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THE 
 
 Hand-book of Wyoming 
 
 AND GUIDE TO THE 
 
 ikek ffitts 
 
 A GLIMPSE AT THE 
 
 PROMINENT RESOURCES OF THE TERRITORY, WITH SPECIAL 
 
 ARTICLES ON STOCK-RAISING, MINING, LUMBERING, 
 
 AGRICULTURE, MANUFACTURING, CLIMATE, 
 
 SCENERY, GAME, FISH, ETC., 
 
 AND FULL DESCRIPTIONS OF THE 
 
 Big Horn, Black Hills and Yellowstone Regions, 
 
 FOR CITIZEN, EMIGRANT AND TOURIST. 
 
 By Robert E. Strahorn. 
 
 CHEYENNE, WYOMING. 
 1877. 
 
 INIGHT & LEONARD, PRINTERS, CHICAGO. 
 
» 
 
THE 
 
 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING 
 
 AND GUIDE TO THE 
 
 kt\ ]|tfb ami |)M( i^on\ ^[t^km 
 
 CITIZEN, EMIGRANT AND TOURIST. 
 
 By Kobert E. Strahorn ("Alter Ego"), 
 
 Of the Western Press. 
 
 . 
 
 
 CHEYENNE, WYOMING. 
 
 1877. 
 
Copyright, 1877, 
 By ROBERT E. STRAHORN. 
 
 KKIOHT & LEONARD . I 
 
 $2? 
 
 &-/5? 
 
PEEFAOE 
 
 A LITTLE more than sixty days ago the writer announced 
 his intention of producing this work, and commenced the 
 task of gathering statistics and placing them into the form now 
 presented. A few promises were made in the prospectus first 
 issued, and the kind-hearted and enterprising citizens who have 
 assisted upon the strength of such collateral are respectfully 
 asked to compare the result with the "good intentions." Inspec- 
 tion and criticism are not invited, however, in the belief that the 
 volume is devoid of errors or incongruities. In a field possessed 
 of such grandeur and wonderfully varied interests as that pre- 
 sented by Wyoming a year might well have been devoted to the 
 creation of such a work ; and in stating that only one-sixth of 
 that time has been applied, it will hardly be wondered that im- 
 perfection may be admitted. In collecting, sifting and tabulating 
 these statistics the writer has endeavored to be thoroughly con- 
 scientious, and to accept only that from other hands which has 
 been deemed thoroughly reliable. "When the reader remembers 
 that there has been no similar work published here, that official 
 statistics in so young a commonwealth are few and almost value- 
 less, and that every department of our industry and resource is 
 at least briefly touched upou, he can, in a measure, realize the 
 amount of labor which has been bestowed. 
 
 The writer cannot lose the opportunity here presented for 
 thanking the Wyoming public generally — and a few of the Ter- 
 ritory's best citizens more particularly — for the substantial favors 
 and unvarying kindness extended him. For most valuable per- 
 sonal favors received from Mr. E. A. Slack, of the Cheyenne Daily 
 Sun ; Dr. George W. Corey and Judge D. McLaughlin, of Chey- 
 enne; Col. Stephen W. Downey and Dr. J. A. Hayford, of Lara- 
 mie City; A. Mcintosh, Esq., of Green Eiver City, and Homer 
 Merrell, Esq., of Rawlins, he is deeply grateful. 
 
 Cheyenne, Wyoming, July 20, 1877. 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Father De Smet and the Aboriginal Miner 15 
 
 " The Wyoming of the Future " 23 
 
 The " Round Up " — "Cutting out Cattle " 33 
 
 " Bound for the Mines — The First Coach " 57 
 
 A Simple Question of Priority 65 
 
 11 Getting out the Logs " 75 
 
 " Giant Geyser " — Yellowstone Park Ill 
 
 The Great Falls of the Yellowstone 127 
 
 Green River City, Wyoming 149 
 
 " One Too Many " '. 193 
 
 Goose Creek Rapids 205 
 
 Yellowstone Lake, National Park 209 
 
 Proteau's Gold Mine 221 
 
 Scenes in the Black Hills 235 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PART FIRST. 
 The Resources of Wyoming. 
 
 Chapter I. — Early History — Spanish Explorations in the West — Cas- 
 tilians in the Big Horn Region — Father De Smet among the In- 
 dians — Organization of Wyoming 9 
 
 Chapter II. — The Wyoming of Today — Wealth and Productions — A 
 Territory Teeming with Natural Resources — Utilization in 1877 
 and Future Possibilities 20 
 
 Chapter III. — Stock Raising and Dairying — The Business as Carried 
 on in the New West — Its Immense Profits — Wyoming the "Stock- 
 man's Paradise" — Number of Cattle, Price of Herds, Cost of Keep- 
 ing and the Result in "Reliable Figures" — Improved Sheep Hus- 
 bandry 27 
 
 Chapter IV. — Agriculture — The Fertility of Wyoming Soils, the Cli- 
 mate, Market, etc. — Practical Experiences of Wyoming Farmers . . 47 
 
 Chapter V. — Mines and Mining — Wyoming's Immense Coal Measures, 
 their Extent and Present Development — The Laramie and Sweet- 
 water Gold and Silver Mines — Wonderful Deposits of Iron, Native 
 Soda, Marble, Sulphur, Petroleum, etc , 51 
 
 Chapter VI. — Forest Productions — The Great Lumbering Interest of 
 the Northwest, and the Part Played by Wyoming Forests — Superi- 
 ority of Wyoming Pine — Present Production — Manufacture of 
 Charcoal . 74 
 
 Chapter VII. — The Manufacturing Interest — Wyoming's Unexcelled 
 Water- Powers, Mountains of Iron and Vast Beds of Coal — A Region 
 for the Forge, the Shuttle and the Loom — Value of Manufactured 
 Articles in 1877 79 
 
 Chapter VIII. — Physical Geography and Climatology — Influence of 
 Pacific Current upon the Climate of the Great Plains and Rocky 
 Mountains — The Advantages Possessed by these Regions over the 
 Atlantic Sea-board States — Popular Fallacies 84 
 
 Chapter IX. — Manners and Society — How Absorbing Literature is 
 Produced by Eastern Correspondents — The "Border Genius " and 
 his Pranks — Woman Suffrage 105 
 
 Chapter X. — Wyoming for Health and Pleasure — Natural Wonders — 
 Game and Fish — Yellowstone National Park — Wyoming as a 
 Resort for Invalids — Dr. Corey's Valuable Suggestions 110 
 
VI CONTENTS. 
 
 PART SECOND. 
 Counties, Cities and Miscellaneous Information. 
 
 Chapter I. — Counties, Cities, Military Posts, etc. — Outlines of all 
 Counties and Cities, their Wealth and Productions — Schools, 
 Churches and Societies — County Officers, Banking, Railway and 
 Telegraphic Facilities — Cost of Living, Wages, Price of Real 
 Estate, Rents, etc 139 
 
 Chapter II. — Synopsis of Laws — Exemptions, Limitations, Interest — 
 United States Mining and Homestead Laws, Reclaiming Desert 
 Lands — Weights and Measures 160 
 
 PART THIRD. 
 The Big Horn and Black Hills Regions. 
 
 Chapter I. — The Big Horn Region — Location and Prominent Natural 
 Features — The Recent Jaunt of Generals Sheridan and Crook 181 
 
 Chapter II. — Early Gold Hunting — Indian Tradition — Testimony of 
 Prominent Explorers and Army Officers — What Jim Bridger and 
 Tom Sun say about Gold in the Big Horn Range 185 
 
 Chapter III. — Soil, Climate, Grasses — Choice Nooks for the Farmer 
 and Stockman — The Grand Rivers and Beautiful Valleys Along 
 the Base of the Big Horn Range 197 
 
 Chapter IY. — Fruits, Flowers, Game, Fish, Routes, etc. — The Indian 
 Question — Present Population of the Big Horn Region and its 
 Means of Defense 212 
 
 Chapter V.— The Black Hills — Early Discovery of Gold — Mining, 
 Stock-Raising, Agriculture, Lumbering and Other Interests — Cities 
 and Camps, with their Location, Wealth, Resources, Population 
 and Business — Routes Compared — Natural Identity of the Entire 
 Black Hills Region with Wyoming 219 
 
 Chapter VI. — Reminiscences and Miscellaneous Happenings — How the 
 Seat of Empire has been Laid in the New Northwest — The Great 
 Trans -continental Railway, and its Effect upon Western Develop- 
 ment 243 
 
PART FIEST. 
 
 The Resources of Wyoming 
 
 AND PRESENT DEVELOPMENT. 
 
WYOMING. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 A BIT OF EARLY HISTORY. 
 
 SINCE the time when Isabella pawned her jewels to procure 
 an outfit for Columbus, the desire to discover the golden 
 sands of the west has not lessened; and to recount the disap- 
 pointments and disasters that have resulted therefrom would be 
 no easy life-time task. Although the Genoese navigator had no 
 idea of enriching himself by his perilous launch, in 1492, he at 
 least hoped that the coffers of Ferdinand and his queen would be 
 replenished by the wealth of new possessions. But most of his 
 -companions were adventurers in quest of gold and glory, reckless 
 and oftentimes cruel to brutality. The missionaries who accom- 
 panied him were Franciscan friars, whose zeal for the conversion 
 of the savages was only surpassed by the thirst of their compan- 
 ions in bucklers for gold. Thus a religious zeal, which teaches 
 its votaries to despise riches on earth and lay up treasures else- 
 where, and a most avaricious desire for wealth on the part of 
 these adventurers, went hand in hand exploring the southern 
 part of North America more than three centuries ago. 
 
 Four survivors of the ill-fated Spanish expedition to Florida, 
 in 1528, bravely made their way westward across the Mississippi, 
 traversed those sections now known as the commonwealths of 
 Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, and finally reached the Gulf of 
 California. Reappearing among former friends after several 
 years of absence, they occasioned no little astonishment. Their 
 glowing accounts of the kingdoms, cities and towns they had 
 passed through, and the barbaric wealth and splendor they had 
 witnessed excited and fascinated their listeners to such a degree 
 2 
 
10 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 that an Italian friar, named Mark, determined to visit the 
 country. He induced one of these four men, a negro named 
 Stephen, to return, and boldly penetrated the wilderness until 
 he came within sight of the city of Cibola, a location not made 
 plain by early chroniclers. Here the venturesome friar and his 
 companion were attacked by natives, and in the fight the negro 
 was killed, leaving the isolated explorer only the alternative of 
 swiftly retracing his steps. 
 
 Friar Mark did not abandon his project, however, and in 1540 
 he induced the chieftain Coronado to head an expedition to 
 Cibola, stimulating the new adventurers by richly-colored tales 
 of the vast riches and entrancing beauty of the place. Other 
 Franciscans accompanied the expedition. Finally Cibola was 
 reached, but not so the reputed wealth, for the place proved a 
 barren prize. The friar was overwhelmed with reproaches, and, 
 returning to the coast, soon died. 
 
 But enchanting tradition whispered that there were other 
 cities of untold wealth farther in the interior, and Coronado 
 pushed on. He crossed the Eio Grande near the present town of 
 Santa Fe and pushed northward to the Arkansas, but still failed 
 to find the golden cities. True, he encountered numbers of small 
 Indian villages, but fortune was no nearer than when he started 
 from the sunny shores of the southwestern gulf. Growing 
 thoroughly discouraged, after a two years' search, Coronado 
 returned, leaving two zealous friars, however, at Indian villages 
 along the Rio Grande. 
 
 The fame of the supposed rich cities had now reached the 
 City of Mexico and Tampico, and an expedition in quest of them 
 started from the latter place in 1542. During the march north- 
 ward an Indian village on the east side of the Rio Grande was 
 named Santa Fe (holy faith), and became the base of future 
 explorations. The two missionaries left behind in this vicinity 
 by Coronado had already suffered death at the hands of the In- 
 dians. From this time forward there were alternate successes 
 upon the part of the Spaniards in establishing missions in New 
 Mexico and of the savages in destroying them. The rich cities 
 to the northward were yet undiscovered, although little doubt 
 prevailed as to their existence. 
 
