The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1879-09-12
THE BLACK HILLS.

First Discovery OF Gold-Renarkabie Devel
opment Of the Country agricultural AN
Mineral Resources.
Although the presence OF gold In tn
Black Hills country. says the Chicag'
Journal, has been for long time sus
pected, it is only in the last three o.
four years that its existence has beer
demonstrated in such form and quaint
ties as to justify mining operations
there on anything like an extensive
scale. AS early as 1910 or l845 Father
De Smet, q Roman Catholic mission
AIRY, who spent his life among the Sioux
Indians, was shown by them large mug
gets of gold which they had picked up
in the gulches of the Black Hills re-
gien. The missionary cautioned the
Indians not to let these nuggets be seen
by white men, whose cupidity would
impel them to crowd in and drive the
Indians from the country. Subsequent
events have shown how well-founded
was the warning. Rumors of the min
eral riches of the region gradually
spread, and there ore evidences that
soon after that early time placer mines
were worked there by white men-who
were doubtless afterward massacred by
the Indians. In 1884 Government
expedition was sent into the region,
under the command of Capt. Bonnie
vile. In 1855 Gen. Harvey led an
exploring party there, and from him
the highest peak in the Hills is now
named. In 1856 and 1857 expeditions
were led there by Warren, in 1888
by DR.. Hayden, and in 1864 by Gen.
Sully. The explorations of these par
ties proved the existence of gold in the
mountains and foothills, but it was not
till the expedition of Gen. Custer in
1874 that the matter attracted much
general attention. The favorable re-
ports of some practical miners attached
to Clusters expedition aroused so much
discussion that in the summer OF 1875
an expedition was sent out by the In
terror Department, under the charge OF
a young geologist named Jenny, which
made some quite thorough explorations
and maps of the regions. The result
more than confirmed the previous re-
ports of gold in many places, and the
Idbu W but DldCh IlllS db OlCC oCu Al.
Adventurous miners began to take up
claims along the streams, and the COM
plications thus caused with the Indians,
to whom the region had been set apart,
caused the Government to forbid all
persons entering the Black Hill coun-
try. But the tide of emigration, once
in motion, could not be checked; and
the daring and hardy gold-hunters
poured in faster than the Government
forces could drive them out. In few
months the policy of forcible prevention
and removal was abandoned, and short
ly after February, 1870 the Govern
ment concluded new treaty with the
Sioux Indians, by which the Hill s were
opened to occupation and settlement by
white men.
Since that time the development of
the country has been in many respects
remarkable. Mining became speedily
profitable, the population rapidly in
creased, and towns quickly sprung up in
the mining centers, of which the largest
City-has population of
about 5000, and is the commercial
metropolis of the Black Hills. A mem
Der of the editorial staff of the New
York Tribune, now sojourning at Dead
wood, is writing valuable series of
letters to his paper from that point,
giving many interesting facts relating
to the development of the Black Hills
country, and particularly it's mineral
resources. These, he thinks, are only
to be developed, and are ex-
tensive enough to justify much larger
investment of labor and capital than
has yet been made. The earlier stages
of gold-mining consist in the rude pro-
cess of extracting the precious metal
from the sand and gravel of the bed
streams by washing in pan or sluice-
box, since this process requires no
capital but good muscles, and the pro-
ceeds are Immediately available. The
first attempts at quartz mining were
generally failures, from the lack of suffi-
cient capital to carry on operations on a
large scale; but the more recent opera
tions of some California capitalists in
erecting extensive works for the reduc-
ton of quartz have proved highly sue
cessful, and the works are now yielding
rich returns to their proprietors.
Besides the successes in gold-mining,
the Tribune correspondent states that
the extensive deposits of silver promise
good returns for the investment of cap
ital and mining experience, providing
operations are carried on upon scale
large. Specimens of rich
copper ore have also been found,
but the experiment of mining it has
not yet been thoroughly tried. Salt
deposits abound and machinery is on
its way to the Black Hills for trying the
of manufacturing salt
from the rock. Coal has also been
found in considerable quantities.
The gold deposits, however, are thus far
the principal attraction, and, so far as
can yet be determined, exceed all others
in value. The country around the
Black Hills is admirably adapted for
grazing, and it is probable that stock
raising will become one of the most i'm
portant industries of the region. The
extension Of the Northern Pacific rail-
road to the Yellowstone next year will
greatly shorten the distance of the
Black Hills to rail transportation, and
the rich agricultural and mineral re-
sources of this remarkable region will