The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1876-03-30
THE BLACK HILLS.
Poor Gold DIggIhEs-PFitatAOhs of lhg
Miners

A correspondent of the Denver, Color
ado, News writes from Fort Laramie,
Wyoming territory, under date of Feb
ruary 26th, as follows:
l think a few facts may deter. some
persons from going where thousands will
find nothing but disappointment. l ar
rived here Yesterday from the Hills"
and, like many others, found had made
a great mistake in going there. Persons
going to the Hills with the expectation
of finding gold without digging hard for
it will be grieyously disappointed. AS
general thing the diggings are deep
from fifteen to thirty feet-the country
is fat (the gufches have but little fall)
and great expense Is attached to opening
claims in most localities. Very little
prospecting has been done, and but little
gold has been taken out. At Custer City
mining is entirely ignored, and town lot
speculation and hOuse-building have
taken the place of mining. Everybody
owning claims there is on the sell" A
very few claims in any of the gulches are
showing paying prospects. There IS wa
ter only about three months in the year,
and a claim must be frst-class to pay eX-
penses. 1t will take three months to
open a claim at Custer. DeadwOOd
Greek, ninety miles north of Custer, is
probably about as good as anything
found there yet, and in this gulch there
seems to be a second deposit of gold, in
about two feet of earth, and it prospects
| tOlerably we'll But below this is from
| six to eighteen feet that contains but
little gold until bedrock is reached, and
then five dollars to the pan will not more
than pay for working. The new cOmers
/ L, HA1I t,VVF 4F,on oil
ners are all anxious to sell. If there are
any mines in the Black Hills that will
warrant stampede like the present one
I have failed to find them. And that is
! the honest verdict of all the parties with
whom have talked who know anything
about mines. They may yet discover
rich digglngs, but they certainly have
not got them now, and the chances fOl
another California are not good.
1t makes ones heart sick to see the
poor devils who are going to the mines
minus money, blankets, grub, or ever
guns. They may be met by dozens, beg
ging their way; and the weather for the
past month has been cold, windy anC
extremely disagreeable, and there are nC
ranches beyond Fort Laramie where
these impecunious tramPs may fine
shelter.
There are thousands of acres of grOunC
in Colorado as good as the Black Hill
mines. There are, l admit, a few gOOC
claims there, but if they are as rich a
represented, why do all the miners wan
to sell, and why are they pushing
} further north to the Big Horn to fin
more?
Flour and groceries have been obtain
able at prices quite reasonable at tn
mines, and this has proved a most fOrtU
nate fact, for but few had taken in NOR
than enough grub to last them on th
way. Corn is $l8 per 100 pounds
S Freight from Cheyenne has shot up frOI
three to six cents to twelve and twent
cents per pound. l don't see how thos
8. blanketless and penniless fellows will fin
: = grub, underground hogs and prairie dog
! are plenty.
On an average, about forty peTsof
leave Cheyenne every day, and these al
o not a tenth part of the arrivals at tt
Hills. At the present rate of immigr
ton there will be 10000 persons
u the Hills by the 1st of July, and, jud
u ing by my own observations, nine-tentl
It of them will be disappointed and di
n gusted-a starving crowd, as most
Is them have their last dollar invested
D. their outfit. If the mines should tul
is out good, a year hence is soon enough
go there.
Ny advice to the majority is, that
they can get good chance to ma
board and clothes, they had better gi
q the Black Hills wide berth, for befo
r another sixty days passes a change W
take place, and AN army of disgusted a
at foot sore gold seekers will turn hon
n ward.