 During the progress of the Mexican war, in 1846, a highly 
 educated Mexican padre, named Ortiz, was captured near El Paso 
 
A BIT OF EARLY HISTORY. 11 
 
 in the act of bearing dispatches to his countrymen south of the 
 Rio Grande. While a prisoner in the hands of General Stephen 
 W. Kearney's followers, he volunteered the statement to different 
 American army officers that the Spanish had early in the seven- 
 teenth century obtained a footing in the mountainous region 
 some seven or eight hundred miles north of Santa Fe, but still 
 south of the great muddy river (the Missouri) ; that they had 
 built stone houses and arastras, and for nearly a quarter of a 
 century had sent trains to the south laden with gold and rich 
 furs. About 1650, however, the savages of the region commenced 
 a wholesale massacre of these pioneers, and all were swept away 
 as far south as Santa Fe. Ortiz had in his possession an old 
 Spanish book, written late in the seventeenth century, describing 
 all of the country between the Rio Grande and the Missouri, and 
 also containing statements verifying those volunteered by him- 
 self, to the effect that the ruins of these settlements existed in 
 the northwest, and that great canals and other auxiliaries to 
 mining had been there constructed. 
 
 At intervals of many years following, reckless adventurers 
 risked their lives to reach the northern land of promise, but these 
 never returned after crossing the Arkansas. As late as 1781, a 
 small expedition, accompanied by Jesuit missionaries, left Santa 
 Fe and penetrated the great northwestern plains, but there is no 
 account of the return of any of the party. 
 
 These facts become especially interesting in connection with 
 the developments of American explorers in our own time. Mem- 
 bers of General Connor's Big Horn expedition of 1865, now resid- 
 ing in Cheyenne, vouch for the statement then made that ruins 
 of stone houses, evidently more than a century old, were found 
 near the shores of the beautiful Lake de Smet, at the eastern base 
 of the Big Horn Mountains. In 1866, the remains of an old 
 Spanish arastra — a quartz-crushing implement — were found in 
 the same region, at a point about fifty miles southwest of Fort 
 Phil Kearney. Ruins of stone houses and fortifications were 
 also discovered by Colonel Mills' expedition in the Big Horn 
 country as late as the fall of 1874. Montana miners who were 
 driven by the Indians from the Rosebud Mountains, east of Fort 
 C. F. Smith, where they were prospecting in 1866, reported that 
 there was evidence that mining had been extensively carried on, 
 on some of the bars there, a long time previous to their visit. 
 
12 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 They found traces of iron tools which had been devoured by rust, 
 the line of a former ditch to convey water upon the bars, and 
 some other indications which lead to the conclusion that the 
 Spanish adventurers alluded to had not only obtained a footing 
 in the region, but had also perished there while in the realization 
 of their wildest dreams. 
 
 It is stated as a fact, capable of verification, that there is now 
 a map in the archives of Paris, prepared by Jesuits as early as 
 1792, which contains a correct topographical sketch of the Black 
 Hills and Big Horn Mountains, and that both are marked as 
 auriferous regions ; but from whence the information was derived 
 is more than can be definitely ascertained. Certain it is, how- 
 ever, that missionaries and gold-seekers visited portions of the 
 present Territories of Wyoming and Montana, in search of souls 
 and the royal metals, during the last century. 
 
 Father De Smet. — No doubt one of these indomitable mis- 
 sionaries, Father Peter John De Smet, became thoroughly ac- 
 quainted with the country now embraced in Wyoming upward 
 of thirty years ago. This intrepid disciple of Loyola emigrated 
 from Belgium to America in 1823, and, proceeding to St. Louis, 
 soon founded the St. Louis University. His abilities as a natu- 
 ralist, botanist, metallurgist and geologist were very marked. 
 His love for these studies, and a genuine desire to elevate our 
 savage races, soon led him to follow a resolution made before he 
 left his native land — to become a missionary among the Indians. 
 Accordingly, in 1838, he commenced the career which has since 
 given him so much prominence, and in 1839, with two com- 
 panions, drifted fearlessly northward, destined for the fur-trading 
 post of Fort Benton. In June of that year the trio camped at 
 the present site of Cheyenne — a fact that the venerable mis- 
 sionary cited when here in 1868 with Generals Sherman and 
 Sheridan. 
 
 "How long have you lived in Cheyenne?" asked the Father 
 of a gentleman with whom he was conversing. 
 
 " Since last November, Father. I suppose I may consider 
 myself one of the oldest settlers of the place." 
 
 " If I were so minded," remarked the missionary, " I could 
 justly lay claim to being an older settler than you, for I camped 
 here one night in June, 1839, on the banks of Crow creek, near 
 the railroad bridge." 
 
A BIT OF EARLY HISTORY. 13 
 
 After leaving Crow creek the missionaries crossed the coun- 
 try to the Yellowstone, and from there to Fort Benton. They 
 had many interesting adventures with Indians during the trip ; 
 were often delayed by the savages, their movements suspiciously 
 watched, and their motives in visiting the country carefully 
 inquired into. But the gentle manners and sincerity of De Smet 
 soon won for him their confidence and esteem. For about ten 
 years his travels and explorations among the northern tribes 
 were practically unrestricted — he was free to go and come, and 
 met with hearty welcomes from the same savages who have since 
 carried on a bitter warfare, and who have just succumbed to the 
 military under General Crook and other officers. In 184y the 
 "Black Gowns" (as these missionaries were styled among the 
 Indians) were prohibited from coming out on their missions 
 at the trading posts, because the small-pox had been commu- 
 nicated to some of the bands by whites, and swept with fearful 
 fatality to others. This was the only obstacle ever placed in 
 the way of the self-sacrificing priests, and this was again soon 
 removed. During these years of pilgrimage Father De Smet 
 became well acquainted with the geological formation of the 
 country, as well as with its geography and topography. From 
 the forks of the Cheyenne on the east to Great Salt Lake on 
 the west, and from the head waters of the Columbia river on 
 the north to the Platte on the south, he was quite generally " at 
 home." On his return to St. Louis from one of his long trips, 
 just as the discovery of gold in California was made known, 
 he heard some acquaintances expressing doubt as to the wonder- 
 ful stories from the west. Turning to them, he said: "I do not 
 doubt it. I am sure there is gold in California;" and after a 
 moment's pause he quietly added : " I know where gold exists 
 in the Eocky Mountains in such abundance that, if made known, 
 it would astonish the world. It is even richer than California!" 
 Among those who knew him best his statements were taken 
 for literal truth, and when asked to corroborate the assertion 
 quoted he would make no explanation, merely adhering to it 
 and saying that he had promised the Indians never to describe 
 the location of this wealth. 
 
 Rev. Toussaint Mesphlie, now a Catholic chaplain in the 
 United States army, is authority for the story, already quite gen- 
 erally known, in which De Smet told of the Indians showing 
 
14 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 him handsful of nuggets which they proposed manufacturing 
 into bullets for an old pistol which the Father had given to a 
 prominent chief. De Smet was really taken to the spot from 
 whence the nuggets were obtained, and found it to be immensely 
 rich. But he taught the savages the value of it, told them their 
 beautiful country would soon be desecrated by white miners if 
 the facts became known, and in return was compelled to promise 
 never to reveal the secret of its location. To the question once 
 asked him by a bishop of his church at Omaha, "Are those 
 mines on the Pacific coast the ones you have told about ? " the 
 Father answered in the negative, and then sorrowfully added, 
 "but I fear it will not be many years until they are discovered, 
 and then what will become of my poor Indians?" To army 
 officers and others he has often admitted his knowledge of those 
 mines in the northwest, when closely pressed to do so, and many 
 persons are now living who have tried in various ways to extract 
 more definite knowledge from him. Most of these believe that 
 a careful prospecting of the Big Horn and Wind river regions 
 will certainly reveal the terra incognito, because it is understood 
 that the old Montana mines were not meant, and that no spot 
 yet discovered in the Black Hills answers to his glowing descrip- 
 tion. 
 
 While in Cheyenne, in 1868, he visited the home of a well- 
 known citizen, and during his stay gave a most interesting and 
 satisfactory account of northern Wyoming and the Yellowstone 
 region. Among other things, he said : " There are a great many 
 lovely valleys in that section, capable of sustaining a large popu- 
 lation. The mountain scenery is truly grand, and the vast 
 forests of timber wonderful and invaluable. Often have I seen 
 evidences of mineral wealth in this wonderful country at different 
 places. The whole range of the Eocky mountains, from New 
 Mexico to British America, is mineral bearing. In many places 
 the streams are stocked with trout, and game was abundant 
 wherever I went. The climate is delightful, often reminding 
 me of the climate in the south of France, near the Pyrenees. I 
 have ridden through some of these rich valleys where the grass 
 was so rank and tall that my head was not visible above its top 
 when seated on horseback." 
 
 Among the many literary works of Father De Smet were a 
 series of letters which were continued for nearly thirty years and 
 
"father de smet and the aboriginal miner." 
 
A BIT OF EARLY HISTORY. 17 
 
 were published in a French periodical. These letters no doubt 
 contain a fund of information concerning our Territory, which 
 some future historian will gladly avail himself of. His death at 
 St. Louis in 1873 was a matter of universal regret. It can never 
 be said that the thought of gain on earth was the secret of his 
 labor, and the pure unselfishness which so strongly characterized 
 his missionary work gave him the confidence of our savage races 
 to an extent never before, and probably never again, to be gained 
 by one man. To-day his name is reverentially used by young 
 and old of the agency Indians. The sacred emblem of his faith 
 — the cross — is worn universally, by hostile and peace Indian 
 alike, and it is the principal design for ornament on their 
 weapons and garments. His name is inseparably connected with 
 the history of Wyoming. 
 
 Other Explorers. — Granting that our old-time friend, Jim 
 Bridger, was here when, as he expressed it, " Laramie Peak hadn't 
 commenced to grow and was a hole in the ground," we are com- 
 pelled to divide honors about equally between officers of the 
 American army and representatives of the great fur companies 
 for first following in the wake of Spanish and Jesuit adventurers 
 and missionaries. These later explorations, which resulted in a 
 permanent occupancy of the country, dated from the first years 
 of the present century. Besides the gallant achievements of 
 Lieutenants Lewis and Clarke, Captain Bonneville and General 
 Fremont, the latest nearly half a century ago, we have it from 
 reliable authority that the hardy spirits of the northwestern fur 
 companies had trapped no less than 3,000,000 beavers along the 
 northern range of mountains previous to 1825 — a statement 
 which tells the whole story of early pioneering, with its train of 
 thrilling episodes and soul-trying emergencies. 
 
 Organization. — After the creation of Dakota Territory, the 
 greater portion of the region now embraced within the limits of 
 Wyoming belonged to our sister commonwealth first named. To 
 Dakota, therefore, our earliest pioneers looked for what little law 
 and justice was given them ; and it was the rule, rather than the 
 exception, that citizens at this long distance from the capital 
 waited either very long or else hopelessly for even such little 
 satisfaction. It is a fact well known that more revenue was 
 gained by the territorial treasury from this isolated section than 
 from all of eastern Dakota, while the taxation here laid by the 
 
18 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 United States aggregated very handsome amounts. But with 
 the completion of the transcontinental railway a new era was 
 inaugurated, and the enterprising settlers who laid the founda- 
 tion for our new State, that is to be, made vigorous efforts to 
 secure an organization nearer home. These were baffled until 
 July 25, 1868, when the act to provide a temporary government 
 for the Territory of Wyoming became a law. The boundaries 
 designated for the foundling were the forty-first and forty-fifth 
 degrees of north latitude and the twenty-seventh and thirty- 
 fourth meridians of longitude west from Washington. This 
 gave the Territory the generous dimensions of 355 miles in length 
 by 276 miles in breadth, and, besides taking a large proportion of 
 Dakota's domain, carved smaller areas from Colorado and Utah. 
 
