The Black Hills : a description of a wonderful and picturesque mining region and natural sanitarium

Chicago and North Western Railway Company. Passenger Department · 1904 · Historical

N the southwest corner of South Dakota and the northeastern portion of Wyoming, their sides covered with dark pines and their surface crossed and recrossed

This 1904 document, The Black Hills : a description of a wonderful and picturesque mining region and natural sanitarium, is preserved in the Mountain Man Mining Library for research and reference. Original source: archive.org.

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The Black Hills

A DESCRIPTION OF A WONDERFUL AND PICTURESQUE MINING REGION AND NATURAL SANITARIUM

Passenger Department Chicago & North-Western Railway.

Third Edition.

The Lh8Rak7

Brigham Young University Provo, Utah

Coaching Party — Hot Springs.

The Black Hills

N the southwest corner of South Dakota and the northeastern portion of Wyoming, their sides covered with dark pines and their surface crossed and recrossed bv the many streams which unite to form the two forks of the Chevenne River, are the Black Hills. Their picturesque slopes, dark and shining, rise in striking contrast to the vast and rolling prairie which surrounds them on all sides, and enclose a region rich in gold and silver, well timbered, well watered, and possessed of a climate unusually attractive, free from extremes of heat or cold, with a bracing and invigorating air that is fast becoming favorable known for its health-giving qualities.

In fact, in addition to its mining and industrial interests, the Black Hills region forms one of the greatest natural sanitariums in the world. The pure air and happv combination of right altitudes with medicinal waters join to make it a noted health resort; and the fact that it is but thirty hours' ride from Chicago places it within easy reach of the principal centers of population.

This mystic region, thrown up in the midst of the plains bv some giant upheaval of past ages, has been known since the time of the earliest aborigines. It occupies an area about sixty miles wide and one hundred miles long, and its foothills are almost entirely enclosed by the encircling waters of the north and south forks of the Big Cheyenne.

Surrounding it on the north, east and south are prairie lands whose succulent grasses make them especially suitable for the graz ing of cattle, and of such extent that their outer rim encloses an

Hot Springs, S. D.

This view embraces the principal hotels, with Battle Mountain in the background.

The Black Hills

area greater than that of Great Britain, Germany and France; a region which is rich in promise to the farmer, cattleman and ranchman. A late estimate of the resources of this area, based on Government reports and surveys, places the value of its unmined gold and silver at one billion dollars, the area of uncultivated fruit and cereal land at 20,000,000 acres, and the coal deposits at 50,000,000 tons. It is further estimated that there is a supply of water at hand and yet unused for irrigation purposes sufficient to provide for annual crops on 30,000,000 acres of land.

This area, surrounding the hills, is a rolling prairie, broken here and there by square and flat-topped buttes, with the grass land stretching far away to the mountain eminences. The streams which cross the levels or break down through the gorges are clear as crystal. Many of the lesser buttes near these streams are turfed over their summits, and the table-lands raise high their surfaces covered with nutritious pasturage.

Beyond are the Hills, clothed with Norway pine that gives them a color of black-blue, the blue of the California plum, against a sky that seems to twinkle with electric flashes; hills so dark that a cloud before the sun will turn them to an intense black. On these beautiful hills one may stand and, looking far across the plains, see

Scene En Route To The Hills— Alfalfa Field.

View South From Piedmont Across The Foothills.

The Black Hills

A Typical Butte.

in the distance the buttes of Bear, Slave, Crow, Deer's Ears, Topknot and Lodge, while nearer at hand one valley rises above another, each turfed and green, forming long serpentine belts that stretch their way among the trees of darker foliage.

The. History Of The Hills.

Black Hills history dates back more than three centuries to the time when the Cheyennes jealously guarded the region as a hunting resort, and as a place where the Great Spirit had mysteriously bestowed health-giving powers on the air and had given unusual medicinal value to the water. The natural formation of the region made the Hills well-nigh impregnable, and the Indians held the place in great awe, guarding with jealous care the health-giving springs, the wonderful pine-covered slopes and the stores of precious metal contained within the mountains.

The Black Hills

So far as is known, the region was not visited by white men until after 1825, but prior to that time roaming Indians who came to the white settlements, told wondrous stories of the "Black Mountains" or spoke of the "Shining Hills" and "The Happy Place" and the richness of the grass and abundance of the game found there. They also told of gold and silver, and of treasure houses that their ancestors had guarded there for centuries, all of which were, accord ing to their descriptions, isolated from the surrounding country by a vast and dangerous desert. These tales served but to whet the desires of the restless frontiersman to reach and investigate this wonderful region.

The Cheyennes held the Black Hills as their own until after the tremendous three days' hand-to-hand conflict on Battle Moun tain, overlooking the Vale of Minnekahta in which Hot Springs is located. Here the Sioux practically annihilated their old time enemies, men, women and children, and held for their own until the white men came, a territory of some 43,000 square miles, with the Hills as a center, driving from their newly won empire the fur traders who had trapped and traded along the small streams which form the Cheyenne.

The first organized exploring party to visit the Black Hills was that under Gen. Harney in 1855, in which year it was followed bv that of Lieut. Warren, of the U. S. Topographical Engineers, who made three surveys of the Hills. In 1833, also, the records show that a party of seven prospectors visited the region. They were stealthily followed by Indians who massacred all but one of their number. This man was finally captured and killed near the present site of Spearfish, and his gold sold to the Hudson Bay Company for $18,000.

After Gen. Harney's visit, interest in the Black Hills grew rapidly, until, under instructions from Gen. Sheridan, Gen. Custer left Fort Abraham Lincoln, on the Missouri River, opposite the present site of Bismarck, N. D., June 2, 1874, and with about 1,000 U. S. troops made a sixty-day exploring expedition in the Black Hills. Returning, he issued a report as to the natural wealth of

The Black Hills

Harney Peak— The Summit.

the region, which, while couched in the most conservative terms, created intense interest in the west and the following winter found several parties of prospectors in the Hills, including some of those who had accompanied Custer's party. The danger which went with this encroachment on Indian rights was very great and the troops repeatedly removed the newcomers from the territory only to find them back again.

