Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1883-05-12

" nat IL termed the Black Hills II
try is all that part Of Dakota lying south
of the 10th parallel ofnorth latitude and
west Of the l02nd meridian, and all that
portion Of Wyoming lying north Of the
43d parallel and east of the IO5th mcri-
dian, and embracing about $500 square
miles, or l4,5OO,O00 acres, O fwhlch about
o%ne-fourth is agricultural, the other
three-fourths being mineral and pastoral
lands. About 400, 100 acres, all of which
are in Dakota, have been taken under
the homestead, presumption and timber
culture acts. The balance is 10Y open
10 settlement, with the exception of a
small portion lying east Of the banks of
the Cheyenne river and the l03d meri-
dian. The farming lands of the Hills
are as productive AS can be found any
place in the world. Fifty bushels of
wheat, 60 of barley, 10 of oats, 400 of
potatoes and 600 of onions have been
raised per acre Of ground. All other
kinds of vegetables DO equally as We'll;
potatoes that will weigh two or three
pounds are common, and some have
been raised hat went rs high as four
pounds. The soil is Il rich vegetable
mold, strongly i~mpregnated with gyp-
sum, of which there is an i~nexhaustible
supply, and consequently the land need
never become impoverished. q
frIn ts,aJar land. &c cha Hills ~ ~
tiImated at 5000 square miles, the timber
tx principally Norway pine, with some
spruce, cottonwood, willow, aspen, oak,
ash, elm, etc. along the margin Of the
streams which rise i'm the mountains
and flow on To the Cheyenne river on
the north and south side.
No other country in North America
can offer equal inducements to the stock
grower. The finest and most nutritious
grasses with plenty Of good water anu
shelter from the winter winds and
scarcely any snow, cattle keep Eat on the
range the year round, never knowing
what il is to be fed; the stock raiser can
have choice of five different railroads to
ship his stock, thereby getting the low.
est possible rates TO take them To mar
ket. Sheep DO equally AS we'll as cattle,
and horses do better.
Large herds ofbuTalo are now swarm
ing over the ranges north and west Of
the Hills, with many thousands Of cattle
mixed in with them. Two years ago, |
the hardest winter ever known i'm the
west, the loss of cattle was only about s
per cent. while in the states and terri
tories south and west of here the loss
was from 90 to - per cent. There are
at the present time about 100000 head
of cattle on the range in this vicinity
and room for 100000 more without
o1~erstocking the country.
Gold mining is carried on from Bear
gulch on the north to Custer City in tue
southern part of the Hills, a distance of
ninety miles. and from Rockford ON the
west to Rorkerville Oh the east. In no
other country in the world are there SO
many and extensive mines Of gold as in
the Black Hills. From the northern to
the southern and from the eastern to
the western extremely gold is found in
nearly every gulch and on every hill
within the mineral belt. In other min
ing countries it is only found over a
small area of country, covering but IA
few miles Of territory at the most here
there are about POO square miles in
what is called the mineral, and gold is
found IN almost every square mile of the
200. The lodes varv in size from 10 TO
| 900 feet in width, and some as much
as 80 miles in length. The great MAORI
tv of the mines are low grade ore. but
with the immense bodies Of pay ore and
good management these mines have
been made to pay better than any 9TH
ers in the United States. Ore that will
90 - per ton will pay to work, while
that which goes from 81 to SO per ton
will pay largely. The ore which is
worked by the great llOmestake mills
ut Lead City, does not average 81 per
ton, yet that company has paid iitty-one
successive monthly dividends, part Of
which have been $4,000 per month and
the balance $4,000, besides having a
large surplus on hand after paying all
expenses. These mines are better
developed than any others in the Black
Hills, but equally as good and extensive
mines have been discovered
The quartz mills are the largest and
most complete in the world, nearly all
have from 40 TO l20 stamps.
The silver mines Of the Hills are all
of a high grade. Those of Galena have
been worked continuously ever since
1876, and tie ore shipped by wagon to
Sidney $50 miles, thence by rail to
Omaha, Nebraska, for treatment. At
the carbonate camp, seven miles west
Of Deadwood, rich carbonate mines have
been opened, the ore from which is now
being shipped to Omaha and Denver.
Rich and extensive copper mines have
been discovered in several localities.
The mica mines of the Black Hills are
all in the vicinity Of Harney's peak and
Custer City. They are easily worked, re-
quirIng very little capital. All that is