Daily press and Dakotaian. [volume] (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1875-1880, 1879-02-21

promised to 20 in the night aud get . X
more and send them down BY the stage o
the following Saturday. l wanted him I
Ct me some moro then, but he refused 70 6
70 the discovery ~ long IS there vas any
body in the section Who would. track him
Have you any idea of the value of tn,
specimen you got from Shepherd? !.
I had it assayed BY Mr.. Rummel. who i
a man of large experience in gold ores, ant
he says that it would yield probably q
the rate of 81 to the pound-that Is $S,OW
to the ton.
What reasons did Shepherd give fol
keeping his find such q secret?
He said that he had sent to Wisconsin
for his brother and cousin to come out and
secure with him the first pick Of the claims,
after which he would let the public know
all about the location.
Did he give any idea as TO quantity OF
the deposit?
He said there was enough of the quartz
in sight to make him and his friends inde-
pendently wealthy, but that he did not
know anything about how deep or wide or
long it extended underground.
Could you guess anything from his con-
versation as to the location of the deposit?
The only hint was when I suggested to
him that he ought to Immediately prove up
on his pre-emption, and thus get a patent
from the government, which would enable
him to hold il, and give him = chance to
sell out. He replied that the quartz was
on his claim-not within q mile Of it,
but on government land which had never
been entered under any of the acts.
Did you make any effort to discover the
location?
It commenced showing Tuesday afternoon
so that the earth was covered; but Mr..
Brown and !, after learning from H. N.
Luce's plats, all the vacant land in Shep-
herds ~unguarded hints, the routes by which
he might have Travelled from some Of the
slouehs to his house. Once We felt sure
that we had struck the place where he had
stopped, but we were mistaken. We found
no indications, and had to forego further
because of the storm.
From your conversation with Shepherd,
what character of man would you think
him to be-? Does he seem like n that
would willfully 70 to work to deceive the
in regard to this NATTER.
He is a plain homesteader up there, and
talked like q man who meant what he said.
There was no chance whatever during u
interview, for any suspicion that he was
trying to gull anybody, and indeed there is
no object that l can guess which be could
have in playing any fraud.
Reporter-Did you receive the speci-
mems which Shepherd promised TO send to
you by Saturdays stage?
Mr.. Cameron-No. For some cause OF
other they did not arrive; but l received
from w. d. Luce, treasurer OF Lake county,
sou of H. n. Luce, a vial containing some
black sand. which he Informed me by let
ter had been found by some wood choppers
over on the east fork of the Vermilllon
river, about eight miles west of lake Her
man. l had this assayed, and it produced
about five cents woltn Of gold. Luce said
that the sand sent me was the result Of
washing a single pan full of dirt, and if the
mar who panned it never had any exper-
fence in such business before, he In all pro.
liability washed over some OF the gold. so
that what was left does not represent all
that the dirt would run to the pan in the
hands of an expert. But l am told that
three cents 10 the pan will furnish profitable
employment if there is plenty of water for
washing the dirt.
Was there any word from Luce 10. regard
Il the amount Of such dirt that could be
found up there.
Yes. He said there would be enough Of
it to ''grade up a road from Herman to
Flsndreau" [thirty.ive miles].
Do you know anything of the character
of the country along the Vermillion in the
vicinity Of where this sand was found!
1t is very bluffy and rugged-seamed and
SCARED with ravlnes. and a country with
altogether such a surface as might have
been copied from the gulches and small
canyons of California or the Black Hills.
After all your inspection and after all re-
ports that have reached you, what is your
candid judgment in regard TO the probable
ty Of gold having been found in Lake
county?
Everything leads me to believe there il
gold there, and if these reports which arr
circulated are frauds, l am worse gullee
than anybody.
THE LATEST INTELLIGENCE.
Of course there are multitudes of storiel
afloat some of which are evidently fabrica
tons and some of them are distortions O
facts. The most direct and fsttering repor
reached here Monday noon Three mel
in q buggy drove up to the postoflce, thei
team sweating and giving every indication
of having been desperately driven. They
jumped out. and some of the bystanders, BY
asking questions, found out the following
facts. The men we're John A. Cameron
of LuVerne, (no relation TO our townsma1
John d. and two friends of his. They had
been up to Lake county to see about making
some changes in q claim which one of them
has there. They said that about = O'Clock
Sunday evening, Albert Williams and
Ernest Eish who went I'm there from Sionx