Finally, three years after Gen. Custer's expedition, Gen. Crook compromised with the Indians as to the purchase of their lands, and the Government paying them $4,500,000 for their rights, Sitting Bull and his warriors were removed to ether territory and the cavalry forces withdrawn. The trail of tlj&-nrfountain sheep and the path of the Indian were widenedinfo wagon roads, the region thrown open to white settlement, and the way opened for the building of The North-Western Line, the pioneer railway into the Hills.

The Black Hills

An Ore Train On The North-Western Line.

As late as 1876 the Black Hills were still geographically con sidered as part of the Far West. It was not until civilization had swung on beyond them and created an active business world farther west, that railway and financial interests recognized their value. It was then the fact was recognized that geographically they are a part of the Central West, within easy reach of Omaha, Sioux City, St. Louis, St. Paul, Minneapolis, Chicago and all points east.

There must be pioneer railways as well as pioneer explorers, and as soon as the development of the region justified, The North- Western Line pushed into the heart of the Hills, reaching them in 1885 and completing the line to Rapid City in 1886, and to Deadwood and Hot Springs in 1890. Thus was the entire region made readily accessible to the traveler, and railway trains traversed the gulches where Sitting Bull's braves had camped and where scouts and prospectors had made their courageous way in the days gone by.

The railway was soon followed by the farmer, the cattle raiser, the gold hunter, the health seeker and the manufacturer, who have opened to commerce and civilization a region which, a score of years ago, knew only the buffalo, the antelope and the Indian.

The Black Hills

The Black Hills country now embraces the thriving counties of Lawrence, Meade, Pennington, Custer, Fall River, and the southern portion of Butte County, containing growing cities, thrifty ranches and great mining interests the future growth of which promises to exceed even that of the past.

"Geologically," Dr. F. V. Hayden said thirty years ago, "the Black Hills form one of the most interesting and valuable studies on this continent," and in this declaration is found the basis of the development and wealth which have come to the region through the succeeding years. Historically, the Black Hills are best known as the scene of the Indians' last stand against the advance of civiliza tion and the encroachment of the white man upon the land they called their own. Industrially, they are prominent for the wealth and variety of their mining interests. To the tourist, they appeal as a region offering manifold attractions of scenery, climate, health-giving waters and such sports as lead men to seek the heart of nature.

Nf.Ar Hot Springs.

The Black Hills

BATTLE MOUNTAIN SANITARIUM, HOT SPRINGS. Now in course of construction.

Hot Springs.

Unique, typical of the region and possessed of unusual merit as a health resort, Hot Springs and its surroundings call for special atten tion from the visitor to the Black Hills. The town, with a popu lation of about 3,000 and situated at an altitude of 3,400 feet above the sea, is the county seat of Fall River County, and is located just where the geological formation of the Hills seems to have taken on some of its most extraordinary and beautiful shapes.

It has excellent schools and churches and some of the finest hotels in the West. From nearby quarries a remarkably beautiful sandstone is produced that is being used in some of the finest public and private buildings in the West. Situated on Fall River, a fine water power is thus provided for manufacturing purposes.

Traveling west from the Missouri River, en route to Hot Springs, the black soil of the prairies has turned to the yellow ochre of the Hills, the farm house has given way to the ranch and its extensive outrider of corrals and buildings, feeding racks and yards, and the roll of the prairie grows more pronounced. One sees unique towns with typical western surroundings; the crested buttes of the foothills rise here and there and the dark points of the

Falls Of The Cheyenne River, Twelve Miles South Of Hot Springs.

The Black Hills

Hills begin to be seen as the train reaches Buffalo Gap at the base of the southern hills, where in the olden davs the buffalo herds came down to the wide plains in the spring, returning again to shelter af the first snowfall, and where, later on, there arose a busv center for the slow-moving wagon trains that brought supplies to the new settlements. Thirteen miles beyond Buffalo Gap, the road, passing through Fall River Canon, enters the beautiful Vale of Minnekahta, where Hot Springs, with its hotels, baths and thermal springs, lies surrounded bv dark pine and cedar covered mountains from which balsamic odors fill the air and help to make the spot the great natural sanitarium of the West.

Almost one hundred thermal springs found here have formed the central feature of the place for more than three centuries, an Indian village, it is said, having been located that long since in the valley near the site of the present town. At the Minnekahta Spring a stone bath tub, moccasin shaped, is shown, which is said to have belonged to the Indians in the davs of their supremacv, when they used the water for their ailments without reallv understanding how or why speed cures were effected. The Indians are still fond of this spot once their own, and parties of them are often permitted to spend a dav here away from the reservation, to the great delight of interested tourists and sightseers.

The white man soon found in the springs therapeutic proper ties that made them invaluable for nervous complaints, indigestion and intestinal disorders, pulmonary affections, diseases of the urinary organs, gout, skin diseases and rheumatism. The cures of rheum atism (muscular, sciatic and inflammatory) that have been effected seem almost marvelous. The salubrious character of the climate, the delight of a swim in the magnificent plunge baths, the extensive drives and interesting trips of exploration on foot into the hills, where the ceaseless lullabv of the winds in the pines vies with the babbling of the river below, and the restfulness one feels after a day outdoors, have carried the reputation of the Springs around the world.

The saddle horse is at the door if desired, or the typical west ern stage coach, to take the pleasure-seeker to the famous Wind

The Black Hills

Mammoth Springs Plunge Bath, Hot Springs.

Cave, to Cascade Springs, Minnekahta Falls or other nearby places of interest to the visitor. Excellent golf links are maintained for the use of those who enjoy the game.

Dr. J. H. Hoelscher, the well-known medical expert of Chicago, has said of Hot Springs :

''There is no other place in the United States, and not in the world — within my knowledge — which combines the three great essentials of comfort and health in so perfect a manner as they are combined at Hot Springs and in the Black Hills. 1st. A reasonably increased altitude above the sea level. 2d. Waters tempered to man's normal heat, charged with nature's best remedies and given out in great purity and abundance. 3d. A pure atmos phere, a clear sky and sun-purified conditions."

" These are all found at Hot Springs. The records of the weather conditions, kept for eight years, show an average of 332' days of sunny weather in the year. The average temperature for June, July and August covering a period of eight years is 62 degrees. The waters break from the mountain side in a volume that indicates a long and abundant underground flow, gathering in their passage the various medicinal aids which nature's concealed laboratory can afford, emerging from their thralldom rich in just the qualities that enervated and exhausted nature requires for restoration."

