Omaha daily bee., 1902-06-22
THROUGH The BLACK HILLS
Mayor Buchanan Tells Of the Trip Of the
Newspaper Special.
INDUSTRIAL WONDERS OF THE REGION
Busy Mining Camps Linked by Rail-
roads Afford Pleasant Enter
tainment for the visitors
from the East.

ago Friday for the Black Hills, having as
his guests a party Of newspaper men from
Omaha, Sioux City and Lincoln. That
they had a royal time may be judged from
the following story told by the genial
major on his return:
Yes, 1 have Just returned from a pleas
ant jaunt to the Black Hills in company
with a party Of congenial editors. Through
Douglas and Washington counties to the
northwest the splendid crop prospect and
outlook entertained US till Fremont was
reached. We sped away up the Elkhorn
valley. which in its entirety SCENE a gar
den Of agricultural perfection. That VAL
ley is always rich, thrifty and prosperous.
1t could scarcely look better or more prom
Using than II does now. After supper we
plunged away into darkness, enlarging mu-
tual acquaintance over cigars, a little poll
tics, some stories and a turn at newspaper
wit. BY and by heavy eyelids babe us re-
tire to awake for breakfast at Buffalo Gap.
II was found on approaching Buffalo Gap
that several Of the party, unaccustomed
to the exceeding brilliancy and clearness
Of the sky in that marvellous climate, mis-
took 1t for daylight and had arisen about
4 o'clock, thinking the day was full upon
them, and an hour later arriving at Chad
ron had breakfasted at a lunch counter and
80 were hardly prepared to enjoy the splen-
did breakfast at Buffalo Gap. However,
all ate and having discharged passengers
destined for Hot Springs we were of again.
AT Whitewood we we're met by a com
mittee consisting Of Messrs. Wilson, Rus
sell and Elder M. Denny, division freight
agent, from the Business Mems club
of the city and advised us they were
directed to say the Commercial club
of Lead and the Smead hotel at Lead en-
tended to us their respective compliments
and with them an invitation to dine at
the Smead and then to view the Home
stake mills and ride about the city.
scenes of Early Activity.
"Enroute from Whitewood to Deadwood
the committee pointed out the old site Of
Crook City manned after our beloved Gen
eral Crook, which was the first large
gathering place Of miners in the Black
Hills, stating 1t once contained over 5000
people, placer miners, and the ct cetera of
the mining camp. Its remains, about
twenty houses, nestle near the foot
hills in the little valley Of White
wood creek, which once ran full of
gold places sand and out OF which many
fortunes were worked. Thence climbing the
ascent alongside of and frequently cross
ing the old stage road, we were next asked
to note Centennial valley, a beautiful basin
valley or plateau, extending northwest six
teen miles to the town of Spearish. This
valley is nearly half a mile wide. straight,
sloping gently from the south and north to
a smooth valley, draining the ample mois-
ture from the declining hills on either side
and producing splendid crops without irri-
cation each year. Soon after passing this
valley we pierce the mountain through a
rocky tunnel LOO feet long, which cost
nearly 81, 000, 900 to construct. Emerging
into Deadwood gulch, mountains rise
abruptly on either side a thousand feet,
surmounted and covered, sides and tops,
with pine trees grown among the rocks.
which rise almost perpendicularly on either
side.
ION the western side the committee
went to work, going on for the foundation
for the large reduction works being con-
structed by the Hidden Future mining
company-a company of Sioux City, Denver
and Des Moines and Lead capitalists. Its
grounds consist of 204 acres adjoining the
great Homestake mining properties and
Immediately west of them. Its ores are
much richer, but its area is much less. II
was from this property hat OFT Grantz,
who made the chief discovery, took some
two hundred thousand dollars from three
OF lOuT car lOduS OF ore TWO years ago.
There is abundance OF capital in It now
to delevop and work 1t. The reduction
works, whose foundations we were viewing,
will have a capacity of three hundred and
fifty tons per day to start with and is un-
der contract to be completed ready for run
ming in six months. Thence ascending the
gulch we next come In sight OF the Dead
wood and Delaware smelter owned by z. Fl.
Hartman and associates, and managed
locally by Mr.. Harris Franklin, vice presi-
dent. Thence up the gulch a number OF
other reduction works, mainly cyanide
plants, all the way up the gulch into the
city Of Deadwood, a historic city and the
first really permanent mining camp in the
Black Hills.
D~eadwOOd's Business Center.
"Deadwood's main business houses line
its one principal street on either side and
its residences perch against the sides OF
the mountains, which rise almost precipi-
tously on either side a thousand feet. Near
a mile above the D. & d.. smelter this gulch
is widened out into a plateau created by
the openings into other gulehes which
debouch into Deadwood gulch there. Streets
diverge into the mouths Of these gulches and
on the plateau is found the Elkhorn pas
senger station, a handsome brick structure
OF ample size and commodiously arranged
In its interior and surroundings for service
required. 1t would be too tedious to enter
into the history OF Deadwood here, al
though the temptation is strong. Sunce It
this camp became a most active place
while yet the Indians owned the Hills and
were in evidence all around II. Here Gen
eral Crook landed after a weary tramp
through the Hills, oustlng the white man.
He and his omman were weary, hungry
and ragged, as he told me; also explaining
that the white people Of the camp well
coined them with generous hospitality on
their arrival in 1875 OF 1876, accompanying
the feed with abundance OF champagne.
which the general denounced as a brand of
Chateau de Busthead.'. 1t is presumed
the name given 1t occurred to them the
day following the feed. Here followed
permanent business houses, banks and
other facilities for living and working, in
GLIDING means OF communicating with the
outside world through Cheyenne, the near
est settlement, at first. Then Sidney, Neb.,
became a stage terminus next and later,
when the Northwestern railway built to
Pierre, s. D.. stages reached civilization
through that gateway.