 Federal appointments for nearly all offices were made during 
 April, 1869, and on the 10th of May following the new govern- 
 ment was in complete working order, with Cheyenne as the 
 capital. The gentlemen who first filled positions of trust were : 
 J. A. Campbell, Governor; Edward M. Lee, Secretary; Church 
 Howe, Marshal ; J. M. Carey, United States Attorney ; John M. 
 Howe, Chief Justice ; J. W. Bingham and W. S. Jones, Associate 
 Justices; C. D. Euger, Surveyor General; Frank Walcott, Re- 
 ceiver Public Land Office. 
 
 The first legislative assembly in Wyoming was organized at 
 Cheyenne October 12, 1869, with Wm. H. Bright as President of 
 the Council, and S. M. Curran, Speaker of the House. The 
 legislature adjourned sine die on the 10th of December, after 
 having given the first laws that were considered really binding 
 by the people of this section. Succeeding sessions have been 
 held biennially, meeting, according to enactment, one month 
 later than the first. 
 
 The present Territorial government consists of the following: 
 Governor, John M. Thayer; Secretary, Geo. W. French; Mar- 
 shal, W. F. Sweezy ; District Attorney, E. P. Johnson ; Surveyor 
 General, E. C. David; Treasurer, A. R. Converse; Auditor, 
 Orlando North ; Collector, E. P. Snow ; Justices of the Supreme 
 Court, J. W. Fisher, Wm. W. Peck, J. B. Blair; Superintendent 
 of Instruction, John Slaughter; U. S. Commissioner, J. W. 
 Bruner ; Register U. S. Land Office, G. R. Thomas ; Receiver of 
 Public Moneys, I. C. Whipple ; Librarian, John Slaughter. 
 
A BIT OF EARLY HISTORY. 
 
 19 
 
 The following is the official count of the elections for delegate 
 to Congress in Wyoming since the organization : 
 
 
 1869. 
 
 1870. 
 
 1872. 1874. 1876. 
 
 Counties. 
 
 « d 
 
 •7* O 
 
 O 
 
 I* 
 
 a> d 
 
 an 
 
 e 3 
 
 3 d 
 
 53 
 ops 
 
 •■a 
 
 u 
 
 j 
 ^ • i & _• 
 
 « d 
 
 8* 
 
 Is 
 
 go 1-1 
 
 Albany 
 
 Carbon 
 
 Laramie 
 
 Sweetwater 
 
 320 
 
 190 
 
 722 
 593 
 138 
 
 515 
 
 389 
 886 
 862 
 679 
 
 428 
 150 
 398 
 363 
 327 
 
 369 
 183 
 380 
 279 
 
 228 
 
 359 
 
 79 
 518 
 399 
 116 
 
 563 
 
 261 
 572 
 
 186 
 160 
 
 555 
 
 282 
 677 
 306 
 584 
 
 699 
 363 
 
 881 
 406 
 657 
 
 1.010 
 529 
 
 1,242 
 '496 
 587 
 
 533 
 
 407 
 940 
 423 
 457 
 
 
 
 
 Totals. 
 
 1,963 
 
 3,331 
 
 1.368 
 
 1,666 
 
 227 
 
 1,439 
 
 1,471 
 
 1,742 
 271 
 
 2,404 
 
 R 006 
 
 3,864 
 1,104 
 
 2,760 
 
 Majority 
 
 . ...| 606 
 
 
 Whole vote (includ- 
 ing scattering) . . 
 
 5,266 
 
 3,202 
 
 3,213 
 
 5,404 
 
 6,626 
 
 It should be mentioned that the vote of 1869 was greatly out 
 of proportion to the permanent population, as the new railroad 
 towns and mining camps were filled with a large floating popula- 
 tion, which disappeared with the flush times of the earliest days. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE WYOMING OF TO-DAY— WEALTH AND PRODUCTIONS. 
 
 WHILE perusing the pages which follow, the reader should 
 ever keep in mind two very important facts: First — that 
 the field reviewed has until the present been almost wholly recog- 
 nized as the sacred and impenetrable stronghold of the most 
 powerful of America's savage nations ; that the Indian has held 
 possession of nearly all of the domain which could be rendered 
 productive and has greatly retarded the development of the re- 
 maining and most undesirable portion by systematically plunder- 
 ing its pioneers. Second — that while more accessible common- 
 wealths have always held out great inducements for speedy 
 settlement, and have thus in a single decade quadrupled their 
 population and productions, Wyoming has really made no ear- 
 nest effort to attain such an end. It was plain that protection 
 could not be afforded the emigrant except along the southern line 
 of the Territory, where desirable locations are limited, and the 
 legislature which abolished all efforts tending to secure miscel- 
 laneous immigration was wise and judicious — even if its humane 
 spirit was wondered at by rival Territories. 
 
 But the Wyoming of to-day glows with a new life. Peace 
 has dawned so suddenly that the long-fettered frontier has scarce 
 awakened from its ten years of darkened dreaming. To realize 
 that her grand area of nearly 100,000 square miles, crowded with 
 all the bountiful resources of a coveted empire, is at once and 
 forever emancipated from savage sway, may be easy in quiet New 
 England, but not so where the keys of development have always 
 been carried at the girdle of a hostile possessor. To define the 
 thrill which permeates the frame of the first herdsman who 
 pushes his flocks northward across the Platte river at staunch 
 old Fort Fetterman, and sets his feet firmly upon " Indian 
 ground," might also be a prosy task in the east, but in the val- 
 leys of Wyoming it will meet an echoing tingle never to be for- 
 gotten. And now, while celebrating such an epoch, let us not 
 
WEALTH AND PRODUCTIONS. 21 
 
 forget to whom its bright inception is due, but with our rejoicing 
 mingle thanks to the gallant, hard-worked and faithful military 
 of the Department, directed by General G-eorge Crook, and to 
 the new zeal manifested in our welfare by an awakened admin- 
 istration. 
 
 The natural capabilities of few regions are so generously and 
 favorably diversified as in that embraced within the limits of 
 "Wyoming. Forest and plain, mountain and valley, water-course 
 and upland alternate and unite to furnish the most accessible 
 field for the speedy creation of a large and prosperous common- 
 wealth. Her grazing area proper aggregates 55,000 square miles, 
 while much of the mountain surface omitted in this estimate is 
 thickly carpeted during summer and fall with her most succulent 
 and nutritious grasses. That portion of the surface susceptible 
 of cultivation comprises nearly 20,000 square miles of bottom 
 and uplands. The timber area, less the many extensive patches 
 along water-courses in the lower valleys, is fully 30,000 square 
 miles — a portion of this covering the best grazing lands. In- 
 cluding the latest discoveries in the northern part of her domain, 
 Wyoming possesses 24,000 square miles of coal lands, with vast 
 deposits of rich iron ores alternating in different sections. The 
 regions in which precious metals are known to exist present an 
 area of 40,000 square miles, all underlying the forest region 
 already noted. Among other important natural auxiliaries are 
 immense deposits of marble, soda, plumbago, oil-bearing shale, 
 petroleum and red oxide of iron, all adjacent to the line of the 
 Union Pacific Eailway, and some of them already commencing to 
 swell the wealth of the Territory's productions. 
 
 To more strikingly present the extent of these natural fea- 
 tures and their capabilities, let us indulge in a few comparisons. 
 "Wyoming's grazing area is greater than the entire area of Ken- 
 tucky, a State which in 1870 owned 1,639,092 head of sheep and 
 cattle, beside over a million head of other live stock. Her agri- 
 cultural area of virgin and fertile soil is greater than that of the 
 States of Massachusetts and Connecticut combined, which on 
 their artificially fertilized soil produced in 1870 5,857,239 bush- 
 els of grain. Wyoming's forests cover more territory than those 
 of the great lumbering State of Michigan, whose product in this 
 line reaches a value of $40,000,000 per annum. And her surface 
 underlaid with strata after strata of coal, exceeds that of the coal 
 
22 
 
 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 lands of Pennsylvania, whose product reaches $50,000,000 or 
 more annually. 
 
 The eleven principal rivers of the Territory — the Yellow- 
 stone, North Platte, Big Horn, Green, Bear, Snake, Tongue, 
 Laramie, Cheyenne, Powder and Sweetwater — have a total 
 length within her limits of 4,000 miles, and with their number- 
 less tributaries afford her a more complete and better distributed 
 water system than any of the trans-Missouri States or Territories 
 can boast. These facts are all enlarged upon in succeeding pages, 
 and are merely thus outlined to give the reader an idea of the 
 wealth lying latent in the new northwest. And now let us see 
 hastily what progress the pioneer, in his trammeled state, has 
 made in the utilization of these princely resources. 
 
 The following table, exhibiting the assessed valuation and 
 population of the Territory in 1870 and 1877, is compiled from 
 the official returns and includes the reports of the present year.* 
 
 Counties. 
 
 Est. 
 Population. 
 
 Assessed Valuation. 
 
 Rate of 
 
 Taxation 
 
 Total, 
 
 1876. 
 
 Name of 
 Countt Seat. 
 
 
 1870. 
 
 2,500 
 
 2,000 
 
 4,000 
 
 4,500 
 
 1,750 
 
 1877. 
 
 8.500 
 2,500 
 9,540 
 3,500 
 4,500 
 
 1870. 
 $593,547 
 1,731.418 
 1,397,771 
 1,840,120 
 1,900,000 
 
 1877. 
 
 $2,500,000 
 1,900,000 
 3,000,000 
 1,918,449 
 2,500,000 
 
 11,818,449 
 
 
 Albany 
 
 Carbon 
 
 Laramie 
 
 Sweetwater . . . 
 Uintah 
 
 Mills. 
 
 21 
 15 
 
 28 
 
 Laramie City. 
 
 Rawlins. 
 
 Cheyenne. 
 
 Gre'nRiv.Cy. 
 
 Evanston. 
 
 Totals 
 
 14,750 
 
 28,540 
 
 $5,516,748 
 
 
 Basing this estimate upon the opinions of numerous well in- 
 formed citizens in different sections of the Territory, the writer 
 places the true present valuation of all property at $15,500,000. 
 
 Wyoming is in a most healthy and gratifying financial con- 
 dition. There is no territorial indebtedness, but the handsome 
 surplus of $13,000 remains in her treasury. The valuation of 
 property, according to assessment returns just noted, has in- 
 creased from $5,500,000 in 1870 to $9,000,000 in 1876, and $11,- 
 818,449 in 1877. The Territorial tax of three mills for this year 
 will place the treasury in even better condition than it is at 
 present, notwithstanding the fact that the meeting of the legis- 
 lature during the coming autumn will cause a large drain upon 
 its funds. A majority of the counties can present the same pro- 
 portionate financial prosperity. 
 
 * Returns from Carbon aud Uintah counties could not be obtained, and are therefore- 
 estimated from best data at hand. 
 
WEALTH AND PRODUCTIONS. 25 
 
 A careful summing up of Wyoming's productions for the year 
 1877 results as follows: 
 
 9 
 
 Coal, 524,000 tons at average of $4 per ton $2,096,000 
 
 Gold, dust and bullion 815,000 
 
 Hay and other farm products 485,000 
 
 Live stock and wool 990,000 
 
 Manufactured articles, including lumber, stone, etc 3,918,120 
 
 Total $8,304,120 
 
 Internal revenue collections for the past five years, as reported 
 by Collector E. P. Snow, will give readers an idea of the steady 
 and rapid increase of Wyoming's returns to the home govern- 
 ment. They are as follows : 
 
 1872 $6,727 27 
 
 1873 10,652 94 
 
 1874 11,233 38 
 
 1875 11,942 11 
 
 1876 15,063 37 
 
 Total $55,619 07 
 
 For a Territory so young and hitherto harassed by savages, 
 Wyoming deserves no little credit for her fine system of rail, 
 stage and telegraph. The following figures again strongly 
 illustrate what inducements her great natural wealth has held 
 out to capitalists : 
 
 The Territory contains 2 railways aggregating a length of 500 miles. 
 
 " 6 telegraph lines aggregating a length of 1,401 " 
 " 4 daily mail routes " 908 " 
 
 A third railway is in course of construction, and a fourth, to 
 penetrate the Big Horn, Black Hills and Yellowstone regions, 
 will be well under way within the coming year. Excellent wagon 
 roads reach from the Union Pacific Kailway to even the most 
 remote and newest mining districts. 
 
