Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1896-08-14
NEW NATIONAL PARK.
Valuable Acquisition Of Land In
Wyoming by the Government.
Comprises . Section Ten Miles Square
Which Includes q Famous Hot SPRING.
-Price Agreed Upon with tho IS
Indians IL 100000.

Indian Inspector Mclaughlin has re.
turned to this city after trip to the
Shoshone agency, in Wyoming, where
he concluded o treaty with the Shoshone
and Arapahoe tribes for the oession to
the government of section of land ten
miles square in one corner of their
reservation, says the st. Paul Pioneer
Press. The purchase includes the ia
nous hot springs, at the head of the
Big Horn river, in the Owl mountains,
and the price to be paid is 100000. The
purchase will be converted into re-
serve and held as national park.
"The springs have long been famed
among the Indians for their curative
properties" said Mr.. Mclaughlin. For
generations the Indians have resorted
to the place, and haze no doubt that
they will be equally famous among the
whites before long. They are situated
among the most magnificently pictur-
esque scenery 1t has ever been my privi-
lege to look upon. It is doubtful IL
there is any portion of this country
where there is such rugged grandeur
as among the Owl mountains in north
western Wyoming, AMI the hot springs
are in the midst Of the most magnifl-
cent part of the range. The trouble now
with the springs is that they are diff
cult of access. I rode about $50 miles
from the railroad to get to the ground,
and building railroad there is ques-
ton that engineers will have to settle.
The place looks very forbidding, and
even with horses 1t is not On easy jour
ney.
"The portion Of the reservation that
I negotiated for Is in the northwest
corner. The reserve is about 70 miles
square, and the springs are just about
that distance from the agency, which
is quite close to Fort Washable. left
the Union Pacific at Rawlins and rode
14o miles north to the agency, and went
thence to the springs. A few miles
above the springs stream enters the
gorge, that is very narrow and Of great
depth. The gorge traverses the noun
tains for q great distance and the stream
that energies from it is called the Big
Horn river. A few miles down this
river is the principal spring, and this is
so close to the boundary Of the reser-
walton that section ten miles square
running to the corne- of the reserve
will include it.
cat the springs found about 25 white
men, all of them invalids, and many
of them suffering from rheumatism. ]
was told by some of them that they
had tried all of the several springs
that had attained fame before going
there, but without relief, and they had
all been benefited by the waters. Most
of the sick men had been carried
through the mountains on cots, but they
were walking about when got there
They go in from the cast and north.
east, where the country is not so broken
and the nearest railroad point is al
most directly east-Casper, on the Ere.
mont 6, Elkborn.
"After going over the ground re-
turned to Fort Washable and called Q
council. The Indians arc very much
scattered, and they hal great difficulty
in getting In on account of the streams
The reservation is occupied in common
with Shoshones and Arapahoes, and the
tribes are about equally divided as t.
numbers. There are about 200 of each
. Nearly all the 457 adult males attended
the council, which was held at the
agency proper ten days ago. The ia
nous old chief, Washable, who is nov
OF years old, but wei! preserved, con
: Quoted the open council for his PEG
pie, and I had no difficulty finishing
the council in one day. The pric.
, agreed upon was 100000, to be paid il
five annual installments. The Indian.
NIL signed the purchase treaty, or agree
ment, as the department now calls 1t
, and the reservation is now part O:
the public domain