forth and run
along q valley for about mile, when
the hills close in and the water disap-
pears. Few valleys have water on the
surface.
He says there are hundreds in the
hills, "hardy and stout, with willing
hands to work, who are begging to
work for their board. 1T is heart-rend-
ing to meet old and tried miners, with
from five to fifteen years experience,
who have spent from six to eight months
in the hills and have not made enough
to buy pair of boots to cover their
feet" He believes there are good
quartz leads and some few placer dig
gings, but to take it as a whole he thinks
there will be twenty dollars spent for
every dollar taken out. The result of
his experience has been the disbanding
of his company and report to those
who sent him that they had better stay
home.
The writer gives an unfavorable re-
port of the attitude of the Indians. He
says he helped TO bury two men that
were killed by the Indians on the Chey-
enne route. Our correspondent dined
with prospector, and two days after
ward his dinner companion was shot by
Indians and his wagon and harness
burned. The traveller, when he goes
into camp, begins by throwing up rifle
pits for defense. Five men from La
mars, Iowa, were attacked, and after
two hours fight, in which they were all
wounded, were compelled to leave their
wagons with SO, 400 worth of goods and
| 800 cartridges in the hands of the
Indians. Two men sitting on their
mules in Deadwood creek were shotl
down by Indians, and one on Casse
creek. Clusters expedition is looked
upon as the cause of all the trouble.
Everything is very high in the hills, and
the Indians threaten to cut off all fur
ther supplies and then drive out the
miners.
The conclusion of the letter is brief
and to the point. We commend it to
those who indulge in dreams of should
ering their picks and digging out for
tune in the Blacks Hills" Tell the
boys to stay at home"