 There are those who are ever ready to assert that as the 
 Indian troubles are settled and military posts are abandoned, 
 much government patronage will cease, prominent industries 
 will wane, and our now thriving cities will absolutely suffer. 
 The writer grants that the entire loss of government patronage 
 will amount to a few millions annually, should that very improb- 
 able loss occur within a quarter of a century. But, judging the 
 future by the unmistakable past, let us see how, with peace 
 3 
 
26 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 within our borders, old channels of production are widened and 
 new ones created. And, further, let us carefully note the propor- 
 tion of gain, by a perfect peace, to that of loss under the old 
 superficial stimulus of government expenditure in times of 
 disquiet. 
 
 In 1870, with a population nearly as large as at present — but 
 limited in its range to comparatively unproductive centers — 
 and with a larger number of military posts and agencies, our 
 productions of every nature amounted to less than $1,000,000 in 
 value, according to official estimates. In 1877, with a greater 
 safety in the operation of mines, a determined occupation of 
 productive territory and a greater freedom in the investment of 
 capital, our various industries will yield a product of not less 
 than $8,200,000. With little more than the same amount of 
 population and our productions already twice quadrupled, it is 
 self-evident that our scope for securing revenue has widened 
 just so much. Within the past ten years Nebraska has enjoyed 
 comparative peace and has increased her population from 50,000 
 to 300,000. Kansas, with her wild tribes subdued, has in the 
 same period grown from a population of 175,000 to '475,000 and 
 has more than quadrupled her productions; while Colorado, 
 with no greater natural resources than those of our own Wyo- 
 ming, has increased her 30;000 people to 130,000, and rivals some 
 of the older States in the diversity and value of her productions. 
 
 In none of these States has the limit of prosperity been half 
 approached. Wyoming excels any of them in pastoral resources 
 and equals any for the value of mineral deposits or forest lands. 
 With these grand capabilities will not the hour soon come when 
 the enthusiastic writers of to-day will be proven even modest in 
 their now apparent extravagance ? The time draws near when 
 the emerald plains and the metal-ribbed mountains of Wyoming 
 will enable her to take exalted place among her sister States, 
 holding deeply hidden in her rocky defiles a nation's wealth and 
 bearing in her sheltered valleys the keys which unlock those 
 wondrous treasures. 
 
CHAPTER TIL 
 
 STOCK-RAISING AND DAIRYING. 
 
 HOWEVER much we may theorize upon our vast wealth 
 lying hidden beneath the soil, all speculation ceases when 
 we consider the industries which flourish upon and above it. 
 The riches of mountains and gulches may often be glowing and 
 fascinating uncertainties, but the treasures, latent and developed, 
 in our broad pastures and thousand nestling valleys are facts as 
 certain as our existence. At this late day no argument is neces- 
 sary to show that the world pays its greatest tribute to food — to 
 bread and beef — and that the demand ever keeps its proportion 
 beyond the supply. Then, being assured of a market always 
 stimulated by deficit, the question only remains where in the 
 new west these industries can be most profitably pursued. 
 
 After weighing the many facts and observations bearing upon 
 the climate of this region, so ably presented by Dr. Corey in an- 
 other chapter, the reader will not be surprised at the statements 
 so long thrown broadcast that beneficent Nature cures our 
 grasses and herbs, and that not one out of ten thousand of our 
 cattle has ever consumed an ounce of other food. A striking 
 illustration of this grand advantage in stock-raising was the. an- 
 swer received by the writer from a prominent stockman in regard 
 to the latter's preference for cattle over sheep — " because cattle 
 take care of themselves and sheep don't ! " This assertion, while 
 not literally true, is far nearer the mark than notices can realize. 
 It is true that ranch sites are improved and herders employed, 
 but to feed, water, shelter or salt the steer of the period would be 
 a sad innovation upon the all-prevailing custom of letting said 
 steer shift for himself. 
 
 A brief outline of the several systems employed by cattle- 
 growers of Wyoming will give readers a more correct idea of our 
 advantages than can be given by presenting volumes of general- 
 ities. A quite popular mode of handling cattle is that in which 
 breeding is given little attention, and buying and selling steers 
 
28 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 season after season takes the preference. Two and three-year-old 
 steers are purchased in Texas in the early summer at say $12 and 
 $16 per head delivered at Cheyenne. With them are often pur- 
 chased a few heifers and cows, which, upon being located on the 
 range, are kept as a nucleus to assist in holding the strange an- 
 imals bought each year within the limits of the range. A desir- 
 able ranch site is chosen, and as a rule the improvements made 
 are much less expensive than those on regular breeding ranches. 
 The cattle are kept upon our rich cured grasses during the win- 
 ter, and during the summer following (one year from the date of 
 their entry) the best three and four-year-olds are sold to local 
 dealers or are consigned to eastern commission men. These 
 well-conditioned Texan s sell at an average of $28 per head at 
 any of our stations, while the few not fit for sale are left with 
 the nucleus already referred to and held over for another season. 
 The profits are at once reinvested in the manner first described, 
 and the buying, pasturing and selling thus continued year after 
 year. 
 
 Following is a tabulated statement of the industry as thus 
 carried on. It is taken from the books of an experienced and 
 thoroughly reliable stock-dealer of Cheyenne, and while the 
 profits are very moderately figured the percentage of loss is ad- 
 mitted by the gentleman in question to be an exaggerated esti- 
 mate: 
 
 Stock Investment, No. 1. 
 
 Result of investment in 750 head of Texas steers made July, 1874, and profits 
 reinvested yearly, and kept in operation without closing account for three 
 years : 
 
 FIRST INVESTMENT. 
 
 Bought July, 1874, 350 head 3-year-old steers at $16 $5,600 
 
 Bought July, 1874, 400 head 2-year-old steers at $12 4,800 
 
 Sold from July to December, 1875 — 
 450 head 4 and 3-year-olds at $28 $12,600 
 
 Bought from July to December, 1875 — 
 
 450 head 3-year-old steers at $16 7,200 
 
 450 head 2-year-old steers at $12 5,400 
 
 12,600 
 
 Carry over old stock not fit for market — 
 300 head 4 and 3-year-olds at $20 6,000 
 
 1,200 head on hand end of first year; value $18,600 
 
STOCK-RAISING AND DAIRYING. 29 
 
 SECOND YEAR. 
 
 Sold from July to December, 1876 — 
 
 250 head 4 and 5-year-old steers at $30 $7,500 
 
 550 head 4 and 5-year-old steers at $28 15,400 
 
 $22,900 
 
 Bought 800 head 3-year-olds at $16 $12,800 
 
 Bought 800 head 2-year-olds at $12 9,600 
 
 22,400 
 
 Carry forward old stock — 
 
 50 head 4 and 5-year-olds at $30 $1,500 
 
 350 head 4 and 5-year-olds at $20 7,000 
 
 8,500 
 
 2,000 head on hand; value $30,900 
 
 Balance, cash on hand not reinvested 500 
 
 Assets at end of second year $31,400 
 
 THIRD YEAR. 
 
 Sales from July to December, 1877 — 
 
 350 head 4 and 5-year-olds at $30 $10,500 
 
 1,000 head 4 and 3-year-olds at $28 . . - 28,000 
 
 On hand from last year, not fat, or otherwise unmarketable — 
 
 f>0 head 5 and 6-year-olds at $30. . > 1,500 
 
 650 head 3 and 4-year-olds at $20 13,000 
 
 Amount of assets at end of third year , $53,000 
 
 Total cattle bought 3,200 head. 
 
 Deduct for losses of three years at 10 per cent — 
 
 320 head at $20 $6,400 
 
 Original investment 10,400 
 
 16,800 
 
 Net profit $36,200 
 
 The next account presents the results of breeding cattle ex- 
 clusively. The estimates are made from actual experience, and 
 the profits are as entirely free from exaggeration as in the pre- 
 vious .showing: 
 
 Stock Investment, No. 2. 
 
 Nucleus of 1,000 Texas cows and necessary Short-Horn bulls, requiring a 
 capital of $15,000. The account runs for a period of five years, during 
 which time the amounts realized from sales are not reinvested, except 
 those necessary for the purchase of bulls : 
 
30 
 
 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 1877. 
 
 1,000 cows @ $12 $12,000 
 
 40 bulls @ $75 3,000 
 
 1878. 
 
 1,000 cows. 
 250 heifer calves 1 50 per cent 
 250 steer calves \ first year. 
 
 1,500 
 
 46 bulls, 
 
 less deaths. 
 
 
 950 cows. 
 
 250 heifers, 1 yr. old. 
 
 250 steers, 1 yr. old. 
 
 350 heifer calves ) 
 
 350 steer calves ) 70 per 
 
 cent 
 
 2,150 
 
 58 bulls, 
 
 less deaths. 
 
 
 1879 
 
 1880, 
 
 900 cows (70 per cent calves). 
 250 heifers, 2 yrs. (40 per cent 
 
 calves). 
 250 steers, 2 yrs. 
 350 heifers, 1 yr. 
 350 steers, 1 yr. 
 380 heifer calves. 
 350 steer calves. 
 
 $15,000 
 
 Sell 50 dry cows @ $20. . . . $1,000 
 Buy 6 bulls for use July, 
 
 1879, @ $75 450 
 
 Cash balance 550 
 
 Sell 50 cows @ $20 $1,000 
 
 Balance from 1878 550 
 
 1,550 
 Buy 12 bulls for use July, 
 
 1880, @ $75 900 
 
 Balance 650 
 
 Cash balance $650 
 
 Sell 50 cows @ $20 1,000 
 
 Buy 15 bulls for use July, 
 
 1881, @ $75 1,125 
 
 Balance 525 
 
 2,830 
 
 73 bulls, less deaths. 
 
 850 cows. 
 
 250 " (half-breeds). 
 
 350 heifers, " 2 yrs. 
 
 380 " " lyr. 
 
 250 steers " 3 yrs. 
 
 350 " ♦. " 2 yrs. 
 
 350 " " 1 yr. 
 
 460 heifers " calves. 
 
 450 steers " " 
 
 3,690 
 
 73 bulls, less deaths. 
 
 1881. 
 
 Cash balance $525 
 
 Sell 50 cows at $20 1,000 
 
 Sell 200 steers, 3 yrs., @ 
 
 $30 6,000 
 
 Cash balance 7,525 
 
 No bulls allowed for last 
 year. Those bought in 1880 
 do service in 1881, and the 
 party buying or keeping the 
 heifer stock should provide 
 for service of 1882. 
 
STOCK-RAISING AND DAIRYING. 
 
 31 
 
 1882. 
 
 800 cows (old). 
 
 600 " (half-breeds) 3 
 
 4 yrs. 
 
 380 heifers 
 
 ' 2 yrs. 
 
 460 " 
 
 1 yr. 
 
 50 steers 
 
 ' 4 yrs. 
 
 350 " 
 
 ' 3 yrs. 
 
 350 " 
 
 2 yrs. 
 
 450 " 
 
 ' i yr. 
 
 575. heifers 
 
 calves 
 
 575 steers 
 
 ' " 
 
 4,590 
 
 
 60 bulls — say " 
 
 L3 dead. 
 
 Cash balance $7,525 
 
 Sell 100 cows @ $20 2,000 
 
 Sell 50 steers, 4 yrs., @ $35 1,750 
 
 Sell 250 " 3 yrs., @ $30 7,500 
 
 Cash proceeds, end of fifth 
 
 year 18,775 
 
 Net over purchase of bulls. 
 
 4.650 head, total end of fifth year, July, 1882. 
 
 VALUE OP STOCK ON HAND. 
 