A most notable recognition of the value of Hot Springs as a health resort is the fact that the United States Government has designated it as the site for a national sanitarium for disabled soldiers,

The Black Hills

known as the u Battle Mountain Sanitarium,'* $530,000 having been appropriated by Congress for the beginning of this work which will, according to present plans, incur the linal expenditure of more than $2,000,000. The new Government institution will occupv a most imposing site on the slope of historic Battle Mountain and the plans include a line group of buildings erected from the beautiful pink-tinted stone quarried nearby. The style will be Spanish- American, the architecture of the highest character and the equip ment the most modern that medical science can suggest.

The plans include extensive arrangements for landscape garden ing; and the style of architecture lends itself to the building of a circular court which it is proposed to surround by an arcade con taining fountains, tropical and semi-tropical plants. The buildings are now in course of erection.

The South Dakota Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, where veterans of the Civil War take advantage of the superb climate and invigorating waters, is also located at Hot Springs, occupying a commanding elevation just west ot the city.

BATTLE MOUNTAIN SANITARIUM, HOT SPRINGS. The Arcade, as it will appear when completed.

The Black Hills

South Dakota Soldiers' Home, Hot Springs.

The principal hotel at Hot Springs is the Evans, which is a center of gayety during the summer season. It is a handsome fourstory house, built with stone from the nearby quarries and has capacity for four or five hundred guests. It is located opposite the North-Western Station. Other hotels afford additional accommo dations for the large number of tourists that seek this region each year in greatly increased numbers.

Among the features of a sojourn at Hot Springs are the two famous plunge baths, known as The Evans and The Mammoth Spring, each well equipped and provided with conveniences, receiving water in large volume direct from the springs, coming from the ground at a temperature of 90 degrees, and noted for its health-giving qualities.

The Kidney Spring is a fine body of water that breaks from the hillside opposite the Evans Hotel. The waters are a specific for kidney trouble, and are visited by hundreds daily, who drink freely and without price. The temperature of the water is about 85 degrees.

Just east of town is the Hiawatha, formerly known as the "Catholicon Spring," one of the most important in the Hot Springs district. Extensive walks, drives and rides into the surrounding country are one of the most popular features of life at Hot Springs, and Wind Cave, Onyx Cave, Cascade Springs, Lithia Springs and the Falls of the Cheyenne, should all be visited while here.

One of the most valuable institutions at Hot Springs is a Sani tarium and Hospital at which the most modern and scientific methods

The Black Hills 21

are employed and where manv invalids find speed restoration to health under the most favored conditions. A $50,000 addition to the present buildings is now being planned, in which will be installed one of the finest bath equipments in the West.

Wind Cave, excelling in manv wavs the famous Mammoth Cave of Kentuckv, is one of the greatest of nature's wonders as revealed in the Hills and is located twelve miles north of Hot Springs on Beaver Creek. It is reached by a drive over a smooth mountain road from which the valley of the Cheyenne River, twenty miles southward, and Harnev's Peak, forty miles to the north, can be seen in a series of beautiful views en route.

The Cave, which is truly a marvel of strange geological form ations, occupies an area of such extent that no less than 100 miles of passageway and 3,000 rooms have been explored.

The original entrance to the cave was bv wav of a round hole in the rock, worn by the action of water, through which a strong and unceasing blast of wind passed, giving the cave its name. The cave is believed to be an extinct gevser, where the hot water has, in former davs, washed out the limestone into cavernous depths, leav ing walls of strangely formed rock, glistening in many places with carbonate of lime, in others presenting shining walls of onyx, and in

Entrance To Wind Cave.

State School Of Mines, Rapid City.

The Black Hills

Dthers geometric shapes of great beauty. A choice of three wellknown routes through the cave, requiring from two to six hours each to traverse, is presented to the public for selection.

The United States Government has purchased 23,000 acres of land above the cave and set it aside as a Government preserve and park, thus assuring its care and maintenance for future generations.

Good livery service and several stage lines convey tourists daily from Hot Springs to the cave at reasonable rates. The round trip is usually made in from six to eight hours.

About ten miles from Hot Springs on the old Sidney stage road is the Cascade Springs, which converge and flow into the Cheyenne River, through Cascade Creek, reached from Hot Springs by a good roadway, through tvpical Black Hills scenery. T he visitor usually makes sure of at least one trip to the Cascade during his stay in these parts.

Another point of interest near Hot Springs is the Onyx Caye, not so large as Wind Cavre, but containing many unique and beau tiful formations.

Crystal Cave in Elk Creek Canon, about twelve miles south of Deadwood, is like Wind Cave in many respects. This caye is

Interior Of Plunge Bath Hot Springs.

The Black Hills

nearly as large as Wind Cave and it is believed by some that the two are connected by subterranean passage ways. About three hundred chambers have been opened up and in the neighborhood of fifty miles of passage ways. The same delicate lime formations are found in this cave as in Wind Cave. Near the entrance is Knife Blade Rock, a pinnacle standing iio feet above the railroad track.

Testimony of Medical Authorities as to the Value of Hot Springs, S. D., as a Health Resort.

An analysis of the Hot Springs waters, made by Prof. Chas. B. Gibson, of Chicago, shows that the chemical constituents per gallon are as follows:

Constituents Per Gallon- Grains.

Total residue . 83-1000

Inorganic and non-volatile . 71-0000

Organic and volatile . 12.1100

Sulphate of sodium . 23-2628

Sulphate of potassium . 5.6272

Sulphate of calcium . 36.1125

Chloride of calcium . 5-5887

Chloride of ammonium . 0.0291

Constituents Per Gallon. Grains.

Chloride of magnesium . 4-1144

Nitrate of magnesium . 0.3024

Phosphate of magnesium . 0.0996

Carbonate-ofyuagnesium . 3.5057

Iron sesqui-tPide . 0.1490

Alumina . ;. . 0.2710

Silica . 1.5483

Many practitioners have visited the Springs and have by personal observation, as well as through their experience with patients whom they have sent to this resort, learned that the waters, the climate, and the keen, exhilar ating air possess unusual therapeutic properties. A few testimonials from men prominent in the medical profession are shown below:

The Hot Springs of South Dakota afford opportunities for rest, recreation and recovery of health that are not surpassed by any similar resort in the

C0Untry* Dr. Henry M. Lyman, Chicago, Ill.

