Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1877-07-13
FROM THE BLACK HILLS.
A Highly Interesting Letter by Form
er Independence Boy.
of the Bullotin.


CENTRAL CITY, ID. T., July 4, II.
Ed. BULLETIN:-Is this really the
18th? 1t don't seem as such here. Blu
siness goes ON the same as ever; the
men still dig after gold, gold, and there
is no change whatever, if we except "a
couple OF blasts OF giant powder which
were exploded at 4 o'clock A. Nj. by
some good man who has Il patriotic
heart. | have just finished cleaning up
the dishes, pots, and pans of this morn
ings meal. Ed. Begun and | are
'baching' here, he being in the law bu-
siness, and getting nearly all the bust
ness there is to do. Speaking of law, |
will give you description of how our
Justice Courts are carried on in the
Black Hills. Yesterday Ed had suit
at Gayville The Court" was in sa-
loon, and His Honor, full to overflow
ing, sat in his chair as nearly erect as
he could under the circumstances
there being, | judged, a sort of whats
(hic) the matter (hic) with this chair
feeling about him-with all the pomp,
grace and dignity of His Honor, Judge
Wilson. a few remarks about the
chair 1t is a whisky barrel cut down
in sort of Revolutionary style, so as
to leave back and arms to it; it has a
board across to sit on, covered with a
piece Of buffalo hide; it also has on the
top of the back small deer-horn, in
tended as an ornament. The table was
faro table. On one side was His Hon
ors books-the code and Hoyle's rules
for card players, and on the other was
box filled with chips" and faro-deal-
ers box. Well, Ed. had a suit before
this honorable dignitary, and did some
tall talking whenever point came up,
as your readers are aware he is capable
of doing 1t did not take long for the
Judge to fall entirely in love with him,
which, of course, blinded him (the judge)
as to the merits Of the other side of the
case. The suit was going ON finely and
Ed was talking beautifully, and explain
ing to His Honor certain point not
clear to his mind no wonder, for
his eyes were dim, his voice was hoarse,
and to everything that Ed said, his an
swer was, "Of course, (hic) Of course"
when, all of a sudden, prompted by the
honor of his high official capacity, and
by his love for the man that had so nice
ly succeeded in getting around the
point OF which he was in doubt, he arose
from his throne, kicking the same over,
and cried out: Boys, (hic), let's have
"A temporary adjournment for a few (hic)
minutes, and all take driak!" OF
course this broke up the trial, the attor-
neys all left the court room and His
Honor to drink to his own health The
case is to be tried in Deadwood next
week
The Big Horn country is all the rage
here, Great stampede for there all the
time, and if it amounts to anything it
will leave the Hills in the dark There
are about ten men leaving here now to
every one that comes in. Those that
come here with 10 money soon find this
Il poor place to get work. and get out
quicker than they come in, if they are
so lucky as to have money left to get
out with. This is, indeed, poor place
for poor man. But, again, it is a good
place for man with money, an excel
lent place If man has from $500 to
$1,000, he is poor business man if he
can't treble his money in less than
year Provisions, etc, are at last down
to reasonable prices, Flour is SO per
cwt; it has been $40 since | came here.
Bacon, zoe a. Doc per ID; ham, 25c; G.
sugar, 25c; A. sugar, 3Oc; tea, 500;
coffee, SOC; tobacco, Sl20 a. $50, and
other things in proportion. We have
some very rich mines in the Hills. A
few days ago one-half Of the Llewellan
mino was sold for $4,000, and soon af-
ter, two bucketsful of dirt were taken
out, containing quartz permeated with
gold, plainly observable to the naked
eye, which yielded about 81, 0OO-pretty
big for two pailfuls. We have about
twenty-five quartz mills in the Hills
and all are doing "A good business
Ed. makes speech to-day as orator
of the day at Sunday School picnic to
be held II miles north Of here. | ain
teaching school here, and am beset
with all the trials and troubles of a
frontier teacher. No stove, an old rough
box for chair, an old rough board ia
bic hewed out of pine logs with an AK,
and benches of the same material. |
walk three miles every morning to my
school, and still | am contented getting
good pay But | must bring my letter
to close, Will write again if my let
ters prove acceptable. Il. Il. {.