The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1877-03-30
Will the BLACK Hills Prove Failure

MY bGty III Tile DctdlWOOO ICkiOn VINO
of five days duration. The mines now
in operation are all gulch, or sluice mines,
although prospecting for quartz mining
is constantly going on. Five or six, pos
sibly ten, mines in the whole region pay
from $500 to g., 900 per day. The largest
amount 1 saw taken from any one excava-
ton in single day was 81 ,085, which
was the result of the work of seven men
employed by the owner. The average
Deadwood gulch mine will just about pay
"grub," and those that pay good living
wages are rare. Seven out of every ten
men in the whole region have no money
and no means of getting any. The Dead
wood ground is all taken up, and men do
not dare to go out prospecting away from
the main body on account of the In
dams. Summed up briefly, the condi-
ton of mining affairs is this: Placer mines
all taken mp; quartz mines the only re-
source left. In order to work these, cap
ital, machinery and mills for the crush
ing of ore must be introduced. Men of
wealth will hesitate about sending capital
into country so far from railroad COM
munication, and about which 80 little is
definitely known. Most of the men now
in the Black Hills are laboring men, in
experienced as miners. Their chances
for employment in the mines, then, are
small, and their prospects in quartz min
ing are even poorer. The mineral riches
of the Black Hills cannot be developed
for fully twenty-five years to come. So
far no great success has followed the best
efforts what future work will bring
forth is q matter of uncertainty, of
course, but there seems little reason fol
prophesying anything remarkable.
Farming there is out of the question.
Throughout greater part of the district
heavy frosts begin in September; snow
storms did not cease last spring until the
18th day of June. Every farmer will see
that a country where winter reigns from
September to June cannot support
its inhabitants upon its agricultural
products. 1t follows, then, that the
necessaries of life must always be
imported at immense cost. There is to be
considered the collateral fact that during
greater part of this long season of ice
and snow, placer-miners cannot work.
Can men earn enough money in two
months of labor to subsist with profit
through ten months of idleness? 1t is
asserted by miners and engineers, grown
gray in experience, that a region where
mining cannot be carried on at least sew
en- months out of every twelve can never
be of any permanent value to its oper-
ators.
L have no hesitation in saying that /
think the Black Hills will eventually
prove failure. The trip thence would
be severe trial for most men, even if the
danger of being murdered were removed
At present the journey is exceedingly
dangerous, and if by good fortune the
gold-hunter succeeds in surviving its
hardships and getting through alive, his
chances for success are few and his ex-
penses necessarily will be large.-L. r..
Richardson, IN Scri6ner for april.
Saved from Wildcats Claws.
Louis and William La Duke, aged II
and -, went out hunting five miles from
Port Huron, on the Blockway plank road.
I They had two dogs with them, one a
bloodhound, and the elder boy was armed
with shotgun. They had gone into
the woods forty rods from the road, when
the hound, which was off little distance,
began to bark. The boys looked and
saw, as they supposed, a coon striving to
avoid the dogs. William ran to head the
animal off, when it rushed upon him.
He turned to run up to his brother The
animal sprang upon the boys back, utter
ing horrid growls. With his claws upon
the boys forehead, the terrible creature
was about to begin to mangle its victim,
when the elder brother rushed forward.
The beast threw up it's head for an in
slant, with growl at the new conner.
The boy, although four rods away, saw
the opportunity, and, leveling his shot
gun as quick as thought, sent the full
charge through the throat of the fero-
cious beast, killing it instantly. The
shot passed squarely over the head of
the younger boy, not missing him by
more than an inch or two. The boy was
only slightly scratched. His double
escape may be considered miraculous.
The wildcat was large, and in good fight
ing trim.-Port Huron (Mich.) Com
nlercidt.
Family Succession i'm Congress.
The Camerons don't present the first
instance of family succession in the Sen