 1,300 cows @ $20 $26,000 
 
 100 steers, 3 yrs., @ $30. 3,000 
 730 heifers and steers, 2 
 
 yrs., @ $18 13,140 
 
 910 heifers and steers, 1 
 
 yr., @ $12.50.... 11,375 
 1,150 heifers and steers, 
 
 calves, @ $7.50.. 8,625 
 
 60 bulls @ $50 3,000 
 
 Cash balance $18,775 
 
 Stock 65,140 
 
 83,915 
 Deduct capital 15.000 
 
 Profit 68,915 
 
 4,250 head total, deducting 
 
 sales. 65,140 
 
 There are also many stock men who prefer to combine these 
 systems, and who claim that the business is more profitable and 
 4 satisfactory in every way when thus conducted. For parties who 
 do not desire to continue in the industry more than a few years 
 the first plan presents the strong inducement of not requiring so 
 much preparation and expense in starting; while the rather 
 "gipsy" fashion of conducting the enterprise admits of the settle- 
 ment and termination of it without inconvenience at almost any 
 time. The last plan can only be appreciated, and its grand possi- 
 bilities realized by its being followed for a series of years. Made 
 a permanent industry, it is undoubtedly a surer, and possibly as 
 short a road to wealth as is offered by any legitimate enterprise 
 under the sun. 
 
 Texas yearlings, either sex, can be bought at almost any rail- 
 
32 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 road point in eastern Wyoming at $7.50 per head ; two-year-olds, 
 $12 ; cows, $13. A good ranch site, with necessary buildings and 
 corrals, located within two days' drive of the railroad, can be 
 secured for $1,500. First-class herders (and others are dear at 
 any price) can be readily obtained at an average of $32.50 per 
 month arid board. Texas cattle are taxed at an average valuation 
 of $10 per head, the rate being twenty-eight mills on the dollar. 
 Very close calculations, made by several competent informers, 
 make the total expenses of keeping cattle each year, after the 
 necessary permanent ranch improvements have been made, as 
 follows : In herds of 1,000, per head, $1.75 ; in herds of 5,000, 
 $1.40 ; in herds of 10,000, $1. It is also reliably stated that such 
 stock growers as J. W. Iliff, who graze over 25,000 head, figure 
 their expenses down to from sixty-five to seventy-five cents per 
 head per annum. 
 
 Think of our average cattle man raising a steer and putting 
 him on the market, a three-year-old, at a total expense of four 
 dollars and fifty cents. The same animal in Illinois, be he scrub 
 or thorough-bred, would cost his owner two-thirds of his selling- 
 price for feed alone. It may be remarked by the critical reader 
 that the Illinois bullock sells for two-thirds more than the one 
 native to Wyoming. We need only answer that it will not cost 
 five cents more to raise the sleek, high-grade animal on the 
 plains than the Texan steer now costs. It is a mere matter of 
 choice upon the part of the breeder whether he continues raising 
 the scrawny Texan, year after year, and sells him at $28, or by 
 introducing better blood into his herds soon produces a grade 
 which brings him $45. 
 
 Two per cent, is considered a liberal estimate of losses from all 
 causes in this northwestern region, although it would be too low 
 on the plains of Kansas, or even portions of Colorado, for the 
 reason that the humidity of the atmosphere during storms, and 
 the almost inevitable partial melting of snows immediately after 
 their fall in those sections are most fatal to weakened animals. 
 While snows in those regions are moist and soon badly encrusted, 
 our nutritious grasses are at once laid bare for grazing by the 
 almost unceasing winds which sweep the light dry snows from 
 the broad level plateaux, and pile them in narrow gulches. 
 
 Early in the summer of each year the great "round-ups" 
 occur. All herders, and frequently owners of stock, gather 
 
STOCK-RAISING AND DAIRYING. 35 
 
 together in certain localities, and, with the most experienced and 
 skillful stockmen for leaders, inaugurate a short season of the 
 herdsmen's wildest revelry. Mounted upon their best ponies, the 
 herders swiftly scatter out across the range, gathering in every 
 animal, and finally concentrating the property of perhaps a dozen 
 prominent stock growers in one immense, excited herd. Passing 
 near the ranches of respective owners, the animals are halted in 
 a convenient location, and part of the cow-boys hold the mass 
 while others ride through it, single out the "brand," or animal, 
 belonging to the adjacent range or ranch, and separate it from 
 the main body of cattle until none of that description are to be 
 found. Moving along to the next man's range, the scene is 
 repeated, and so continued until the cattle are divided. Then 
 young stock is branded, marketable stock sometimes disposed of, 
 and the cattle are again allowed their freedom. Five or ten 
 thousand head are thus frequently gathered together, and during 
 the round-up season men " camp out," wagons following the 
 herd with provisions, blankets, etc. Our artist has given a very 
 fair representation of the "cutting out" scene on another page. 
 In regard to the wonderful and often exaggerated results 
 placed upon paper in relation to this industry, a few words may 
 not be amiss. A steady profit of twenty-five per cent, per annum 
 is really a common result. Forty and fifty per cent, have been 
 realized, but the writer who lays down such figures as an average 
 is very liable to get his reputation involved. It is not uncom- 
 mon for experienced stockmen, who know how to utilize every 
 advantage, and to guard against nearly all discouragements, to 
 do business for a time on capital borrowed at two per cent, per 
 month, and to make a small margin on the investment. The 
 writer has in mind a gentleman whose large herds roam in 
 southern Wyoming, who for five years has made the very hand- 
 some profit of forty per cent, per annum. He has been especially 
 judicious in his purchases and sales, exercised great care and 
 judgment in the selection of a range, and in his system of ranch 
 improvements, and has been so fortunate as to secure some of the 
 best men on the plains to carry out the practical workings of his 
 business. Constant supervision and study upon the part of the, 
 otvner of stock is a grand point. There are practical cattle men 
 who will do as well for the investor as they would do for them- 
 selves, but these are never looking for work; and one of the 
 
36 
 
 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 secrets of the few failures that have been made is the fact that 
 men of no experience in the business put their money and prop- 
 erty into the hands of total strangers, in the belief that the latter 
 would set at defiance every law of human nature, and look out 
 purely for the interest of the novice. 
 
 The assessment returns of the present year place the total 
 number of cattle and sheep in Wyoming as follows : cattle, 90,005 
 head ; sheep, 67,871 head. Following are the reports returned, 
 together with the total area of each county, the estimated area 
 thus far appropriated, and the estimated wool clip : 
 
 Counties. 
 
 Total area 
 
 in square 
 
 miles. 
 
 Area appro- 
 priated, 
 sq. miles. 
 
 No. cattle. 
 
 No. sheep. 
 
 Wool clip, 
 pounds. 
 
 Albany 
 
 10,488 
 22;080 
 16,836 
 29,532 
 17,064 
 
 3,000 
 4,000 
 6,500 
 9,000 
 3,500 
 
 9,895 
 
 8,000 
 
 53,233 
 
 11,377 
 
 7,500 
 
 24,604 
 1,500 
 
 35,602 
 1,965 
 4,200 
 
 125,000 
 
 8,000 
 
 175,000 
 
 Carbon 
 
 
 Sweetwater 
 
 9,000 
 
 Uintah 
 
 18,000 
 
 
 Totals 
 
 96,000 
 
 26,000 
 
 90,005 
 
 67,871 
 
 335,000 
 
 
 These reports do not include this season's increase, and are 
 certainly twenty-five per cent under the real figures, without- 
 taking the increase into consideration. , From many estimates 
 made by reliable stockmen we would therefore credit the Terri- 
 tory with 150,000 cattle and 100,000 sheep at this writing. The 
 drive of cattle from Texas into Wyoming this year is estimated 
 at from 50,000 to 65,000 head. The demand is still brisk, and 
 at least 20,000 more would have been taken by our dealers and 
 cattle-growers but for the falling off of the supply at southern 
 points. Over 26,000 head are to be sold and shipped from 
 Wyoming stations this season, representing a value of nearly 
 $800,000. There is a reliable home market for 10,000 head per 
 annum in the Territory and Black Hills camps at the present 
 rate of consumption. Beef steers here average $32 per head; 
 cows, $22.50 ; calves, $8. 
 
 Mutton and Wool. — Much that is said of the adaptability of 
 the Wyoming climate and grasses to cattle-raising applies equally 
 well to the production of sheep. But, as has already been inti- 
 mated, sheep require a little extra attention in herding, feeding, 
 sheltering, etc., during occasional storms. A comparative state- 
 ment will exhibit the extra expense, and also the advantage here 
 
STOCK-RAISING ANT) DAIRYING. 37 
 
 obtained over flock-masters in the older States. In the official 
 reports of 1862, before the inflation of prices, it was estimated, 
 from many communications from all the northern States, that 
 the average cost of keeping sheep was $2.65 per head per annum. 
 Taking this as a basis, the comparative cost of keeping sheep in 
 the States and on the plains would be as follows : 
 
 3,000 sheep in the States, at $2.65 per head $7,950 
 
 3.000 sheep in Wyoming, herding and shearing : . . .$800 
 
 100 tons of hay, fed during severe storms, at $6 600 
 
 Total 1,400 
 
 Difference in favor of Wyoming $6,550 
 
 In ordinary winters not one-fourth of the hay would be needed. 
 Flock-masters in the crowded east, can you afford to pasture 
 sheep on land worth from $50 to $100 per acre, when such facili- 
 ties as free pasturage, the most nutritious grasses, a climate 
 naturally adapted to wool-bearing animals, and a never-failing 
 market for mutton and wool, are presented by Wyoming and 
 Montana? Mark the difference and place the balance in favor 
 of this section in even the most discouraging light possible, and 
 you will yet see enough left that is sufficiently encouraging to 
 persuade you to make a change. 
 
 There are points in this industry, bearing upon absolute suc- 
 cess or failure, which must not be overlooked. Experience, study 
 and watchful care over the flocks is an absolute and undeniable 
 necessity. As well might an unlearned journeyman blacksmith 
 attempt to conduct a great daily newspaper as might a man from 
 the business centers of the east, with no semblance of practical 
 knowledge, expect to achieve almost instant success as a wool- 
 grower on our great plains. To show that this animadversion is 
 really called for, the writer need only quote an actual occurrence. 
 A firm came from London, a few years ago, upon the strength of 
 representations that in this blessed pastoral country sheep could 
 be turned loose to care for themselves; they would require 
 neither herding, shelter nor feed from one years end to another, 
 .and in the small space of three years a flock of a few thousand 
 would make their owners immensely wealthy. The sheep were 
 bought, " turned loose " upon a good range, and the flock-masters 
 spent most of their time at a convenient railroad station. During 
 the fall the wolves disposed of large numbers of the helpless ani- 
 
38 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 mals, and in the course of an unusually severe winter, hundreds 
 were "bunched up" in gulches by heavy storms and frozen or 
 starved to death. The same firm are to-day numbered among 
 our model wool-growers, but mark the cost of the experience. 
 
 If, during the late and trying winter months, a severe storm 
 arises, the sheep are at once driven to shelter, and should the 
 storms continue longer than is their usual wont, hay is at hand 
 to bridge over the period during which grazing is .prevented. 
 The Hocks are visited daily by either the owner or a capable 
 overseer, and herders either rendered trustworthy or discharged. 
 Shearing is delayed until danger of late spring storms is at an 
 end. Employes are well paid, well fed, and made to feel an 
 interest in the employer and his business. The ranch is located 
 where shelter and suitable buildings can be cheaply erected and 
 repaired, and where hay sufficient for all possible demands can 
 be economically put up. Then wool and mutton markets are 
 carefully studied. These are a few of the points watched by 
 successful wool-growers, and among those who are managing 
 their business thus systematically there is as much enthusiasm 
 and as much success, as a rule, as among the best cattle-growers. 
 Successes have been recorded without these precautions, but one 
 failure made in this way retards the development of our grazing 
 resources to a greater extent than two triumphs encourage it. 
 
 The writer cannot forego mentioning one other and vital 
 point bearing upon the realization of all the possibilities within 
 range of the careful flock-master — that of improving the quality 
 of both mutton and wool. 
 
 Let Wyoming flock-masters — let all the brave pioneers who 
 are en-gaged in the great work of founding the grand trans-Mis- 
 souri empire, which the world shall yet look upon and admire 
 — remember this fundamental maxim: "Whatsoever is worth 
 doing at all is worth doing well." It is true, as we believe, that 
 the most advanced and intelligent of Wyoming's wool-growers 
 do already recognize and act upon this axiomatic and golden 
 truth. The evidence is found in the existence of many flocks of 
 superior sheep in the Territory, young as she is in her civilized 
 pastoral life. 
 
