Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1897-03-09
Echoes From the Black Hills.
SuNDANcE. WYo.. Ms


EDITOR PLAIN DEALER:-Th Thinking
some of your many readers would
like to hear from the Black Hills, will
try and give them some idea Of what
it is like. Black Hills is called the
richest 100 miles square on EARTH
and l believe it. The country has
many resources outside of it's
rich mines. In the foot hills to the
Black Hills proper there are large
ranches, and lots of cattle and horses
are raised, and they run the range
the year around and come out in the
spring looking fat and sleek as can
be. All kinds of minerals are found
there, gold, silver, lead, mineral paint,
etc., in paying quantities. In Dead
wood there are smelters for treating
ores that employ many men, night
and day, all of the time. Deadwood
is a gulch town and has about 5000
population. Has large public schools
and all denominations are represented
by its churches, one of the most pop.
ular preachers there, being Rev. A.
IS. Mcconnell, who is pastor of the
Congregational church. He is look
ing the same as ever and greets one
as cordially as he used to when he
was pastor OF the church in Cresco.
Lead is three and one-half miles from
Deadwood and is called the "city of
mills" and has the largest free mill
ing gold plant in the world. They
employ 1900 men at wages from So to
| $15 per day for skilled mechanics,
The plant has it's own foundries, ma
chine shops, blacksmith shops, rail-
roads, etc, and its daily output is
about $4,000. When you come to this
country you take the "Sky Linen
train over the b. 81 M, passing
through Puma. two miles from Dead
wool, where there are two big mills
for treating ore, and from this to
Portland, where there are several
large shipping mines. On the south
side of Bald mountain is Terry, where
iseveral large mines are operated by
the Golden Reward Co. From there
to Crown Hill switch, where you get
off the train and take hack to the
famous Ragged Top Camp; at that
place there are two towns of about
300 Observation-Disclosures and Bel
moral-that have been built the past
winter. More poor men have been
made independent from the mines at
Ragged Top than any district yet
opened up. The. ore is found in YER
ticals near the surface, and the cost
of mining is therefore reduced to the
minimum. The road from that place
to Spearfish is one of the wonders of
railroad engineering down through
Spearfish canyon. 1t runs for some
time on top of the mountain, and
several hundred feet below can be
seen the creek with the rail road bed
beside it. The train winds around
the mountain and reaches the creek
in short time, making about four
miles to get down off the mountain,
and the scenery is grand. Spearfish
is thirty-five miles from Sundance.
and you reach here by stage over a
!, foe rolling country-t6ey call it roll.
ing, you would call it pretty bluffy
: there-well watered and lots of large
cattle ranches. Sundance is the
county seat of Crook county and has
population of about 500; is 35 miles
from railroad, but has some as fine
farming land as you ever saw in any
country. Here we found several ole
Howard county residents who are
doing we'll. Dewitt Smith has {
blacksmith shop and is doing large
: business. Albert Brandeberry, who
/. used to be in business at Chester, has
large ranch and saw mill south O
town, and interested with him ar,
: his sons, Elias and Elton, and ais,
: his son-in-law, Frank Knapp. South
;. of the town, Sun Dance mountain
!. raises to an altitude of about $500
S feet, and is covered with u thicl
growth of pine timber. North O
town is the Bear Lodge Range O
hills that are prolific in the abund
ance of lead, silver, copper and golt
ore that is found there. Eight mile
e west are immense coal fields-thous
e ands of acres-and the coal is goot
:. quality of bituminous. There will b,
= several good-paying gold mines open
II ed up in this section in the spring
II and it will not surprise me in tn
2 least if this country does not becom
J, better advertised than the Ragge,
Top camp. 1t ought to be anyway
because the natural resources ar
d much greater. There are thousand
g of acres of farming land to be takel
up here, and crop failure has neve
f. been known. Why rent farm
when man can get a good one her
q where the climate is mild, with goo,
:. water, and where the stock can be o.
- the range, winter and summer. I
il anyone wants coal for fuel all the
N have to do is drive q few miles an
s. mine enough in few hours to las
the season. Or go and cut enougl
: pine wood, for timber is plenty; yo1
can cut your pine logs, take them
the saw mills and exchange for lum
Der, and thus build your building
cheaply. The recent Cleveland orde
. setting aside 81, 100000 acres of tn
j. Black Hills for a forest reserve doe