The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1896-09-15
MOUNTAINS ENGULFED IN PRAIRIE
Magnum, Greer CO., o. T.,
Sent @. 1896.

Sept. o, 1896.
1t has been long a desire with me to
know something, at first hand, of the
Wichita mountains. 1 am here today
almost at their base, and / have heard
| many interesting things in regard to
| them and the gold, which everybody
here is certain, they contain
Northwest of here spur of this $50
lated range arises and is known as the
| Headquarters mountains, OF which
Mount Walsh, LOO feet, is the highest.
For years, a regulation rumOr in the
Eagle and in all other westerns pa
pers, has been that gold has been dis
covered in the Wichita mountains. The
larger portions Of these mountains are
| in the Kiowa and COmanche Indian
country, which will soon be opened TO
settlement, an act TO that effect having
passed congress, President Cleveland
alone holding back the order Of open
ing at present. 1t is in the Kiowa
country that most of these rumors of
gold arise. Hunters fifteen years ago
brought back the story that gold-bear-
ing quartz and sand were plentiful.
Soldiers at Fort Sill also tell the same
story. Chance travellers have strayed
in among these hills and started sim
liar reports. The western public, haV-
ing so long eaten of this dish, have at
last concluded that the gold story is a
S.l-
snipes. and refuse 20 become even in
terested in gold reports. Notwith-
standing this an occasional prospector
drifts into Wichita or Guthrie and tells
the same old story, that he has been
there and knows there is gold" Not
over two years ago l met a Colorado
miner who went down into the noun
tains with a permit from the Indian
chief Quanah Parker, and returning
told me there was gold in the moun-
tains and lots of it.
Up to date, however, prospecting in
the Wichita mountains has not been 4
healty occupation. 1t is forbidden by
the United States government with
soldiers nearby at Fort Sill to empha
size the order, and besides, several
bleached skeletons in the canyons indi-
cate that the American Indian has an
objection or two. So all prospects are
stealthy in the Wichita mountains, ex-
cept at one point, and that one point is
right here. This Headquarters chain
of the Wichitas are not in the Kiowa
Indian country but in Greer county.
1t was because of this circumstance
that 1 was permitted today TO meet an
Oklahoma miner, Mr.. CT. W. Benton.
In the Headquarters mountains, Mr..
Benton has been working for gold for
five years. Recently a mineral dis
trict under the land laws Of the interior
department has been formed here and
regular prospecting is carried on.
Mr.. Benton told me that he was now
sinking a shaft, hoping TO run across
the main lead He has found any
amount of traces, both in the sand and
in the quartz. He says that capital
is the principal thing needed, and
would have been secured long ago, had
it not been for the exceedingly foolish
and untruthful stories about gold in the
mountains. But he is working away
and tells me he will surely find the
main lead.
He says the Wichita mountains are
primitive, or archaic, that is, in the
geological development of the earth,
when the land began to appear from
the globe of water one of the very first
formations above water was this range |
of mountains. The Rocky mountains
are much younger, not appearing for
ages later. However, he says, the
Wichita mountains are connected in q
way with the Ration mountains of Col
orado, outcroppings appearing in a line
between the two ranges, of the same !
formation.
But the most peculiar part of the |
Headquarters chain here is that it has |
no foothills. The level prairie covered |
with buffalo grass stretches away and !
out of it abruptly sticks the points of |
these mountains. They are, in short, |
peaks submerged in prairie, as islands /
at sea are sometimes partly submerged /
mountains. Mr.. Benton tells me that |
there is no doubt that these mountains |
are covered up largely with prairie, |
and that the primitive foothills still /
exist beneath the secondary formation I
of soil III support Of this fact he |
says his most successful searches fer /
gold indications are found at the base |
OF the present peaks, decreasing in |
value as the heighth increases. He |
tells me there are many granite strata |
in the mountains, with concrete and 1
sandstone. The mountains are wooded |