 Showing the advantages of the improved system of sheep 
 husbandry over the old, shiftless, improgressive system, is like 
 attempting to prove the truth of an axiom — it is almost a work 
 
STOCK-RAISING AND DAIRYING. 
 
 39 
 
 of supererogation ; yet these advantages cannot too often be held 
 up to public view, for not all sheep breeders are thinking, pro- 
 gressive men. For example, take a band composed of native 
 Mexican ewes and bucks, and with them conduct operations 
 during a term of, say, five years. Then take a band of the breed 
 and quality of ewes (i. e., common Mexican), cross them with 
 pure Merino or Cotswold bucks, and conduct operations in breed- 
 ing and wool-growing during a similar period of time: the result 
 will strikingly illustrate the practical advantages of the improved 
 system. Thus: One thousand Mexican ewes (with twenty com- 
 mon bucks to start with) will, with reasonable care, skill and 
 judgment on the part of the flock-master, yield the results shown 
 in the first of the following tables, which were prepared and pub- 
 lished by the writer several years since, but which he feels justi- 
 fied in bringing forward again at this time. The calculation, as 
 will be seen, is based on the low annual increase of seventy-five 
 per cent., an average yield of two pounds of wool per head sold at 
 twenty cents per pound, and an annual expense of fifty cents per 
 head for every animal (including original flock and all increase), 
 during the five years. 
 
 The estimated yield in numbers and fleece is moderate, while 
 the margin allowed for expense is ample to cover usual outlay 
 for that purpose, as well as mortality and all reasonable contin- 
 gencies. On this basis, then, the yield in wool alone of one 
 thousand ewes would be in five years as given in the table, 
 counting no fleece from lambs the first year: 
 
 STATEMENT 
 
 Showing the yield in five years of 1,000 common Mexican ewes and bucks. 
 
 Years. 
 
 Sheep. 
 
 No. of wool-bearers, 
 
 each year. 
 
 Wool. 
 
 Amount at 2 lbs. 
 
 per head. 
 
 Value of wool at 20 
 cents per lb. 
 
 First 
 
 Second 
 
 Third 
 
 Fourth 
 
 Fifth 
 
 1,000 
 2,030 
 2,416 
 2,948 
 3,679 
 
 2,000 
 4,060 
 4,832 
 5.896 
 7,358 
 
 $400 00 
 
 812 00 
 
 966 40 
 
 1,179 20 
 
 1,471 60 
 
 Totals 
 
 
 24,146 
 
 $4,829 20 
 
 The increase of the 1,000 ewes, at 75 per cent annually, would 
 number 7,823 in five years, worth, at $2.25 per head, $17,601.75. 
 Add this to the value of wool produced, $4,829.20, and the 
 
40 
 
 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 aggregate is 122,430.95 — not including the value of the original 
 band. From this deduct expense of keeping and tending (aver- 
 aged, as above stated, at 50 cents per head), $6,411.50, and there 
 is left, as the net profit for the five years' operations, $16,019.45. 
 Even this is a splendid result, showing, as the ancient Spanish 
 proverb runs, that "Wherever the foot of the sheep touches, the 
 land turns to gold/' 
 
 But let the operation be conducted with the same number, 
 breed and quality of ewes, under the better system of elevating 
 the stock by crossing with fine bucks, and then see how much 
 greater results will be realized, in a like period, on same basis. 
 In the next calculation, the original 1,000 ewes are estimated as 
 fleecing two pounds per head each year, and their increase 
 (grades) three pounds each. (This is a reasonable estimate ; the 
 second, third and fourth crosses would fleece from three and one- 
 half to four pounds.) The price of the common fleece is counted 
 at 20 cents per pound, as before, and of the grade fleece at 25 
 cents. The value of the 7,823 head (increase) of improved sheep 
 is estimated at $3 each, instead of $2.25, the price of the com- 
 mon animal. Everything else being equal, the results would 
 show as follows: 
 
 STATEMENT 
 
 Showing the yield in five years of 1,000 common Mexican ewes, crossed with 
 pure Merino or Cots wold bucks. 
 
 Years. 
 
 | 
 
 No. of w h ooR)earer S , 1 Amount ?t2°and 3 lbs. ^9^^L a «?° 
 each vear. per head. ; and 2o cts " P er lb " 
 
 1 
 
 First 
 
 Second 
 
 1,000 
 2,030 
 2,416 
 2,948 
 3,679 
 
 2,000 
 5,040 
 
 6,248 
 7,844 
 
 $400 00 
 1,172 50 
 
 Third 
 
 1,462 00 
 1 861 00 
 
 Fourth 
 
 Fifth 
 
 10,037 2,409 25 
 
 
 ' 
 
 Totals 
 
 
 31,219 
 
 $7,304 75 
 
 To the above $7,304.75, add value of the increase (7,823 head 
 at $3), $23,469, and we have $30,773.25 as the gross result in five 
 years, without including the value of the original band, still on 
 hand (less ordinary mortality, of course), or value of the bucks. 
 From this $30,773.25 deduct expenses, as in first operation, 
 $6,411.50, and $1,000 to cover difference in cost between common 
 and pure-bred or high-grade bucks — total, $7,411.50 — and 
 
STOCK-RAISING AND DAIRYING. 41 
 
 there is left, as a net profit on five years' operations, under the 
 improved system, $23,361.75, showing a difference in its favor 
 (over the old system) of $7,342.30 — seven thousand three hun- 
 dred and forty-two dollars and thirty cents. The writer has in 
 mind an instance in which one ranchman clipped 18,000 pounds 
 of wool from 2,000 improved sheep, while a neighbor thought he 
 was doing well in getting 8,000 pounds from the same number 
 of low grades. " Blood will tell." 
 
 Of course, improved sheep-husbandry- involves something 
 more than high breeding alone. If the flocks of the western 
 plains have heretofore made fortunes for their owners when left 
 to almost shift for themselves from one year's end to another, 
 without the benefit of sufficient prepared food or the shelter of a 
 first-class hay-rick, they may be made to do better with extra 
 provisions in these respects during severe winters. For every 
 dollar expended in this direction by the master, the bounteous 
 flock will return him two dollars in increased yield of wool, 
 lambs and weight. In fact, no owner of good sheep can afford 
 to neglect them. The best flocks of the future are to figure 
 largely, not in mere numbers, like those of the principal New 
 Mexican flock-masters, but in results — in superiority of their 
 blood, giving weight of carcass, weight, fineness and luster of 
 fleece, enhanced individual excellence, and consequent aggregate 
 value. Smaller flocks, better care, larger returns, will be the 
 rule of the future on the plains, as it already is among the best 
 wool-growers of the east. 
 
 To commence with a herd of 1,000 sheep — which is about x 
 the average number started with — will require an investment of 
 $4,000, as follows : 1,000 Mexican sheep, $2,000 ; 20 Merino rams, 
 8300; corrals, cabins, etc., $500; leaving $1,200 for carrying on 
 the herd until some income from the flock can be obtained. 
 Mexican ewes are delivered at Cheyenne at from $1.75 to $2.25. 
 Grade sheep, from fifty to seventy -five per cent higher, are rarely 
 on the market. Mutton lambs sell in Cheyenne at $2.50 to $3 ; 
 mutton sheep, $2.50 to $2.75. A home market for 15,000 sheep 
 and lambs per annum is afforded by the Wyoming and Black 
 Hills settlements. Wool is selling the present year at from 18 to 
 20 cents per pound, or about two cents per pound higher than 
 wool from the same sheep in southern Colorado and New Mexico 
 commands. It is noticed that a much thicker and better quality 
 4 
 
42 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 of wool is produced from the Mexican sheep a year after the 
 animal has reached our Wyoming pasture-lands than was clipped 
 two or three hundred miles farther south, the hair disappearing 
 almost entirely and being supplanted by a clean, long and heavy 
 coat of excellent fibre. 
 
 Dairying. — In all official reports on the dairy interest in 
 States east of the Missouri, we find that the great drawback men- 
 tioned is the heat at just the season when the product is greatest. 
 Along the base of our mountain ranges and among our sheltering 
 foot-hills the extreme of heat is seldom known, and no matter 
 how glaring may be the sun's rays, let the shade be sought, or let 
 night approach, and a cool, refreshing temperature is at once en- 
 joyed. It therefore follows that artificial auxiliaries, so neces- 
 sary in the east, are of secondary importance where climate and 
 grasses so nearly fill all conditions as they do here. As these 
 artificial auxiliaries are always burdensome items of expense, it 
 also follows that in dispensing with them, without sacrificing the 
 quality or quantity of a product, an immense advantage is gained. 
 
 Connoisseurs pronounce the first quality Wyoming ranch 
 butter of as delicate flavoring and tint and as perfect an article 
 in every way as the choicest eastern grades. Mark the difference 
 in manufacture : The eastern product is the result of expensive 
 scientific " petting " and unnatural forcing from beginning to 
 end. Delicate grasses are carefully nurtured for pasturage; 
 months are spent in putting up just the right kind of feed for 
 winter sustenance ; fine breeds of cattle are stabled and cared for 
 as though the effect of a zephyr was feared ; and the milk and 
 butter is manipulated in costly houses with iced temperatures, 
 and then the " gilt-edged" product, turned out by professional 
 dairymen, sells in our markets at from five to ten cents per 
 pound less than the article daily made at our mountain ranches, 
 where the crystal stream, the native grasses and a delicious 
 atmosphere are about the only auxiliaries asked by our modest 
 ranchman, with his band of native cattle, his log cabin and his 
 unsheltered corral. 
 
 Following is an account of the operations of a Wyoming 
 dairyman for a period of one year : 
 
STOCK-RAISING AND DAIRYING. 43 
 INVESTMENT AND EXPENSE. 
 
 Ranch site, buildings and corral $1,200 
 
 Fifty American cows at $40, and two sires at $75 2,150 
 
 Two assistants — wages and board 960 
 
 Fifty tons of hay for winter feed at $6 300 
 
 Conveying product to market, and minor expenses 200 
 
 Total 4,810 
 
 PRODUCT. 
 
 14,000 pounds of butter, sold at 40c $5,600 
 
 2,000 gallons of milk, sold at 30c 600 
 
 Increase 34 calves, sold at $10 340 
 
 Total 6,540 
 
 Less investment and expense 4,810 
 
 1,730 
 The dairyman in question had the advantage of mining and 
 lumbering camps for his market, otherwise he would have real- 
 ized a few cents per pound less for his butter. To more than 
 double capital, the first year may strike the reader as an excep- 
 tional venture, but this experience is duplicated by hundreds of 
 thrifty dairymen along the eastern base of the Eocky Mountains. 
 Hundreds more will duplicate it in the near future, when these 
 plain facts become more widely promulgated, and the underpaid 
 husbandmen on worn-out soils beyond the Mississippi can be 
 aroused by the knowledge of the golden opportunities lying un- 
 appropriated in the new west. We have in mind another Wyo- 
 ming dairyman who has realized a net profit of $2,600 in one 
 season from the yield of eighty cows. 
 
 Nearly 300,000 pounds of* butter have been consumed in 
 Cheyenne alone during the past year. Of this amount it is 
 estimated that three-fourths, or about 225,000 pounds, have been 
 shipped from beyond Wyoming's borders — much of it a distance 
 of a thousand miles. At an average price of thirty cents per 
 pound we find that one Wyoming city alone is sending out of 
 the Territory to eastern dairymen a tribute of nearly $70,000 
 annually. A leading hotel keeper has assured the writer that 
 ranch or home-made butter is always in demand at from five to 
 ten cents per pound more than is asked for the foreign article. 
 If eastern dairymen can manufacture butter at a profit, on land 
 worth $50 per acre, where cattle must be fed and sheltered six 
 
44 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 months in the year, and ship it a distance of 1,000 miles to our 
 market for thirty cents per pound, what may not the coming 
 butter-maker of Wyoming look forward to, when, producing the 
 same article at half the expense, he can sell it at home for 
 thirty -five or forty cents per pound ? 
 