Dr. E. P. Cook, Mendota, Ill.

Dr. J. W. Powell, Peoria, Ill.

Dr. Wm. A. Elder, Bloomington, Ill.

Dr. E. Stillwell Bailey, Chicago, Ill.

To sum up, we have here an ideal climate — climatic conditions that will at once appeal to the practitioner as being of inestimable value in the treatment of many chronic affections, prominent among them tuberculosis, pulmonary and bronchial affections, sub-acute and chronic rheumatism.

Dr. C. W. Hargens, in "The Medical Record.

I was there one week, in which time I drank and bathed in the waters daily, and at the end of that time returned to Sioux City entirely cured of my rheumatism, having felt no trace of it after my third bath.

Dr. J. Bailey, Sioux City, Iowa.

The Black Hills

From observation and information we recommend Hot Springs rs one of he best resorts for those suffering from rheumatism, gout, malaria, chronic iiseases of the liver, kidneys and bladder, chronic bronchitis, incipient conumption, indigestion, neurasthenia, neuralgia, and all chronic skin diseases.

Rost. D. Bailey, M. D., Peoria, Ill.

Geo. H. Jenkins, M. D., Keokuk, Iowa,

President Keokuk Medical School.

M. N. McNaughton, M. D., Villisca, Ill.

F. M. Hiett, M. D., Red Oak, Iowa.

When used in connection with baths, or in connection with swimming n the plunges, the waters of the Hot Springs are most perfectly adapted to :he cure of rheumatism, and, in fact, of all diseases wherein elimination and moderate exercise are essential. J. H. Hoelscher, M. D.,

Attending Physician Alexian Brothers Hospital and German Hospital of Chicago. Professor of Internal Medicine. 1 1 'est Chicago Post - Graduate Hospital and Polyclinic.

The air is pure and free from all those micro-organisms which breed disease ; and Nature here belches forth from her subterranean laboratories a medicated elixir which is an infallible cure for many of the stubborn diseases to which mankind is heir. C. W. Carr, M. D., Dow City, Iowa.

The immediate effects of a bath in these waters, when taken at the temperature of ninety-six at the fountain-head, are stimulating and exhilarating, producing a slight electric shock. Many can testify to the wonderful curative powers of the waters. Dr. C. M. Beggs, Sioux City, Iowa.

I have made a personal investigation of the Hot Springs and believe they are of great value to invalids. I am specially interested in the treatment of nervous diseases, and find the atmospheric conditions especially commendable, and the clear, pure springs potent in -therapeutic properties that are very superior in benentting nervous affections. Dr. J. M. Aiken, Omaha, Neb.

The Vale Of Minxekahta.

On Tiik North-Western Link Between Deadwood Ani) Lead.

Natural Resources.

The natural resources of the Black Hills are infinitely great, particularly as to mineral wealth. The timber interests are extensive ; also, the most of the product being used in connection with the mining industry. The wheat raised in some parts of the Hills is equal in quality to anything raised in the famous Red River Valley of North Dakota. The richly nutritious grasses of the valleys and I slopes have made the cattle and sheep raising industry of rapidly increasing importance.

Of the 35,000,000 bushels of wheat and the 40,000,000 bushels of corn which South Dakota produces each year, the Hills are already beginning to claim a considerable percentage. Of the annual production of $30,000,000 worth of live stock, the Hills supply 10 per cent. The farmers have also demonstrated that the Hills region can produce good crops of oats, barley and rye. The hay crop is exceptionally fine, the products of the dairy are also beginning to attract attention and there is an export trade in wool, hides and furs.

In manufacturing, the Black Hills promises to become the most important section of the State. The extensive lumber area, the ready material for stucco production and for the establishment and operation of planing mills, furniture factories, flouring mills, brick yards, lime kilns and marble quarries, are steadily attracting the investment of capital. The marble produced in Custer County and

Middle Creek Stock Yards, Belle Fourche, S. D.

Parade Ground— Fort Meade, Near Sturgis.

The Black Hills

elsewhere is beautifully veined and is destined to have large use in the eastern commercial and building fields. In the southern section i of the country is a hard sandstone, white and dull pink, which is now being used largely in public and private buildings throughout the West. The largest quarries are located near Hot Springs. Petroleum has been discovered and salt and the out-croppings of iron cover a wide area. Copper is found in profitable quantities in almost every mineral discovery made in the region.

The general character of the cities of the Hills is equal to that i of those in any Eastern State. Along The North-Western Line northward to Deadwood and Belle Fourche are several prosperous towns, such as Rapid City, one of the attractive centers of the Hills, the seat of the well-known School of Mines of the State and of a Government Indian school. It is the center of extensive smelting operations, and the Rapid River supplies water power for a large flouring mill. Fire brick is also manufactured here on an extensive scale. For several months in 1886-87 lt was Black Hills terminus of The North-Western Line, and prior to that time an important point on the Ft. Pierre & Deadwood wagon trail.

Sturgis is situated on The North-Western Line southeast of Deadwood at the mouth of Bear Butte Canon. It will repay the tourist to stop here long enough to visit the cavalry post at Fort Meade, located two miles west of the town and reached by a delightful drive through the canon. The post is beautifully situated at the base of the butte and is one of the best equipped and most noted cavalry posts in the United States.

East of Deadwood a short distance, and located on the main line of the Chicago & North-Western Railway, is the town of Whitewood, located in the gulch of the same name, in which gold was first found in small quantities in 1875.

Deadwood is the industrial center of the region and has modern business establishments, daily newspapers, public schools, a private academy, electric lighting, water-works, saw and planing mills, two railways, telephone service, a public library and active work for every vigorous man within its limits.

Cattle Ranch, In The Black Hills.

The Black Hills 31

Fort Meade And Bear Butte.

Lead, close by, is the headquarters and the center of operations or the mining interests of the Hills and is the location of the domestake and other famous mines that have helped to give the dills their wide reputation for mineral wealth.

Twenty-eight miles north of Deadwood, the Black Hills terminus The North-Western Line is at Belle Fourche,on the Belle Fourche diver, a town of about 500 inhabitants and the county seat of Butte bounty, rich in cattle and with golden prospects for the future.

