The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1889-12-08
ASTO SOUTH DAKOTA
-
A Herald Correspondent Inter-
views Senator Moody.
WHAT DAKOTA WILL ASK FOR.
The Great Artestan Well Neutrality-suspicious.
of Subterranean Lake-InfOrmatiOn of
Comparatively Unknown Region.

WASHINGTON, Dec. z, 1SS9.-[Special tele
gram to THE HERALD. II called upon Sena
tor Moody at his home opposite the capito
tonight. and found him sitting in little
basement office, the windows of which lool
out upon the Senate wing. Senator Moody
comes frem the extreme western part Of
Dakota. His home is in the heart of the
Black Hills, and he says he is surrounded
by one of the most wonderful mineral re
gions of the world. He is proud of South
Dakota, and predicts that it will be one OF
the great states of the Union. 1 spoke OF
the legislation which would be asked for by
the new state, and asked if it was true that
the members from the new states had had
consultation and
AN AGREEMENT TO WORK TOGETHER
for their respective interests. Senator
Moody replied;
1.-THE Senators from these states have, as
fffr as know, had no such consultation, but
/ understand that the members of the
House have talked over matters together,
and the probability is they will work to-
gether on many measures. We have many
interests in common, and one bill which
would like to see passed will be one for the
development of the artesian basin region of
both Dakotas. Underlying our state are
vast quantities of water, which could be
reached by artesian wells, and which would
be invaluable for irrigation. The commit
tee of the Senate which Travelled through
out the west for this purpose during the
past summer, inspected these regions, and
l hope they will bring in bill including
their development. We have" continued
Senator Moody, zone of the most remark
able agricultural states in the union. We
have 1900 square miles of territory, and
Is l. -, = -
miles that cannot be utilized for
agricultural purposes. The only coun-
try that is not so available
is small region in the Harvey peak dis
trict of the Black hills The remainder of
the hills country when denuded of timber
makes fine grazing lands, and there are
hundreds of farmers who have little farms
scattered throughout these hills, on which
their families and themselves live The
hills are interspersed with beautiful nat
ural parks. Their altitude in no place is
high, and the scenery is so beautiful and
the demand for produce so great for the
mining region that the land sells for more
than the prairie country.
OUR PRAIRIE SOIL
is deep and strong. 1t is easily cultivated
and the accessible parts of it have been
fpNetty well taken up. We have now about
half million people in the state but we
L.
when the Sioux Indian reservation is open
to settlement wewill have a great influx of
immigrants
''Tell me something of the mineral re-
gions Of the state.''
''There are confined to the Black Hills
country, which is in the extreme western
part of South Dakota, and which consists
of strip of country about one hundred and
twenty miles long and about sixty miles
wide at its widest point. 1t is oval in shape
and its character is unlike that of the
other mineral regions of the United States
1t is detached from any chain of mountains
and is surrounded by a rich agricultural
country. 1t seems to have been formed by
an upheaval of the earth while the sea still
covered the land. The region lies between
two forks of tire Cheyenne river, and in it
nearly all classes of minerals are found.
We have gold, silver, copper, lead, tin,
mica, asbestos, iron and uranium
GLOW about coalp'
''Coal entirely surrounds the hills, that
is, it is found on all sides, and we have the
finest of every sort of building stone. Our
marbles are of all kinds, from almost white
TO the most curious combination of colors
you have ever seen. We have the most
wonderful sandstones in inexhaustible
quantities; these sandstones are of all
sorts of colors, some being as white as the
whitest chalk, and others red, gray and of
a dark purple. We have some striped like
pioGe Of calico, and in other places the
stone crops out in lines of different colors
This stone, you might say, came from diff
ferenJ deposits IF sand, which settled in
reg6Sar order, so that the red, white, pur-
pleIand gray stripes rose one by one above
tine other. You look at it and you think
you have
MADE A DISCOVERY
as to this part of the geological structure
of the region. You turn your eyes and |
you see another stone in which these same |
stripes cross one another in all the regu- |
larity of a Scotch plaid. We have all |
shades Of sandstone, and all the different |
consistencies as to grain. 1 know Of the |
finest of brown stone cropping out in one
place in quantity sufficient for the building |
of a large city. The outside ring of the |
hills stones seems to be the lines, and in |
Guiding marbles; inside of these come the |
sandstones, and inside of the sandstones |
are the GRANTEES, the tin-bearing rocks and |
the mica. Still inside these are states of |
different kinds. We have roofing slate as
fine as you will find in any country, and |
on the top of our states we find the |
secondary limestOnes, showing that the |
upheaval came under the sea-"
als?''
SILVER" replied Senator Moody, sis
found in the original limestones. Tin is
found in the granite and tin rock forma-
ton. The copper is found in the sandstone
and states, and the gold ore is found in the
slates.''
''Tell me something as to the character
and extent of the gold in the Black Hills"
1--WE have two kinds of gold bearing
rocks" replied the Senator. zone is free
milling ore, and it has been traced north
and south for distance of ninety miles, Il
but so far it has been found in paying guam
titles only in limited extent of country.
In adsidon to this there are parts of the
country containing refractory gold ores.
These ores are very peculiar. They seem
to have been displacement of the original
san6stones. Sometimes they contain half
silver and half gold; sometimes there is a
good deal of silver and
VERY LITTLE GOLD,
and at other times you find them contain
ing large quantities of gold and very small
Quantities of silver. In one large district
of the Black Hills these refractory gold
ores exist in horizontal veins or deposits.
Sometimes you find them without hanging
walls as mines usually have. There is
merely footwal and the deposit is on top
of this"
''Do these Dakota mines produce much
goldl'
: Eyes" replied Senator Moody. ''The
free milling ores are low grade; the refrac-
tory ores are of different values. Some
times the gold in the refractory ores will !
average only $40 a ton, and sometimes it
rnrs into the hundreds of dollars a ton Y
Mech of this gold in the free milling ores is
found in wide veins. / know of a single q
vein that is 600 feet wide. This vein yields $
about four dollars ton, and it pays to work I
it. Large stamp mills reduce these ores,
and among these is stamp mill which is the l
larcrac+ in tho world If is a 900-stamn mill 1 g