River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1883-11-08

November |, 1888
There is no room for doubt that l am
among the hills. They seem thrown in
to indiscriminate piles all about me.
They stretch themselves in rugged grand
eur above me on every hand. When /
climb their steep and stony sides / seem
very long time reaching the top; and
when at last reach it, after looking back
to see the busy town from whence came,
turn to look down on the other side, 10,
the hills still tower above me. ! have
only gained a shelly resting place, and
l seem no nearer the height of my am
bition than when | started from the min
ing camp below. The hills are not only
singularly irregular and formless, but the
stony material of which they are largely
composed seems pitched in every degree
of topsy-turvy. The strata run in every
direction but horizontally. One is tempt
ed to fancy that in some careless moment
these hills had slipped from the creating
hand, and, falling from some dizzy height,
the disaster had been so complete it
wasn't worth while to gather them up
again. And then these hills have all
been so perforated with tunnels and
shafts that the extent of these subterra-
mean chambers bids fair to rival the Cat
acombs of Rome. And yet | am told that
the wealth of these hills is probably as yet
scarcely touched. As for the towns, there
seems to be no place to put them. So
they stride the gulches, and hang the
towns on either hillside. Almost every
body has to go up several pairs of stairs
to get down cellar. The streets are very
narrow, and as crooked as they are mar
row. Those i'll this place who were lucky
enough to get a building spot without
climbing were many of them unlucky
enough to have their houses washed
away last May, by heartless flood which
carried out of this place about seventy
| five buildings. The food was caused by
the rapid melting of large quantities of
| snow on the mountains. Most of these
| towns are conglomerates, composed of
several mining camps, very slightly sep
| arated. This place for instance embraces
in addition to Central City proper, also
Golden Gate, Anchor City, Poorman,
| Sawpit, Hidden Treasure, South Bend,
Gayville and Black Tail; while Terreville
is only one half mile away. This group
is scarce mile from Deadwood, while
Lead City is only mile and half away.
These three cities with their adjuncts
have combined population of perhaps
nine thousand. Deadwood having about
| one half that number The placer dig
ging in this part of the hills is SO nearly
exhausted that but little surface mining
is now done. The quartz mining is done
| by large and wealthy corporations who
employ large gangs of miners, and run
large stamp mills for crushing the ore and
extracting the gold. The stamp mills in
| this vicinity am told are the largest in
| the world, some of them having one
| hundred and twenty stamps. The mines
and mills are run night and day, week
DAYS and Sundays. Miners are paid three
dollars and a-half per day; foremen have
six or seven while every position of re-
| sponsibillity is well salaried, the Superin-
tendent of one company receiving a sal
airy of eighteen thousand dollars year.
Winding along the edge of the mining
gulches, and reaching back into the tim
, Der is the Black Hills Railway narrow
guage track some fourteen miles in length.
The track at this point is said to be one
thousand feet above the bottom of the
gulch. 1t is used principally for trans
porting wood to the mills and timber for
the mines This material passes from the
track to point near where it is wanted
by means of shoots extending down the
hillside.
The average intelligence of the popula-
ton here is very high. Idiots are scarce.
A superintendent told me he could find
men in his mine from all the learned pro-
LESSONS and skilled trades.
Sabbath Dissertation intemperance and
gambling are painfully common, yet peo-
pie of high moral excellence are so num-
erous that one need find no difficulty in
surrounding himself with the better ele-
ments of social life. People of every
class can find their kind here as well as
every where else.
w. D. ATwATER.