Belle Fourche is one of the most extensive cattle-shipping enters in the United States. The nutritious grasses of the footnils and plains have made it possible for the cattle industry to be leveloped here until the shipments now reach the value of about >4,000,000 per annum. A conservative estimate of shipments rom Belle Fourche and other Black Hills points during the present eason, places the amount at no less than 5,000 carloads.

The raising of sheep has also reached such proportions as to )id fair to rival the cattle-industry in prominence. Fine coal beds ire located west of Belle Fourche, on the Wyoming & Missouri diver R. R. The town has a most excellent waterworks system, tnd good public schools.

It is said that the Black Hills with a present population of 75,000 or 80,000 have a natural capacity for sustaining a population 5,000,000 and that its scenic attractions and health resorts are ,f sufficient importance to attract a hundred thousand tourists a year.

Typical Black Hills Farm.

The Black Hills

Land of fine quality, well located as to water and timber, is lid at reasonable prices.

Comfortable farm houses, plenty of water, natural shelter for iDck, fine grasses, and good timber render the Hills one of the ost attractive of places in which to make a new home.

There are no extremes of heat or cold, nor such conditions of eather that the fields cannot be worked freely during the open ason,and flocks and herds find ample shelter during the colderperiod.

Geological Formations.

Geologically the Hills are of unequaled interest, no less than n of the geological ages being exposed in the outcroppings of this onderful region, where only two of the organic elements are lack- g. Deep canons have cut through one formation after another, ius revealing the various strata in such a way that students from 1 over the world have come here to make the exposed formations ieir study. In this rich breaking of the earth's crust is found i imposing display of various valuable minerals. Here are immense -ds of gypsum, topping hundreds of buttes and cresting innumerule ridges, pure white, crystalline and massive, running in beds of arving thickness, twenty to thirty feet in depth in many spots, and sed for the making of stucco, which is quite an industry at various oints in the Hills. Then there are extraordinary deposits of limeone, much of it fine grained, compact and highly crystalline, sndering it a good marble; and fine beds of the beautiful sandstone jr which the region around Hot Springs is famous.

At the base of Harney's Peak, the summit of which is 7,216 set above the level of the sea and about which other peaks rise to elevations of 4,000 and 4,500 feet, tin has been discovered and the rst tin mill in the LTnited States was located here in 1890. Lead, nica, gvpsum, coal and silver, all have been uncovered in different ►arts of the Hills and profitably worked.

In the northern and central portion of the Hills is a large area ,f limestone cut by canons into a network of short and narrow

The Black Hills

valleys, separated by castellated rocky ridges and broad plateaus. Potsdam sandstone is also found in large quantities and great lignite beds of quartz, while large granite beds mark the rugged region of which Harney's Peak is the center. In these rock formations, especially at Dead wood and Lead, have been found the wonderful gold deposits which have made the Hills one of the most important gold-producing centers of the world.

Mr. Sanford in his interesting description of the region sets forth a list of the minerals found, as follows:

"Gold, silver, tin, iron, copper, lead, graphite, asbestos, spodumene, mica, wolframite, gypsum, chalk, corundum, lithograph stone, kaolin, man ganese, mineral paint, marble and a host of other minerals are here, while as an interesting study for the less mercenary student and scientist is found an array of curious and beautiful specimens, including petrified and agatized wood, petrified moss, various colored quartz (white, smoky and rose) of a very fine quality. A pure white and water clear satin spar, a great variety of crystals (quartz and calcite), many of them exceedingly rare and beautiful; the transparent golden-brown, four-sided barite crystals being found nowhere else. A beautiful variegated breccia or pudding stone that takes a very fine polish. A vari-colored 'Calico' or striped and beautiful sandstone, several shades and textures of trachyte, maracasite, saponite, galena, azurite, mala chite, fluorite, dolomite, dendrite, hornblende, andesite, gleuconite, phenolite, tourmaline, garnets, beryls, amethysts, smoky topaz, sardonyx, onyx, phenocite, chalcedony and many others. This brilliant array of gold and gems has a setting of rugged, pine-covered mountains, deep, rocky, picturesque canons, and dancing, sparkling mountain streams, together covering an area of six thousand square miles, about one hundred miles long bv sixty miles wide."

In addition to this wealth that mav be turned to commercial uses, the Hills possess for the scientist a still greater interest in their fossil deposits, which approach in variety those found farther west in Wyoming. The remains of a dynosaurus have been found at Castle Butte and other fragmentary remains unearthed indicate that an animal approaching the elephant in size once dwelt in the Hills. Huge turtle backs also have been uncovered, along with fish fossils of innumerable variety, showing that a great lake once spread over the region, having its western shore at the base of the Rockies, its southern end in Kansas and its eastern shore near the present line of the Mississippi.

THE NORTH-WESTERN LINE THROUGH UEADWOOt) GULCH.

The Black Hills

Bear Butte, Near Sturgis.

A cavalry regiment from Fort Meade is camped in the middle foreground.

Gold Production.

The gold mining interests form the greatest single contribution to the wealth of the Black Hills region. In fact the whole history of the Hills centers around the glamour of gold. Father De Smet, seventy years ago, was astonished by the gift of gold nuggets handed him by a Sioux chief to be molded into bullets for the wonderful weapon he had presented to the dusky warrior. Gold was one of the chief charms which held the savage to revere the region, and on account of gold the white man struggled and gave his life to develop the Hills.

The first gold in the Hills was panned July 3, 1874, at a point about one mile east of the present city of Custer, by H. N. Ross, a resident of Custer, who at that time was General Custer's chief of scouts. To-day there are more than 200 mining companies operat ing in the Hills, employing more than 5,000 miners whose annual earnings exceed $6,000,000, while in the industrial branches con nected with mining and other interests are 7500 morc? including about 1,500 engaged in the lumber industry. All told, the output of gold and the independent industries, including agriculture and stock raising, now reaches over $25,000,000 per annum.

The gold mining district of the Hills is the third greatest gold producing district on the continent, and has been pronounced to be uthe richest 100 miles square on the face of the globe.

