The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1876-03-30
THE BLACK HILLS.
custer ana Its SurrOundings-A City of
hagnfficent POssibilities-HOw Stran-
gers are Treated-DubiOus Prospects.
Correspondence Kansas City Times

Correspondence Kansas City Times.l
CUSTER AS 1T IS.
Seated in my tent this bright sunny
morning, with the front thrown wide
open to admit the flood of golden sun
shine, l enjoy at glance full pros
pect of Custer. Imagine if you can a
round basin, mile and half across,
covered with grass sod so dense that
the traffic of busy people for five or
siX months has as yet failed to destroy
or wear it away. Not tree or q stump
can be seen in this natural park, which
slopes gently from all sides down to
a shallow stream known to the world
as French Creek. In this park the city
OF Custer is being built as fast as hands
can build it. can count two hundred
and thirteen buildings on the townsite
this morning, more than half of them
Illfinished, and all of them constructed
of pine logs except five, and these are
five rough pine board shanties. The
only sign of Ornamentation TO be seen
here, and, in fact, the only printed and
painted signs in town are the bright
red placards of the Kansas City Times,
which have been eagerly sought for by
business men, with which to decorate
their windowless log cabins.
THE COURT HOUSE.
The only public building in this en-
bryo city is log cabin 16 feet square,
with dirt floor carpeted with gunny
sacks, rooted with pine poles covered
with dirt, walls of mud and logs, and
with a window formed of four small
panes of glass set in the walls without
sash. In this room the City Recorder
and Police Judge live, sleep, hold court
and make the city records. Next door
to this, the onlypublic building in the city,
stands the first, only and best hotel in
the city. 1t is a One-story hewed log
house about 20 feet square. 1t has a
roof formed of rough pine boards, the
gable ends of which are unbattened and
open to the weather. But this house is
the best in town because it has floor in
it, the only plank floor in the city, and
this is made of wide pine boards. The
Times representative was hOnOred yes
terday by special invitation to dine in
this the leading hotel in the city, which
is distinguished by the title of g Kansas
City House," painted on pine board
with a rag stepped in a bottle of ink.
HOW STRANGERS ARE TREATED.
The policy adopted by the leading
men, both in and outside of Custer, to-
wards new cOmers, is very liberal. To
Illustrate: when the Times party ar
rived it was waited upon by the City
Marshal, the Recorder and the Mayor,
who cOurteously rendered all the hospi-
talities possible, and inquired how
many of the party desired town lots for
actual settlement, how many wanted
farms or work. Those who wanted
town lots for residences were escorted
by the Marshal to vacant lots, shown
the boundaries, timber was pointed out
where they might 90 and cut logs, and
for fifty cents recording fee the new
conner became the proprietor of lot
50X15O on streets 120 feet wide. The
residence lots are very beautiful, all lie
out upon the highest margin of the ba-
sin-like town site, and many are al
ready planted (by nature) in beautiful
groves of young pines and cedars. All
are covered with Il fine grassy lawn.
Those who prefer a ranch" or a farm
in among the hundreds of fine open
valleys are turned over to the Squatters'
Grange, an organization formed for
self protection and to settle disputes as
to claims. A guide is furnished free,
and hundreds of beautiful farms are To-
Gated each month by the mere blazing
of trees for boundaries, and the posting
up of stake with the claimants name
and the amount of fine pasture land and
open meadows claimed by him. Those
who desire business lots or placer mines
have to buy them. Those who want
quartz lodeS have to hunt for them
But there is room enough for all, and
those who arrive first are first served,
and fairer land, with brighter skies,
deeper, richer soil, better timber, water
and grass never was seen. 1t is an
oasis in the center of a vast desert,
perfect Garden of Eden in the center of
a Sahara of barren sand and hostile
cactus.
A DUBIOUS OUTLOOK.
l have rambled up and down French
Creek for about eight miles, and have
as yet been unable to find any one tax
ing out gold in paying quantities. The
only mines being worked were those of
E. II. Franklin, an old man named
Sweeney, and two negroes. Sweeney
says he can not make wages. The ne
groes say they can make about three
dollars per day, while Franklin says it
pays him good wages. The miners are
all anxious to sell their claims, and are