Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1881-12-17
COUNTY ROADS.

with extra good prospects for Cnste
county. Mining, both in gold. quart
and mica, will commence with renewc,
vigor, and farming will 5c carried Oh
IN Il manner worthy of rich agricultur
al county. In view of this prospectiv,
state of affairs it becomes necessary fo
our county, to take in hand our publ,
roads and put them in proper condition
az soon as possible Custer City bein!
the county seat, and the centre of trade
needs convenient and safe communica
Hon with all parts Of the county, AM
this can only be secured by having road,
over which any kind Of a load can bt
hauled without the vexation and ex
pensc Of ovcrtnrning or stalling. Thi,
past season has seen a great improve
ment over former times, but the work i,
only Just commenced. We have camp.
surrounding us on all sides, every one OF
which needs work on its road. June.
'ion, kidvil!r, Hill City, Cheyenne
River, Jenney's stockade. Hayward
lIarney. Buffalo Gap, and Hot Springs
are every one Of them places whose
trade should come to Custer. 1t Is the
most central point for them all, and were
there good roads their whole trade
would be diverted this way, but at the
present time we really receive no trade
from Hayward, Harney, Hill City or
Cheyenne River. The reasons for this
vary somewhat with the different locali-
ties Hill City, We loose for the lack oi
II good road. Although Il stage line runs
over il is still in n vllainous condition.
not ii to haul Il heavy load over, they,
therefore. 90 TO Rockford and Rapid
City; for the sanc reason we loose
Tigcrvitlc and Sheridan, although both
places are nearer to us than to Rapid
City. Hayward and IIarnev are as alb
solutely cut off from us as though an
ocean rolled between. The range of hills
on Iron Creek are at present absolutely
ilnpassablc, and as there are few settlers
along that part of the road no work is
now or ever vii! be lui,c, except 1T the
expense of the county. Both places
have population enough to make it a
considerable object to secure their trade,
yet, both are as much strangers to us as
though they lived at Inyan Kara. The
.tock range at the Cheyenne River
trades ut Cheyenne, nearly 800 miles
distant when they are but 30 mile, from
Custer This should never be the case,
but this is not wholly due to roads.
They would be quite willing and anxi-
ous to come here hut they can not al
Ways yet what they want, and, therefore,
a, they would have to send TO cheyenne
for part of their supplies send there
ior he whole. Our only way to secure
their trade is TO build up trade from
other points that vii warrant our mer-
chants in keeping a NOR, t0mp!ete and
extensive stock, lie Cheyenne River
trade, which j. Il very important item,
will ut once become ours, The same
thing may be said of the S,ockade. The
roads from Custer to the Stockade are
in frightful condition. and must be re
medied or they will hardly be in fit
to walk over.
Hot Brooks will in all probability be-
come during the next year very i'm
portant point, and the road from the
rev Buffalo Gap road to the springs
ought to be put in good order. To do
this, 4 very considerable portion would
be contributed by the settlers down
there, but our county commissioners
should start the thing.
They have done good work this sum
mer and fall on the Red Canyon road
and also on the Buffalo Gap road, this
only serves to show the necessity of still
more work i'll other directions. 1t Will
cost money, no doubt, and possibly run
the road fund into debt, but no citizen
of the county will grumble much over a
debt incurred for the sake of making
good roads, and when he finds that he
no longer has innumerablc little bills to
pay for repairing his wagon. he will be
content to pay portion Of the sam
amount in taxes. Custer City would Os
course reap great benefit from good
roads to all points, but those in the out
side camps should not allow themselves
to think that it would be the only one
benefited. They would have safe and
easy roads, they would get their goods
cheaper, and would have far larger
stocks TO select from. The good result
would be equally distributed to all
points. There is no one thing so essen
tial in new county as good roads, and
we do hope our commissioners will not
hesitate to 60 ahead with the work they
have already inaugurated until every
camp is supplied with good thorough
fare. Lawrence county, some three
years ago spent nearly $4,000 on roads,
but we are far from wishing to see our
commissioners follow i'm the footsteps of
those wise men of Old, but a judiciOus
expenditure of money when something