The City Of Deadwood

The Black Hills

Counting the time of profitable gold mining here as having started a quarter of a century ago, the production of the precious metal has steadily increased from $1,200,000 in 1876, to $8,000,000 in 1900, with a material annual increase since that time. The gold production of the Black Hills during this period is one-seventh of the output of the United States and nearly one-thirtieth of that of the entire world.

The total production of gold in the district between 1876 and January 1, 1905, was $140,000,000 and still there is no cessation in the discovery of new and legitimate properties.

In this district are some of the most famous gold mines ever known, such as the Homestake,the richest dividend paving mine in the world; the Golden Reward, Horseshoe, Maitland, Spearfish, Imperial, Dakota, Wasp No. 2, Uncle Sam, Lundberg, Dorr & Wilson and others.

The production of mineral wealth in this comparatively small tract has already been the means of placing South Dakota first among the States of the Union in the production of wealth per capita, and it must be taken into consideration when noting this that the Black Hills gold district is known as one of low-grade ores, the Homestake, which turns out over $450,000 per month, produc ing an ore that averages less than $4 to the ton.

That the district was originally ranked as one of low-grade ore mitigated against it in the minds of those who had been accus tomed to the marvelous wealth in the tonnage of other gold districts. In fact, there was a time, within the memory of men now living, when ore that assayed less then $10 per ton was considered worth less, and in Colorado many miners would not touch ore running less than $30 per ton, that which ran less being consigned to the dumps, where it has in many instances since been reclaimed and treated with great profit.

Mining in the Hills has rapidly been resolved into a scientific and business-like development of the natural wealth of the region, the most complete and modern machinery being devoted to that scientific treatment which secures from the ores all their values. This has required the investment of large sums and has to a great degree been

The Black Hills

made possible by the progressive policy of The North-Western Line in building roads and opening up means of transportation to mining properties which otherwise must have developed but slowly.

Deadwood And Lead.

In the fall of 1875 there was great excitement over the wonderful finds of gold in that cleft in the mountains known as Deadwood Gulch (so named because of the large amount of fallen timber found along its sides).

This new field did not disappoint the prospectors who hastened to the seat of wealth thus discovered. In the first summer two brothers who had worked the first claim 300 feet below the dis covery, left the Hills in August with 1,600 pounds of gold dust, worth $300,000 and created with their armed escort such a sensa tion en route as has probably never been repeated in the history of gold mining.

Over 150 paying claims in Deadwood, Whitewood and adjacent gulches and up Gold Run as far as Lead, soon employed 1,200 miners, and as many more were engaged in Bear Gulch, Iron Creek and Potato Gulch. Thus no fewer than 5,000 men are estimated to have been employed in the Hills in 1876, exclusive

Lead, S. D.

The Black Hills

of the prospectors, who in their unceasing search had already dis covered the rich Homestake Lode.

The town of Deadwood was organized in April, 1876, and since then it has grown rapidly into the commercial center of the whole Black Hills region, its industrial prominence being such as to justify the attention of even the most casual sight-seer and its smelters and cyanide plants making it one of the most important gold mining centers in the world.

The placer mining, which built a city in Deadwood Gulch almost in a day, long since gave way to more scientific methods, and Deadwood early became the pioneer in the experiments which finally led to the installation here of the first chlorination plant in the Black Hills for the treatment of ore. Later on, this process was supplanted by the simpler and more economical cyanide process. Six large cvanide plants for the treatment of ore are now in opera tion at Deadwood, with two others building and several others operating in the neighboring gulches. The Bald Mountain District, rich in refractory ore, furnishes an ample supply of material for many of these plants, being placed within easy reach by means of the Chicago & North-Western Railway's Bald Mountain Line to Terry, Portland and Ruby Basin.

Four miles beyond Deadwood on the direct line of the Chicago & North-Western from Omaha, Sioux City, Chicago, St. Paul and Minneapolis, is the city of Lead. It is 550 feet higher than Deadwood. The North-Western Line between these two important Black Hills cities is known as the uScenic Wonder Line," being remarkable for the beauty of its rugged mountain scenery and for the engineering skill evidenced in its construction. Interurban trains between the two cities are run at frequent intervals, and no trip to the Hills is complete until it includes the ride over this wonderful moun tain line, and another over the line to Terry and Ruby Basin.

At Lead the chief attraction is the great Homestake Mine, dis covered in 1876. The history of the Homestake is one of the most spectacular chapters in the history of gold mining. Capitalized at $22,000,000, the property has paid a monthly dividend ever since October, 1878, making a total of over $17,000,000 in dividends to

The Black Hills

The Homestake Mine.

date. One hundred dollars invested when stock was selling at $i per share would be worth to th~e investor to-day $20,000. The Homestake is essentially a free milling ore, only a small per cent being refractory, in other words it is ore in which the gold is found in pure metal form and has but to be crushed and separated from the ore and amalgamated. The operations of the company are upon an extremely systematic basis. The ore is mined in ioo-foot drifts, hoisted to the surface and dropped down from one process to another until at the foot of the hill the pure gold reaches the assav office. The plant includes six stamp mills with a total of 1,000 stamps which run ceaselessly year after year, handling 4,000 tons of ore per day and with a production to date of $90,000,000. Five main shafts are operated, one down 700 feet, two down 800 feet and two down 1,250 feet, and it is figured the pay ore will not be exhausted for many years to come, a fact that lends much strength to the assertion that the Hills district contains one of the most permanent ore bodies on the continent.

Terry, S. D., On The North-Western'S Bald Mountain Line.

The Black Hills

Mining Operations In The Black Hills District.

The records show that at present the mining companies of the Black Hills are handling about 160,000 tons of ore each month, the average gold value of which is not to exceed $4.70 per ton. Nine teen gold mills are now in operation in the Black Hills and four are in course of construction which will add 30,000 tons per month to the above; so that by the close of 1904 the monthly gold production for the district will probably have reached one million dollars.

The future possibilities of the Black Hills from a mining standpoint are receiving ample recognition at the hands of mining men; and capital is being invested for the development of large tracts of mineral lands throughout the Hills, including territory along the famous Homestake Belt, in the Phonolite Belt, where several new companies are exploiting the ore veins, and in many other portions of the mining district, including what promises to become a very rich district in the territory lying between Ragged Top and the Wyoming state line, where much development work is being done.

