St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-03-17
LIGHT IN THE BLACK HILLS.
It's Balmy Atmosphere Radiant With the
Dawn Of the Good Time Coming.
THE BIG BOOM LOOKED FOR.
Sioux City Reaching Out for the Vast
Trade of the Black Hills---What
Some of the Towns Are Doing.

Some OF the TOWNS Are Doing.
Special Letter to the Globe.
RAPID CITY, Dak., March 14.-Refer-
enceS to the weather are, of course,
tabOoed in polite circles, but one who
loves the Black Hills as l do can well
afford to risk the displeasure of the re-
fined for the mOmentary satisfaction OF
comparing the glorious climate of this
region to the cold, fOggy, uncomfortable
elemental conditions that the people
along the Eastern coast cling to with an
unaccOuntable fondness and insist on
terming them weather. On the day the
telegraph bore to "blizZard-stricken
Dakota the news that the people who
bask in the genial warmth Of the East
ern sun were wondering when the storm
would quit, and if ever the ground
would appear again through the many
feet of snow and ice that even impeded
travel on the elevated roads in New
York city, the observations taken at the
United States signal Office in this town
showed that during the twenty-four
hours past the mean temperature had
been AZ deg. above zero, the maximum
being SO above, the minimum 35. This,
of course is nothing unusual in the
Black Hills. 1t is given as gratuitous
pointer to the people of the East, who
may see it's significance before they get
through with the present snow drifts.
THE BOOM Is COMING.
Any one who does not believe this
may receive most convincing evidence
thereof by merely inQuiring of any of the
''Old timers here concerning the Situa-
ton. They each and all sOlemnly
asseyerate that the country is about to
launch on such tide of prosperity as
will completely Obliterate the highest
the nature. All signs point to it, the
sanguine ones insist, and not even the
former dubious ones any longer raise
their voices to question the possibility of
boom. Certainly marked change is
noticed here since the news concerning
the action of the house on the reServa-
ton bill reached town. Although there
was no demonstration, everybody taking
the announcement as seeming matter
of course, there was noticeable straight
ening OF backs among business men,
heads that were dropping raised again,
and faces that had been knitted into
continual expression of anxious thought
relaxed their lines and have been bright
and joyous since. For years these men
have "lived and toiled and suffered that
the tribes of men might prosper" and
their efforts to build up an empire in
what was so short time since wilder
ness, have been more or less successful.
But the time has come when direct COM
munication with the world is absolutely
nf
try are such that the outside world must
know of them and buy Of them in order
that the people here may prosper.
GOLD AND SILVER
no longer constitute the sum total of the
wealth produced in this regiOu. All the
range of metals and minerals is here
represented, and the more useful are
already produced. Outlets whereby
may be reached Eastern Dakota, Mime
sofa, Iowa, etc., are needed, in order
that the building material Of this region
may be brought into market, and the
great wealth in it alone developed.
One railroad will not develop country
like this any more than one railroad
will build town like st. Paul. The
road that has penetrated this country
has done much to develop it, but it
does not afford communication with the
the Black Hills. Little has this region
in common with Nebraska. But when
the reservation is opened, and the rail-
roads build across, uniting Eastern and
Western Dakota, then the people will
feel that the "gOOd time" so long
awaited will have arrived. There
is here something the st. Paul peO-
pie want to look after, for Sioux
city is already making arrangements to
capture the Black Hills trade when the
Milwaukee road builds across. Some
little dickering in real estate has been
done, but as yet there is no great eX-
element. The most important sales
yet made indicate a firmneSs in price,
and men of judgment do not hesitate to
say that investments made now are
good.
IN DEADWOOD
interest still centerS in the erection of
the reduction works for treating re-
fractory ores. OF the $4,000 needed to
build the plant proposed, 1000 has
been subscribed and $4,000 paid in
cash. The promoters Of the plan feel
jubilant over the prospect of success.
In Custer the people are more or less
interested in securing railroad. Hopes
of an extension of a spur of the ElkhOrn
line, from the quarrieS near Buffalo
Gap, now fill the Custerite
mind, the possibility of the
Burlington line having vanished with
the withdrawal of the surveyors some
weeks since. Buffalo Gap is more than
tickled over the construction of a spur
to her stone quarries. Hot Springs is
engrOSsed with the new Methodist col
lege. Hermosa is happy over the tin
discovered near her limits, and is now
trying to pose as the
METROPOLIS OF THE HILLS.
Sturgis is watching, wondering which
town will be the biggest, Tilford or
Whitewood. At Lead City the
Homestake mills steadily pound
away, and the people there have
little to worry them. Speartish
held an election recently, and is still
discussing the outgrowth of local poll
tics. Minnesota wonders at the astute-
ness Of the railroad builders which
stopped the track on Whitewood creek,
instead of building on to Red Water.
And each camp in the Hills has it's
peculiar and perennial source of COM
ment and wonder, and all wait the
dawning of that day when each shall see
the fruitiOn of its hopes.