Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1883-12-01

portion Of Wyoming lying north of tn,
I'D parallel and east Of the l05th meri
dian, and embracing about 22,5O0 squar.
miles, or l4,hnO,U"G acres, ofwhIch about
~one-fourth is agricultural, the othel
three-fourths being mineral and pastoral
lands. About 100000 acres, all Of which
are in Dakota, have been taken under
the homestead, pre-emption and timber
culture acts. The balance is now open
70 settlement, with the exception of a
small portion lying east Of the banks o:
the Cheyenne river and the I03d meri
dian. The farming lands of the Hills
are as productive as car be found any
place in the world. Fifty bushels OF
wheat, GO 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 well
potatoes that will weigh two or three
pounds are common, and some have
been raised hat went as high as four
pounds. The soil is a 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.
The timber lands Of the Hills are es-
timated at 5000 square miles, the timber
is principally Norway pine, with some
spruce, cottonwood, willow, aspen, oak,
ash, elm, etc, along the margin of the
streams which rise in 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 ana
shelter from the winter winds and
scarcely any snow, cattle keep Cat 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
his stock, thereby getting the low.
est possible rates To take them to mar
ket. Sheep do equally as well as cattle,
ana horses d. better.
Large herds ofbuhllo ar now swarm
over the ranges north and west Of
The Hills, with many thousands Of cattle
mixed in with them. Two years ago.
hardest winter eyer known in the
west, the loss OF cattle was only about 8
per cent, while in the states and terri
tories south and west Of here the loss
from 20 to - per cent. There are
at the present time about 100000 head
of cattle on the ranges in this vicinity
and room for 100000 more without
n~verotocking the country.
Gold mining is carried on from Bear
OF ;he north 20 Custer City in the
'"uthern part oftlle Hills, a distance Of
Hinciy miles, and rom Rockford on tie
,Tc>t TO Rocker, lie on the east. In no
country IL Inc 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
every glilcl and on every hill
the mineral helt. n other min.
ing Countries it is only found over "a
small area Of country, covering but a
Eijes Of territory at the most here
there are about 1900 square miles in
what is called the mineral, and gold il
In almost every square mile of the
! 200. The lodes vary in size from 10 to
! .OWO feet in width, and some as much
as 80 miles in length. The great majori-
tv Of the mines are low grade ore. but
with the immense bodies of paw ore and
good management these mines have
been made to pay better than any 9TH
ers in the United States. Ore that will
go 50 per ton will pay to work, while
that which e from s. TO so per ton
will pay largely. The ore which is
worked by the great llomestake mills
at Lead City, does not average s. per
ton, yet that company has paid ffty.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
have been discovered
The quartz mills are the largest and
most complete in the world, nearly all
have from 40 to 100 stamps.
The silver mines Of the Hills are all
of a high grade. Those of Galena have
been worked continuously ever since
1876, and the ore shipped by wagon TO
Sidney $50 miles, thence by rail 10
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-
curing very little capital. All that is