A short description of the principal features of the develop ment of each of the districts'into which the Hills may be conveni ently divided, follows in condensed form:

Deadwood Gulch. — The first gold discovery in Lawrence County was made here November 8, 1875, at a point a short distance from the present site of the high school building at Deadwood.

Garden City District. — Over the divide, west from Blacktail, is the Garden City district (sometimes called Maitland), the development of which is due, to a great extent, to the inauguration of the cyanide process. Many thousands of tons of ore found here will average in value about $8 per ton in gold, and under the cyanide process can be worked with great success.

Blacktail District. — Two and one-half miles west of Deadwood and one and one-half miles north of Lead is the Blacktail district, one of the most productive in the Hills. It has been worked for more than twenty-five years There are a number of

Bald Mountain— The North-Western Line.

The Black Hills

producing mines in the district, and there are few gulches in the Hills that have produced more gold.

Carbonate District. — Six miles northwest of Deadwood is the Carbonate district. It was here that the great mining boom occurred in 1886, when the old Iron Hill mine was in operation. As yet no shafts have reached the quartzite level, but mining experts claim that ore shoots will be found lying upon the quartzite contacts, in which case this should become as great a producer of gold as the Bald Mountain, Portland and Blacktail districts.

Bald Mountain District. — The greatest amount of ore in Lawrence County comes from the Bald Mountain district mines in the vicinity of Terry, and reaches the cyanide plants at Deadwood by means of the ore trains of The North-Western Line. The district is remarkable because the flat ore beds outcrop in the gulches and are generally worked therefrom, and it is probable that large ledges of free-milling ore underlie all the Bald Mountain district.

Bear Gulch District. — About fifteen miles west of Deadwood is the large mining district of Bear Gulch, one of the largest mining sections of the northern hills. For years the creeks here have been worked for placer gold and stream tin, and there are ledges of gold and tin ore scattered quite uniformly through the district.

Crown Hill District. — The Crown Hill district is not a large one, but is, none the less, a very important mining center. Large quantities of low-grade cyanide ore are found in surface mines, and experts believe that ore shoots of great value will be found on the lower quartzite level.

The Ragged Top District. — A promising portion of Law rence County is the Ragged Top district, the ore giving a very high average. The mines thus far are all on the surface. The ore bodies of this district resemble those of Mercur, Utah, in character, being superficial lime ore depositions.

North Lead District. — This district joins the Homestake possessions on the west. There are a half-dozen good producing mines in it and a varied assortment of ores, including a large amount of cement ore, the same as in the Blacktail district, and also a large

amount of refractory ore. Wolframite ore was discovered in the district about four years since.

Yellow Creek District. — About one mile south of Lead is the Yellow Creek district, where there are several producing mines which contain a high-grade ore, supplying two large cyanide plants. Some very large bodies of low-grade ore have been opened up recently.

The Two-Bits District. — Four and one-half miles south of Deadwood is the Two-Bits district, so called because in the early days an old prospector failed to get more than twenty-five cents worth of gold dust from a panful of dirt. The lower quartzite has been exploited in several places, ore bodies of considerable size being found. The district promises to become a heavy producer at an early day.

Strawberry District. — Two miles east of Two-Bits is the Strawberry district, which has a number of good mines, some of them among the heaviest producers of gold ore in Lawrence County. The ore is amenable to the cyanide and smelting processes, with occasionally some free ore.

Ruby Gulch. — Several hundred thousand dollars were taken from the rich placers of Ruby in the early days, and the district is again coming into prominence because of recent rich gold ledge findings.

Spruce Gulch District. — There are a number of good mines in this district which can be made to pay handsome profits on the investment, because of improvements in the method of ore treatment.

Galena District. — About nine miles southeast of Deadwood is the Galena district, noted a few years ago for its rich silver mines. The silver mines, like those of Carbonate, have been closed down, but meanwhile the district has shown great promise for the gold miner.

The Elk Creek District. — At the northerly end of the Elk Creek district, which is situated along Elk, Bare Butte and Box Elder creeks, is the famous Uncle Sam mine, one of the most sys tematically worked properties in the Hills. There are well-defined veins of free-milling ore in the district. Recent systematic develop ment on the part of several mining companies has demonstrated the merits of this promising section.

The Black Hills

Railway Facilities.

The Chicago & North-Western Railway system was the pioneer into the Black Hills, and the first to touch their wealth and open their beauties to the eastern world. The building of The North-Western Line into this region, in 1886, opened up to imme diate development the large ore bodies that waited only for trans portation facilities to make them profitable, and at the same time made available a large area of grazing country and provided access to more than 40,000,000 acres of farm land in South Dakota and throughout the Black Hills; providing markets for the cattle grazing districts and giving this industry an impetus the effect of which is greater to-day than ever before in the history of the region.

By means of direct lines of communication from Chicago, Peoria, Milwaukee, St. Paul, Minneapolis, Sioux City, Omaha and points east, the Hills are brought into direct contact with the rest of the world. Excellent through daily train service from Chicago and the East is maintained over the only double-track railway between Chicago and the Missouri River. Double daily train service is also maintained from St. Paul, Minneapolis and Sioux City with choice of routes via Norfolk, Missouri Valley or Omaha, and daily service of through Pullman drawing-room sleeping cars from Omaha daily.

In The Heart Of The Hills.

Agencies Chicago €s North=Western Railway.

BOSTON, MASS.— 300 Washington Street— J. E. Brittain, General Agent Passenger Department, H. M. Gutter, Traveling Agent ; Chas. A. Bryant, Traveling Agent.

BUFFALO, N. Y.— 301 Main Street, Ellicott Square— H. B. Loucks, Jr., General Agent; E. B. Spain, Traveling Agent; F. M. ARCHDEACON, Traveling Agent.

CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA- M. H. Rizer, Passenger and Ticket Agent; F. L. Stayner, Traveling Agent. CHICAGO. ILL.— 22 Fifth Avenue— J. L. Ferguson, Assistant General Passenger and Ticket Agent; A. 1L Waggener, Traveling Agent.

212 Clark Street, City Ticket Office — H. A. Gross, General Agent Passenger Department;

G. A. Griswold, City Passenger Agent; E. D. Parmelee, City Ticket Agent.

Wells Street Passenger Station — R. B. YY ilson, Agent.

Passenger Station, corner California Avenue and Kinzie Street — G. T. Feltus, Agent.

