Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1877-04-06
The Black Hills.
From the Denver Tribune.

From the Denver Tribune.
ii. L. Johns, of Greeley, in letter, give,
the following particulars about his recenl
trip to the Black Hills country and ex
perience therein We had but three pleas
ant days from Creole, to Custer City, and
part OF the time it seemed almost impossible
to keep from freezing. But the night We
passed Alkali Springs, nearly two hundred
miles from Cheyenne, was the toughest We
found on the entire trip. 1t is bleak, desc.
late place on the open prairie-no wood, nc
shelter, and the hills all covered with snow
We camped here about three O'Clock in the
afternoon, and an hour afterward cold
storm came up from the north, driving the
snow in every direction, sending it in drifts
in the corral we had formed with our wagons
until it was ten inches deep on our beds,
The next morning the thermometer stood Is
degrees below zero, and as the stage came
along the passengers were only too glad to
avail themselves Of the handful of fire we had
to keep from freezing.
Nearly all of us froze our fingers and ears,
while George Barnes froze one of his feet
quitely badly while in bed, but was not
aware of it until the next morning. The
next day the storm continued until we reach
ed Alum Springs, when it cleared up; but it
was awful cold, every breath freezing in our
whiskers. The snow continued getting
deeper until We reached Cusrer-in many
places it drifted 50 badly that we had to
shovel our way through. At Pleasant VAL
ley, nine miles from Custer, had the mis-
fortune to lose a horse. He got loose in the
night, pulled fifty pound sack of flour out
of the wagon. and at ! O'Clock next morning
he passed in his checks" We reached
Custer on the 24d Of January, in good health,
and with appetites that were ruinous to q
hotel keeper. Here we left our wagons and
built US slecs out of pine, loaded them for
other parties for Deadwood, and stored our
goods. We took $500 pounds to sled, at
four cents per pound, but could have dono
better had We taken 500 instead OF $500,
for the roads were horrible.
We were six days getting to Deadwood,
and our teams looked as though they had
been drawn through knothole. After dis
charging our freight we drove up the Buffalo
Corral. kept by two Greeleyites, John Har-
ris and William Lynn, who are in good
spirits and doing well. About month ago
they bought the place they now occupy for
$500, and they were offered $1,000 for the
place, in my presence. few days ago. The
next day we spent in looking around. We
went up Deadwood creek to GayviIe South
Bend, Central. Golden Gate and Gold Ran,
finding the miners all busy in washing ont
the dirt they had been drifting throug gh all
winter, and were meeting with good results
Two miles of Deadwood Creek is very
rich, paying from $500 to 81 800 a day to
four men. The balance of the creek pays
good wages, say about twenty dollars day
to the man, while Whitewood and Gold Run
are some better, but the Placer mines are
no; the prominent mines of the country.
Some very rich ledgcs have been discovered,
two Of which sold, only last week, one for
$4,000 and the other for $4,000 cash.
Three months ago the young men who sold
these ledges were not worth dollar in the
world, while a number of sales of less i'm
pcrtancc have been also made. The country
is completely covered with quartz, the lodges
cropping out everywhere. Five lodges are
actually worked by mills now in operation.
and three mills more arc on the road
up to be erected on Whitewood, and large
quantities Of ore piled waiting for them.
The Black Hills contain a population of
about 10, 200, while 5000 are concentrated
at Deadwood, and as you stand at the head
of Main street on Sunday and look down
through the principle street, you see per-
feet jam Of men on every side. Sunday i,
the great day in the mines. and merchants
and business men look forward to this day
as their harvest. Money is getting plenty,
and but very little cry of hard times, yet
there are great many idlers here-men that
are cursing the country and trying to get
away while Others seem to be satisfied and
happy. My opinion is th,t the Black Hills
have not been oyer-rated, but offer better
inducements to men of energy and persever-
anco than any other country in the world,
and now is the time to strike them, for they
are yet IN there infancy. but, in my judg-
ment. will convince the most incredulous as
to their richness the coming summer.