Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1889-10-07
WESTWARD, H0!
Wonderful Resources of the Black
Hills.
Rapid City Oae OF its growing Towns
1.-The Iron HORSE stops Mt white
wood---Novei Experience or n stage
Ride 90 Dcadwood.

Editorial Correspondence 70 the ARGUS:
DEADwOoD. y. ID. Oct. 3.-Three days
at Sioux City sufficed TO fiil our measure
OF curiosity for the corn palace aud the
minor attractions there to be seen, and
early Monday morning we packed our
grip and boarded Fremont. Elkhorn &
Missouri Valley train for the bouudless
west-boundless both in its area and nat
ursl resources. A pleasant day was
spent at Norfolk, Neb 11S miles from
Missouri Valley. . rapidly growing city
Of between 4. 200 and 5000 population.
Mr. and Mrs. j ). Dart, formerly Of
Rock Island, are nicely located there.
Mr.. Dart has well established real es-
tate. loan and insurance business. and is
secretary of the Elkhorn Binding and
Loan association. Mr.. G. A. Mast. a
well known ex Davenporter, is president
Of the Citizens National bank, the lsrg-
est banking institution in the city. and Is
also connected with many other enter
prises. Norfolk has an excellent system
of wsterworks, electric light and well
managed street car line, and we fsiled to
find one citizen who did not feel proud of
his town or speak encoursgingly of its
future. But this is a Characteristic OF all
western communicated town is the
best, or At least will be in a short time.
An afternoon and all nights ride
brought us to Rapid City, South Dakota
town which is generally conceded To be
on the eve OF n substantial growth. 1t is
located at what might be termed the cen
trail gateway to the Black Hills, on line
between the mineral. lumber and
agricultural districts. Although only
thirteen years old its inhabitants number
about $500 souls. and they are as hos
pitAble and AS courteous as one would ex-
pect to encounter in the eilete east. Many
of the business blocks would do'credit TO
OUR OWN SECOND AVENUE,
and the residences display taste and archi,
tectural skill. Two daily papers dissem-
mate the news-one evening and the
other morning. At the Journal office we
were shown large collection Of The min
eral products of the surrounding country
Among the numerous specimens were
gold. silver, lead. copper. iron. nickel.
tin, asbestos. blumbago, salt and coal
The tin mines are attracting the greatest
attention at the present time and hun
dreds of thousands of dollars have been
expended to start operations. Pine
timber abounds in great quantity in the
mountainous country living west Of the
city, and there are excellent building
stone, brick clay and lime in the sur
rounding hills. All the business blocks
Of the town have been built of these ma
terisls. and the beauty and durability Of
the structures attest the high quality of
the articles entering into their composi-
Roth ,I - Il l..
very best quality and finish are manu-
featured, and great lodges Of marble.
red, white and vsrieCsted. are close at
hand. Thus Rapid City can expand and
enlarge to n great metropolis, without
going outside its own resources.
With the opening of the Sioux reser~
vstien, Rapid City will undoubtedly en-
ter an era Of uneXsmpled growth and
prosperity. The Fremont. Elkhorn x
Missouri Valley is the only road now
running TO the town. but with the omen
ing OF the reservation the chances of sew
ersl more are exceedingly bright
The Chicago. Milwaukee & st.
Paul has already extended line
OF survey from Chamberlain to Rap
ids City. and the Northwestern
will surely extend its line from Pierre.
The Dakota school of mines is located
there, and adds considerably to the edu.
CstiOnal advantages of the place. OF
course Rapid City has all the modern
requisites of metropols-such as water
works. electric light, telephone and street
car service, but the latter can hardly be
said to equal
THE HOLMES LINE
for comfort and facilities for trans
portation. For instance. the driver sets
the breaks while he goes to his meals, al
though he does not appear 10 inconven-
fence the travelling public in the least.
Speaking OF street railways. by the way.
II might be some satisfaction for Rock
Islanders TO know that they have un-
doubtedly the best street car service for
any city Of similar size in the United
States. The horse lines in Sioux City, as
an Illustration, are as deplOrably behind
the Rock Island lines as was the service
under the old management in the latter
city to the present.
The morning following our advent into
Rapid City we started for tie far,famed
Desdwood. The railroad terminates at
Whitewood, and as the train pulled
ing OF awe. noticed the big cumbersome
stage coach which was ~ sarry u- 10
the city In the gulch After trunks and
similar luggage and Uncle Sans" mail
had been slowed away. the driver cracked
his whip and the six strong limbed
horses started on a brisk trot. We were
ventursome enough TO take the top seat
with the driver and tried To look COM
Portable during the three hours ride, hut
on our return trip profited by the ex.
perience and took hack. As might he
imagined the country is very mountain
GUS, but IL has the merit OF picturesque
ness. The day Of the
FESTIVE ROAD AGENT
having long departed in the
minds Of juvenile novel readers our
journey was void Of adventure or excite
ment, and We arrived at Deadwood
thoroughly Disguised with frontier mode
OF transportation. There being nothing
Of particular interest To see here. we took
the narrow guage road To Lead City,
about three miles up the canyon. where
our trouble was repaid by an inspection
of the stamp mills Of the HOmestake
company. We showed our card Mt the
office, and one of the gentlemanly subor-
dinates kindly piloted us through the
works, and explained the plan of extracts
ing the golden nuggets from the ore as il
Is first brought from the mines. While
the visit was instructive and entertaining
we couldn't help leaving with
a feeling OF disappointment, being unable
to find any gold bricks lying around
loose with which we had expected to fiji
our pockets. We were day too late;
the semi-monthly shipment of bullion
having been forwarded the day before.
containing bricks TO the amount of
f27h 600 Several nther mines are heinn