 Eminent Authority. — Hon. Wm. D. Kelley, of Pennsylvania, 
 in referring to our grazing resources in a letter to Dr. Latham, 
 several years ago, said: "Your natural grasses and aromatic 
 herbage are identical with those of the great sheep fields of Asia 
 and Australia." Hon. William Lawrence has said : " I saw at 
 Laramie, in Wyoming Territory, a herd of 4,000 cattle and some 
 3,000 sheep grazing in Laramie valley, in healthy condition and 
 good order. Laramie valley is covered mainly with a short but 
 very nutritious grass, well adapted to grazing cattle and sheep. 
 The climate is generally cool, with a healthful, bracing atmo- 
 sphere, with nothing to produce disease either in men or stock. 
 Sheep can be raised at no expense except herding, and in some 
 places the cost of cutting grass along the streams for hay to feed 
 a short time in winter; while in much of this vast region, as I 
 learn, sheep can be kept the year round in good order, without 
 hay or grain, simply by grazing. Already the prospect of sheep 
 growing in this great central region is having its effects. It is, 
 in my judgment, only a question of time, and that a few years at 
 most, when sheep growing for wool will be transferred to this 
 great central section." Hon. S. E. Nuckolls, a former Wyoming 
 delegate to Congress, wrote in 1871: "As to my opinion of the 
 character and capacity of Wyoming Territory for pastoral pur- 
 poses, I would say, briefly, that the soil, grasses and climate 
 render it eminently superior, especially for sheep. The soil 
 absorbs the falling rain rapidly, while its lighter particles refuse 
 to attach permanently to the fleece, affording a clip as clean 
 without washing as in other countries with washing. The 
 grasses are highly nutritious, cure on the ground, remain as per- 
 manent food during the entire winter, and have better fattening 
 properties than the prairie grasses in the more eastern and north- 
 ern States. The position is elevated, the air pure, and the ground 
 seldom muddy or soft. In addition to all this there are no burrs 
 of any kind, which are such pests in other regions. Sheep are, 
 therefore, healthy and free from foot rot and other distempers 
 common to low, moist lands and rank, coarse food. They have 
 
STOCK-RAISING AND DAIRYING. 45 
 
 been kept for the past twelve years about the military posts 
 without trouble, and last winter some thirty thousand went 
 through without shelter or food other than the grass on the 
 ground. Cattle in large numbers are kept in the same way, and 
 the cattle worked poor in freighting turned out in the fall are 
 fat and ready for the yoke or the butcher when spring, comes." 
 Alexander Majors, so long known as a stockman and freighter 
 on the plains, expressed himself thus emphatically eight years 
 ago : "I have been grazing cattle on the plains and in the moun- 
 tains for twenty years. I have during that time never had less 
 than five hundred head of work cattle, and for two winters — 
 those of 1857 and 1858 — I wintered fifteen thousand head of 
 heavy work oxen on the plains each Avinter. My experience 
 extends from El Paso, on the Eio Grande, to one hundred miles 
 north of Fort Benton, Montana. Our stock is worked hard dur- 
 ing the summer, and come to the winter herding range thin. 
 Then it is grazed without shelter, hay and grain being unknown. 
 By spring the cattle are all in good working order, and many 
 of them fat enough for beef. During these twenty years the 
 firm with which I was connected wintered many cattle in Mis- 
 souri and Arkansas on hay and corn, and I am sure the per cent, 
 of loss of those wintered in all the valleys of the trans-Missouri 
 country is less than it was in those States with food and shelter. 
 All the country west of the Missouri river is one vast pasture, 
 affording unequaled summer and winter pasturage, where sheep, 
 cattle and horses can be raised with only the cost of herding." 
 
 Wyoming contains 55,000 square miles of all-the-year pasture 
 lands, with an additional area of 25,000 square miles of unex- 
 celled summer grazing lands. Her 150,000 head of cattle and 
 100,000 sheep have appropriated less than one-third of this 
 gathered treasure of mountain and plain, and even in that 
 liberal estimate have never fully utilized their range. Luxuriant 
 carpets of gramma, bunch and blue grass, with many other vari- 
 eties, nearly everywhere cover bluff, plain and valley, while in 
 numerous localities the diminutive species of white and black 
 sage, so eagerly sought by stock in winter, are added to the great 
 variety of nutritious native shrubs. Sheltered and wooded val- 
 leys are usually so conveniently interspersed that in time of 
 storm the animals are enabled to avail themselves of much com- 
 fort and good browsing by a few miles' travel. 
 
46 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 There are millions of dollars of capital rusting in the vaults 
 of the east which might as surely be earning their twenty-four 
 per cent per annum by investment in any of these branches of 
 stock-raising as that we have mouths to feed and bodies to 
 clothe. The requisites are, in a nutshell, careful study of the 
 business, personal direction, and the same attention given that 
 would be bestowed upon any legitimate business venture of equal 
 magnitude. When men dispossess themselves of the notion of 
 tarrying in the Far West only for a year or two, until they can 
 make their fortunes, and then turn ungratefully from the land 
 which has made them all they are 3 when they finally determine 
 to live here, to create homes here, and add their means and 
 influence permanently to the development of the country, then 
 will the golden era of our prosperity be unmistakably ushered. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 AGRICULTURE — THE POSSIBILITIES. 
 
 THE great inducements offered by Wyoming to the agricul- 
 turist .have always been apparent to those who have cared 
 to inquire. But the tempting attraction of mines, the large 
 profits realized in stock-raising, and the field for speculation gen- 
 erally offered in such new regions, have, until quite recently, 
 claimed the greatest attention. As well can the country pro- 
 duce its bread as it produces its beef, and in the matter of mar- 
 kets the farmer is here more favored than the stock-grower, for 
 the simple reason that the former has always a home demand, 
 while the latter depends largely upon a foreign market. 
 
 Experiments have been made with the different cereals, veg- 
 etables and small fruits in the different localities and under all 
 ordinary conditions, with perfect success in almost every case. 
 Near the western outskirts of Oheyenne, an old soldier, Major 
 John Talbot, is showing what the upland soils at an altitude of 
 over 6,000 feet will produce under good ordinary treatment. 
 Fourteen acres are under cultivation, and on the well-kept plat 
 may be seen every variety of the hardy vegetables, thousands of 
 young shade and fruit trees and the tame grasses, flourishing as 
 well as they could be made to do elsewhere. Wheat, oats and rye 
 succeed admirably, and such small fruits as currants, cherries, 
 gooseberries and strawberries have been bearing nicely for two 
 seasons. Of the ten thousand young trees growing upon the 
 grounds, such varieties as white ash, elm, soft maple, walnut, 
 poplar and box-elder seem perfectly at home in their transplanted 
 state. Over 70,000 pounds of potatoes were marketed from one 
 third of the patch last season, and, with other vegetables sold, 
 yielded the proprietor $2,000. Potatoes sold at two and one-half 
 cents per pound, and other vegetables from three to five cents 
 per pound. Cabbage, averaging twelve pounds per head, and 
 turnips weighing from ten to eighteen pounds each, were mar- 
 keted. The soil is a dark, sandy loam, very friable and mellow, 
 
48 HAKD-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 and usually requires irrigating only twice during the season. 
 One man has done all the work, with plenty of time to spare. 
 
 In the valleys of Crow Creek, Chugwater, Laramie, North 
 Platte and Hat Creek, in the eastern part of the Territory, such 
 results as the above have been attained in different instances. 
 The growing seasons have been favorable and long enough to 
 mature all crops save corn, and in a few cases the early, small- 
 eared varieties have also been raised. In the central and western 
 portions of the Territory, where the agricultural area is largest, 
 more pronounced successes have been recorded, and much more 
 progress has been made in the cultivation of the rich valley soils 
 than elsewhere. In the Wind Eiver valley and its tributaries, 
 and in the Bear Eiver valley, hundreds of ranchmen have been 
 producing vegetables for their own consumption and the home 
 markets for several years. Where wheat, rye, oats and barley 
 have been experimented with the yield has equaled that obtained 
 from the best farming lands of Utah or Colorado, and the almost 
 entire absence of milling facilities alone prevents a very general 
 production. The value of hay, vegetables and other strictly farm 
 products marketed by Wyoming ranchmen this year will closely 
 approximate half a million dollars. 
 
 The valley and bench lands of Wyoming, capable of produc- 
 ing crops common to this latitude, have a total area of 20,000 
 square miles or aggregate nearly 13,000,000 acres. With unlim- 
 ited natural facilities for irrigation, fencing and building mate- 
 rial always convenient and unexcelled fertility of soil, there is no 
 reason why a strictly agricultural population of 50,000 people 
 should not flourish within our borders and supply to the min- 
 eral-producing residents and non-producing population the food 
 which otherwise must come from abroad. The soils are largely 
 the washes and wear of the great mountain ranges. For ages 
 our valleys and plains have been gathering their present accu- 
 mulation of valuable decomposed °and pulverized organic matter, 
 which is so largely drawn upon by vegetable growth. Those 
 qualities which eastern farmers try to replace by plaster of paris, 
 bone-dust, ashes, lime, etc., exist in lasting quantities in our 
 alkaline earths. This fact and the dry, pure atmosphere account 
 for the great superiority in all elements of nutrition of our 
 grasses, grains and vegetable products over those of the States. 
 
 From careful estimates made by grain merchants of Wyoming, 
 
AGRICULTURE, THE POSSIBILITIES. 49 
 
 we find that 28,800,000 pounds of grain have been shipped into 
 the Territory from Nebraska, Utah and Kansas during the past 
 twelve months, not counting the immense quantities shipped 
 hither by the government and used at military posts. At the 
 average price of two cents per pound this costs us nearly $600,000, 
 and taken from us about that amount of currency which never 
 returns. This may seem a small matter, but the loss will be 
 doubled in a year and quadrupled in two years if our non-produc- 
 ing population continues to increase in such a proportion over the 
 little band of producers. It is only one item, and it alone is 
 thirty times greater than the entire amount paid for the main- 
 tenance of our public schools, more than three times as great as 
 the amount of taxes we collect from our 500 miles of railway, and 
 four times as great as the amount invested in all the public im- 
 provements of Wyoming. One-thirtieth of the arable soil of our 
 hundreds of fertile valleys would easily produce this simple item 
 and stop the serious leakage. 
 
 Vegetables brought from the east or west, though far inferior 
 to those raised here, sell at enormous prices, and the money sent 
 out of the Territory for them runs up into the hundreds of 
 thousands annually. Even along the line of railroads potatoes 
 are commanding an average of two cents per pound the year 
 round, turnips one to three cents, onions three to six cents, cab- 
 bage three to seven cents, and other garden produce in propor- 
 tion. In the mining districts such products are from 200 to 300 
 per cent, higher. During the month of June, of this year, pota- 
 toes sold in Deadwood, by the wagon load, for from twelve to 
 fourteen cents per pound, and turnips at ten cents. Small fruits, 
 which coming half-ripened and often unfit to eat, from distant 
 States, command prices that would insure competence to whoever 
 would engage in their production. The freight is often far more 
 than the cost of production on all of these articles, and the in- 
 quiring agriculturist can easily see that such an increase in the 
 selling price of produce must always allow ample margin for 
 profit to local producers. 
 
 Irrigation has always seemed a stumbling-block to those who 
 do not understand its advantages. But when once acquainted 
 with the system few farmers would exchange it for the uncertain 
 rains of moister climates. The first expense need not be greater 
 than that of breaking up wild lands in the east, and the labor of 
 
50 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 irrigating being light and simple, crops can be watered at an 
 expense not to exceed the percentage of loss on eastern farms by 
 long continued rains or dronths. There is not half the trouble 
 encountered in keeping out weeds by this system, and loss need 
 never occur through storms after grain has been harvested and 
 placed in shocks. In the early settlement of other sections of 
 the west, before the art of irrigation was understood, farmers 
 were laughed at for their attempts to raise anything in the " bar- 
 ren sands." Yet today those faithful few are the wealthiest and 
 most respected citizens of Colorado, Utah and Montana. While 
 the thousands were risking everything on the richness of mines 
 and were often losing, these tillers of the soil gathered up the 
 waste and in the end received the tribute which must be paid to 
 the producer of bread. 
 