Clybourn Junction Station— T. H. George, Agent.

CINCINNATI, OHIO— 435 Vine Street (Carew Building)— N. M. Breeze, General Agent; Clinton McCullough, Traveling Agent; Chas. H.Todd, Traveling Agent; A.R. Gould, Traveling Agent. CLEVELAND, OHIO— 234 Superior Street— A. F. Cleveland, General Agent; A. L. Armstrong, Traveling Agent; A. W. Bower, Traveling Agent.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, IOWA— 522 Broadway, City Ticket Office— J. C. Mitchell, City Passenger and Freight Agent.

DEADWOOD, S. D — G. G. Dennis, General Agent.

DE KALB, ILL.— S. V. Wirick, Traveling Agent.

DENVER, COLO. — 801 Seventeenth Street— D. H. Hoops, General Agent.

DES MOINES, IOWA — 101 Walnut Street. City Ticket Office— L. F. Berry, General Agent; A. J. Cheeseman, City Passenger and Ticket Agent.

DETROIT, MICH.— 17 Campus-Martius— W. H. Guerin, General Agent Passenger Department; J. B. Brashears, Traveling Agent.

DULUTH, MINN.— 302 West Superior Street, City Ticket Office— George M. Smith, General Agent. EAGLE GROVE, IOWA— S. B. Jones, Traveling Agent.

GREEN BAY, WIS.-E. B. Daly, Traveling Agent.

HOUGHTON, MICH.— Douglas House Block— C. E. Webb, General Agent.

HURON, S. D.-B. F. Farrell, Traveling Agent.

JANESVILLE, WIS.-D. J. Lindsay, General Agent.

KANSAS CITY, MO.— 823 Main Street— A. L. Fisher, Traveling Agent.

LINCOLN, NEB.— 1024 "O" Street, City Ticket Office— Robert W. McGinnis, General Agent.

LOS ANGELES, CAL.— 247 South Spring Street— W. D. Campbell, General Agent.

MADISON, WIS.— James Gibson, Traveling Agent; F. A. DeZotell, Traveling Agent.

MANKATO, MINN.— C. H. Johnson, Traveling Agent.

MASON CITY, IOWA— Geo. M. Pike, Traveling Agent.

MILWAUKEE, WIS.— 99 Wisconsin Street, City Ticket Office— H. C. Cheyney, General Agent; F. M. Snavely, City Passenger Agent.

MINNEAPOLIS, MINN.— 600 Nicollet Avenue, City Ticket Office— J. A. O'Brien, City Ticket Agent. NEW YORK CITY — 161 Broadway— D. W. Aldridge, General Eastern Agent; T. A. Moore, Traveling Agent; R. N. Golden, Traveling Agent; A. E. Hill, Passenger Agent; C. C. Walton, Passen ger Agent.

OMAHA, NEB.— 1401 and 1403 Farnam Street, City Ticket Office— Geo. F. West, General Agent Passenger Department.

1201 Farnam Street— J. A. KUHN, Assistant General Freight and Passenger Agent ; J OHN MELLEN, Traveling Agent; E. E. Benjamin, Traveling Agent; J. H. Gable, Traveling Agent. OSHKOSH, WIS.— A. C. Keyes, Traveling Agent.

PEORIA, ILL.— 333 Main Street, City Ticket Office— J. S. Talbot, General Agent; Fred W. Jones, Traveling Agent.

PHILADELPHIA, PA.— 601 Chestnut Street— W. A. Cox, General Agent; Frank Irish, Traveling Agent; O. M. Brown, Traveling Agent.

PITTSBURGH, PA.— 504 Smithfield Street— A. Q. Tallant, General Agent; Charles Traver.

Traveling Agent; F. G. ReigaRT, Traveling Agent; H. C. Lydiard, Traveling Agent. PORTLAND, ORE.— 153 Third Street— A. G. Barker, General Agent.

ST. LOUIS, MO.— 505 Olive Street— Geo. F. Brigham, Jr., General Agent; G. W. Boogher, Travel ing Agent.

ST. PAUL, MINN.— 396 Robert Street (Ryan Hotel), City Ticket Office— E. A. Whitaker, City Ticket Agent.

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH— 38 and 40 West Second South Street (Atlas Building) — C. A. Walker, General Agent.

SAN FRANCISCO, CAL.— 617 Market St. (Palace Hotel)— R. R. Ritchie, Gen'l Agent Pacific Const. SEATTLE, WASH.— 151 Yesler Way, corner Occidental Avenue— F. W. Parker, General Agent. SIOUX CITY, IOWA— Security Bank Building, City Ticket Office— M. M. Betzner, General Agent;

M. J. Golden, Traveling Agent; Maurice Smith, City Ticket Agent.

SPOKANE, WASH.— 13 and 14 Jamieson Building— B. D. Beardsley, General Agent.

SUPERIOR, WIS.— 815 Tower Avenue— H. R. GrochaU, General Agent.

TACOMA, WASH.— Donnelly Hotel— L. 5V. Brundage, Traveling Agent.

TORONTO, ONT.— 2 East King St.— B. H. Bennett, Gen'l Agent; W. P. Dempsey, Traveling Agent. WINONA, MINN.— A. C. Johnson, General Agent.

North-Western Union Pacific Personally Conducted Excursions.

CHICAGO, ILL.— 212 Clark Street, City Ticket Office— S. A. Hutchison, Manager. NEW YORK CITY- 161 Broadway— Geo. I. Humphrey, Assistant Manager. BOSTON, MASS.— 300 Washington Street— T. P. Vaille, Assistant Manager.

LOS ANGELES, CAL.— 247 South Spring Street— J. H. Pearman, Assistant Manager.

h. r. McCullough,

3d Vice-President,

W. B. Kniskern,

Passenger Traffic Manager,

Chicago.

W. A. Gardner.

General Manager,

C. A. Cairns,

Gen'l Pass'r and Ticket Agent,

Poole Bnos. Chicago.

The Chicago & North-Western Railway is the Pioneer Line West and Northwest of Chicago and the Double-Track. Railway Between Chicago and the Missouri River.

The Black Hills

The North-Western Line

The Pioneer Line West And Northwest Of Chicago.

Brigham Young University

Date Due

QfC 2 3 191

Brigham Young University