, 1886-08-18

our Lander Letter.
Special Correspondents Of THE LEADER.
LANDER, Aug, l3.--Master III Chaneery
Chiney,is busy taking testimony in the
suit of Maj. Baldwin against
Collector Nicherson and the trustees of
school district No. |. restraining the COL
lection Of certain school taxes.
A great deal of ditching is being done
in the Big Horn basin, both for a~gricul-
'turaI purposes and the making of final
proof upon, desert. claims. This work is
most active in the valleys of the Owl
creek and of the Grey Bull river.
n Mr.. z. NJ Ricketts,, of Miners De.
light has probably secured the contract
for 6nishing the Christina lake ditch of
the French Mining company. at figures
not fr from $4,000 This ditch was
comnenoed last season and its mission 10
TO connect the waters Of the mountain
lake of Cbristiua With the main or Rock
Greek ditch of the company. Its SUR,
seyed Iengthh about seven -miles and Of
this distance one mile and + quarter i
ready for operation Surveyor Brown, Of
Lander, leaves fn 4 few days to complete
the running of lines on new and exten-
sivs placer elaine taken up in the Straw
berry district, all of which will be covered
by the waters of the Christina ditch. Re-
locations Of old mining claims in the At
lantis, Miners Delight and South Pass
districts by eastern capitalists snll goes on.
d About forty miles. southeast of here CD
the Beaver creek ridge has been discover.
ed a ledge of pure Chalcedony, yielding
botH the agate and cainelian. Both va
risdes appear in perfect and beautiful
masses.r The agate is the black and white
banded. and is handsomely relieved by
the red and white of the carnelian. The
ledge extends presumably a long distance,
the translucent quartz appearing at short
intervals in seams from two to five feet
long and from three to Eve inches wide.
THE best dc veloped of these seams offer
beneath the glow of the sun 4 sight scarce
ly less lovely than a powerful kaleidoscope.
The Chacedony varieties claim a place
I, amid the precious stones. and are sufi-
GENTLY rare for this ledge to be of very
great value. The term Cbalsedony is de-
rived from the country of Chalcedon. in
Asia Minor, where the first known mines
iof this s~ilicious quartz were worked by the
ia%ncients. The most noted mines in the
I United States are in the vicinity of Lake
Superior. Here, however. the ~carnelian
and agate are only procured by very labor
ious process. being ehiseled out of their
natural fittings of flint. Indeed, it is ex,
tremely probable hat nowhere does Chal.
cedony appear in pure and perfect mass,
as it is found in this ledge, browning the
rough Beaver ridge in Fremont county,
Wyoming. s .lf
Our oil interests have received q great
addition, by the discovery Of an entirely
different kind Of oil from that heretofore
considered as particular to this region. A
day or two agoa Shoshone Indian made
his appearance at the agency with three
quart bottles Of oil which he offered fol
sale. On examination the oil was seer
to have neither the black color nor thick.
ness of the oil usually found.
| The new variety was of a lead color and
ran a. freely as water, and was furthe,
distinguished by an odor impossible to tell
from that of the purest kerosene, The
Indian refused to give the exact location
of his discovery, but said it was on the
reservation and was not twenty miles
from Lander. That the new springs are
prolific is determined by the quantity Of
oil in the Indian possession and its pur-
ity. the latter fact showing conclusively
that the oil must have been dipped from
natural deposits OF considerable depth.
It's valuei is written all through il. Our
oil prospectors have taken the mattor Wig.
orously in hand, aud beyond a doubt this
hidden but rich oil belt will soon be loca-
ted.
Col. fGranio, the accomplished and en-
ergetio head of the French Mining com
pany and who holds such heavy oil inter
ests in this section. is now on the eve OF
establishing a laboratory at Atlantic, on a
sufficiently extensive scale for the anal
wing of all oil specimens submitted to
him. He has already notified the various
districts of his intention, and as the colonel
Is an accomplished chemist, his profession
al skill will largely benefit the commune
ity.
The troops at Fort Washable are under
marching orders. They are to at once
gather up and remove all the cattle run
ming on the Shoshone and Arapahoe res
ervations from the southern boundary
thereof to tho other side of the Big Wind
river, and from the post itself east to the
forks of Big and Little Wind river. This
covers a tract of country twenty five miles
one way by thirty the other, said tract in
GLIDING all of the lands under cultivation
by the Indians. This action is said to
spring from Indian complaints that the
range cattle were destroying their crops.
This consumption Of Indian crops is n
complete explanation of the fact hereto
fore a mystery, Of their cattle being the
thinnest in the country. Supplementary
orders are daily expected from the inte-
rior department instructing these cattle to
stay exactly where they are put.
E. Amoretti & Son have ordered a
large number of fine Merino bucks from