Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1877-07-20

DEADwoOD CITY, July 6, 1877.
EDITOR SENTINEL: 1 have noticed
a good many letters in the SENTINEL
since / have been here, relative to the
merits of this country, all of the old
Eureka boys having a way of circu-
lating the few copies among them
selves that find their way here. 1t
seems like home to glance over the
familiar columns and read of the do
ings on the Base Range, and / came to
the conclusion that, with your permis-
sion, / would let your readers see
things through my spectacles. l fiat
ter myself that am more competent
to judge, perhaps, than the majority,
as I have no prejudice against the
Hills, having been one of the few for
tunate ones in finding a good paying
claim-a cause for congratulatIon,
from the fact that there is a scarcity of
such locations. There is gold here,
aud in paying quantities, but no
enough to serve the purposes of the
immense emigration that has poured in
here this season. And now a word to
those who think OF coming here and
taking up a mining claim. Stop; the
turkey is carved and the pieces won't
go around. If you intend to buy a
claim, the seller knows its full value.
and not being Christmas you will not
get any part OF it thrown in as a pres
ent. The Pilgrims and Tenderieet can
buy a quartz claim cheap in which the
gold veins they show them have been
80. 49,, leo ,uin.x tha a.tfra al an rant,
dollar gold piece over the rock, or a
placer claim that Ba~ been sailed with
a load out OF an old shotgun. In the
mechanical trades there is a great sur.
plus-thousands here and no work for
them. A few carpenters received four
dollars a day early in the season,
when builders were pushed, but they
are now down TO two dollars and nc
work for the a majority of those
who apply. Laborers can be had in
any er for one dollar, and many
beg work, asking only food and u
place to sleep. There are more mer-
chants, saloon and restaurant men
here now than the country will sup.
port, and as soon as the thousands
who are now on the way back spread
the news of their disappointment and
the utter hopelessness of new corners
getting claims or employment the rush
will stop and business will fall oil.
Those who want to take homesteads
and farm had better go where there is
less winter and more water, for no
crop is sure here without expensive
irrigating bitches, and on our prospect
ing trip we saw millions of young
grasshoppers. The cry now is, "On
to the Big Horn" and many will be
-II..-l - " DTlA. 49, -, tl.z
Big Horn plains we saw many hunt
ers who thoroughly knew The country; |
none of them had ever seen gold there,
and many had prospectsd for il, but
the idea is abroad that there is gold
there. and that is enough to draw the
crowd. There is nc section of the
country outside of Deadwood and
Bear Butte hills that will pay. Dead
wood gulch, which Is less than five
miles long, and a part OF WhitewoOd,
will pay to sluice, and nothing outside
of those two and their tributaries.
Bear Buttes is rich in quartz, and there
is a small section OF quartz country,
all deposits-there is not a regularly
defined vein in the Hills-every inch
of which is taken mp. / saw a state
ment in tie New York Tribune that a
section of country, 200 miles square,
is rich in gold, silver, lead, copper and
iron. The small region that / have
mentioned carries precious metals, and
the balance simply red sandstone,
limestone and clay, and for the truth
of the above l refer to the thousands
of prospect holes that have been dug
all over the country. The absence of
any new discoveries, Notwithstanding
the enormous amount OF exploring
that has been done, proves that this is
not a second California, and as a gold
producing region it is away below any
of the states and Territories west OF
the Rocky mountains. 1t has been a
fair country for surveyors and town
lot spectators, and a few lucky ones
have found paying claims within a cir
cumscribed space, but the region is
overdope, and l advise everybody to
stay away from here, for. the present
at least. Yours, truly, X. 5.