 An important drawback to the more rapid development of 
 our agricultural and pastoral resources is the fact that our prin- 
 cipal railroad traverses the most uninviting portion of the Terri- 
 tory. Thus the great throngs of tourists and emigrants hastily 
 passing through receive the impression that other portions are 
 probably identical. From descriptive articles which follow, it 
 will be seen that the now almost unknown and unappreciated 
 Big Horn, Wind Kiver and Yellowstone regions are to furnish 
 the bulk of arable lands for the sustenance of new communities 
 in the northwest. They furnish the most beautiful and produc- 
 tive valleys in the Eocky Mountain region, with millions of 
 broad and fertile acres unclaimed, and to be had for the simple 
 taking. After an attentive reading of our article on climatology, 
 it cannot, be said that an extreme northern latitude renders our 
 claims untenable. The few occupied valleys of Montana, all 
 lying north of Wyoming's agricultural belts, and depending upon 
 irrigation, produce nearly a million bushels of grain and potatoes 
 annually, which, with other farm productions, sell at home for 
 over two million dollars. 
 
CHAPTER Y. 
 
 MINES AND MINING. 
 
 AN entire volume like this could be judiciously devoted to the 
 
 **■ description of a mineral region so extensive and varied as 
 
 that embraced within the limits of Wyoming. Therefore, being 
 
 confined to one short chapter, we can promise little more than a 
 
 hasty tour and a glimpse of different districts and products. 
 
 The Coal Fields. — The importance of the coal interest, either 
 in a general or local way, was never more strikingly portrayed 
 than in these words of Daddow : " If you would see what coal 
 can do for a people who turn it to full account, look at Pitts- 
 burgh, a city, with its environs, of 300,000 inhabitants, built up 
 by its mines of coal. There are no drones in its hive — heads 
 and hands are busy. It lost $30,000,000 by the rebellion without 
 shaking its credit. Possessing in its coal the creative power, it 
 stretches out its mighty arms and gathers the wealth of half a 
 continent into its lap. It brings to its furnaces and forges the 
 iron and copper of Lake Superior, glass-sand from New England, 
 Missouri and Illinois, lead from Wisconsin and Missouri, zinc, 
 brass and. tin from beyond the seas. You pass through its 
 gigantic establishments and are amazed at the variety and extent 
 of their perfected productions. Yet all these, from the most 
 delicate fabric of glass to the ponderous cannon and steam 
 engine, are in the coal which underlies the smoky hills of Pitts- 
 burgh." It is said by statisticians that the power developed by 
 coal imported into Massachusetts accomplishes more for industry 
 than could be done if all the millions of men, women and 
 children in the United States should devote themselves to 
 manual labor. In Great Britain, says a reliable writer, ma- 
 chinery moved by coal equals the man power of all the inhab- 
 itants of the globe. 
 
 However, the coal measures of Wyoming are given the prece- 
 dence, not especially because of a belief that they will always 
 lead the deposits of precious metals in importance, but because 
 
52 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 of their present advantages in the way of development and yield. 
 As already stated, our known area underlaid by coal reaches 
 24,000 square miles in extent. Drawing a line across the Terri- 
 tory from east to west, one hundred miles from the southern 
 boundary, then drawing another in a similar manner one 
 hundred miles from the northern boundary, the reader can 
 at once locate the principal portions of our coal-bearing belts. 
 In different sections of this southern belt of one hundred miles 
 in breadth by three hundred and fifty in length are located the 
 largest bodies of coal yet discovered in the Union. Crossing 
 northward over the central belt, of less than one hundred miles 
 in width, we find the generally rougher region, in which fewer 
 deposits of coal, but more of the precious metals, have been dis- 
 covered. Then, reaching the extreme northern belt of one hun- 
 dred miles in width, the natural coal-bearing formation is again 
 very frequently encountered, and vast outcroppings of bituminous 
 and semi-bituminous coals are noticed. 
 
 We will first briefly review the southern belt, already exten- 
 sively developed, beginning at the eastern end. Commencing at 
 Cooper Lake, near the center of the Laramie plains and twenty-six 
 miles northwest of Laramie city, a vein of soft coal, fifteen feet 
 in thickness, has been discovered adjacent to the Union Pacific 
 Railroad. The deposit is not worked at present, but its accessi- 
 bility, extent and fair quality must combine to render it of para- 
 mount value in the near future. 
 
 Proceeding fifty miles westward to Carbon, we find the first" 
 mines worked. Although inferior to the product of mines 
 farther west, the coal is a fair sample of the tertiary brown kind, 
 very compact and pure, and excellent for locomotive use. It is 
 mined and used quite extensively by the coal department of the 
 Union Pacific Railway, and is consumed to a limited extent by 
 residents along the road. The average thickness of the deposit 
 is ten feet. An analysis gives water 6.80, ash 8.00, volatile 35.48, 
 fixed carbon 49.72. About 80,000 tons of coal have been pro- 
 duced here during the past year. Other important but unde- 
 veloped deposits are found at numerous points along the road to 
 the westward. At Separation, Rawlins and St. Mary's the out- 
 croppings are especially noticeable. 
 
 At Rock Springs, 314 miles west of Cheyenne, are the exten- 
 sive mines operated by the coal department of the Union Pacific 
 
MINES AND MINING. 53 
 
 Railroad and the Excelsior Coal Company. The deposit owned 
 by the railroad company consists of several veins from four to 
 nine feet thick and is at present the principal source of supply 
 for all points along the road as far east as Omaha. Owing to its 
 excellent quality this coal is much sought for by adjacent States 
 and Territories. For blacksmithing, smelting and steam-gen- 
 .erating purposes the coals of this district compare favorably 
 with the anthracite. 
 
 The Excelsior mine, the property of Colonel E. P. Snow, of 
 Cheyenne, and Blair Bros., Rock Springs, which is a part of this 
 same general deposit, has, in years past, been considered more 
 valuable and has been credited with yielding a better quality of 
 semi-bituminous coking coal than is found elsewhere in the 
 trans-Missouri regions. A natural discrimination, however, made 
 against its owners by the railroad authorities, has served to limit 
 yield and profit. The principal vein is ten feet thick and prac- 
 tically exhaustless. The following analysis, made at the Massa- 
 chusetts Institute of Technology, is far more favorable than can 
 be exhibited by any of the tertiary coals of Colorado or Wyo- 
 ming that have come to our knowledge : 
 
 Ash (white) 1.55 
 
 Hydrogen 4.75 
 
 Carbon 76.00 
 
 Sulphur 07 
 
 Phosphorus 00 
 
 Oxygen and Nitrogen 17.63 
 
 100.00 dried at 100°. C. 
 
 Coke 60.00 
 
 Specific gravity 1.26 
 
 The coke is compact and not easily crushed, and being prac- 
 tically free from sulphur and phosphorus can be especially recom- 
 mended for iron smelting. 
 
 For the year ending June 30, 1877, these mines produced 
 144,000 tons, or an increase of nearly 25,000 tons over the year 
 preceding. Coal sells by contract on the track at from $1.55 to 
 $2 per ton, and at outside points at an average of $5. One hun- 
 dred and fifty white men and the same number of Chinamen are 
 employed the year round. Engines, hoisting apparatus and in- 
 terior arrangements are exceptionally complete and systematic. 
 
 Still journeying westward with the glistening coal formation 
 
54 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 visible on the face of numberless bluffs, we find in the vicinity of 
 Carter station, a point on the Union Pacific 388 miles from 
 Cheyenne, some of the most remarkable coal measures yet dis- 
 covered. One of these, known as the "Mammoth Sandstone 
 Mountain Mine," has been traced and prospected for a distance 
 of four miles. Throughout this length there are some fifteen 
 veins, one lying above the other, with thin layers of sandstone , 
 intervening. These veins are from five to sixty feet in thickness, 
 and aggregate nearly four hundred feet of solid bituminous coal. 
 The veins slope at an angle of about twenty-two degrees. The 
 coal is free from slate or dirt and with the product of the Mam- 
 moth mine, a similar deposit near by, must at some future period, 
 when the demand for fuel is greater and transportation facilities 
 are better, effect a revolution in the western coal trade. 
 
 In the vicinity of Evanston, at the western boundary of 
 Wyoming, are the most extensively worked deposits in the Ter- 
 ritory, while within a days' ride of the city are a number of other 
 magnificent veins of the softer coals. Two and one-half miles 
 from Evanston, at the busy mining town of Almy, the Eocky 
 Mountain Coal and Iron Company, the Union Pacific Company 
 and S. H. Winsor, have made great progress in the development 
 of the measures there found. The strata now worked by the 
 Eocky Mountain Coal and Iron Company is simply enormous, 
 being twenty-six to thirty-five feet in thickness and extending far 
 back from the present openings, which already indicate a length 
 of deposit of three miles at its face. The mines controlled by 
 the Union Pacific Company and the Uintah mine owned by S. H. 
 Winsor, are extensions of the above and produce coal giving the 
 following analysis: Water 8.58, ash 6.30, volatile 35.22, carbon 
 49.90. Four hundred men receive regular employment in the 
 production and shipment of coal at these mines, two-thirds of 
 them being Chinamen. Nearly 300,000 tons of coal are being 
 produced the present year. A large percentage of this finds its 
 way to Utah, Nevada and California, and the deposit is almost 
 the exclusive supply of the Central Pacific Eailroad Company. 
 From these statements it will be seen that Wyoming not only 
 supplies her own citizens and railways with fuel, but almost the 
 entire northern half of the trans-Missouri region as well. 
 
 Forty miles north of Evanston is the Twin Creek coal mine, 
 owned by the Wyoming Coal and Coking Company. This is 
 
MINES AND MINING. 55 
 
 claimed to be the best coking coal produced, and that it will 
 yield fifty per cent of coke. Coke being a most important desid- 
 eratum in the vast mining regions of Utah, Nevada, Wyoming and 
 Montana, this new industry will, without doubt, soon be second 
 only to the production of coal itself. There are yet other de- 
 posits worthy of note in this vicinity, but space forbids extended 
 mention, and we must hasten to other topics. 
 
 In the northern part of the Territory along the Cheyenne, 
 Powder and Tongue rivers, the indications of vast coal deposits 
 are even more general than in the southern belt just outlined. 
 Bluffs, river banks and water-worn gullies in many localities 
 plainly show the sparkling black seams protruding from between 
 the soft sandstone, slate or other natural formations. Veins are 
 frequently noticed running from four to ten feet in thickness. 
 The quality of some of these coals has been tested in the camp- 
 forges and fires of different military expeditions, with favorable 
 results; and the writer is cognizant of one case in which loosened 
 wagon tires were well set with fragments of the coal taken from 
 the face of one of these deposits. During the occupation of Fort 
 Phil Kearney, at the base of the Big Horn Mountain, in 1866-7, 
 a fine vein of bituminous coal was opened in that vicinity, and 
 used extensively by the garrison. 
 
 Estimating from data furnished by the different companies, 
 the amount of coal mined in Wyoming the present year will 
 reach 524,000 tons, and at a low valuation will sell for $2,094,000. 
 Nearly a million dollars are invested in actual improvements on 
 the four principal mines, and the entire number of persons em- 
 ployed in mining, handling and shipping coal exceed 800. 
 
 In the important element of fixed carbon, the Wyoming coal 
 is superior to all bituminous or semi-bituminous coals of the 
 Union, and the product of the best mines very closely approaches 
 the anthracite, as the following comparative statement, made 
 from the most careful analysis, will show. Only the best mines 
 in other States are quoted : 
 
 Fixed Carbon. 
 
 Excelsior mine, Rock Springs, Wyoming- 76.00 
 
 Rock Springs mine, Rock Springs, Wyoming 54.46 
 
 Van Dyke mine, Rock Springs, Wyoming 53.23 
 
 Evanston and Unita mine, Evanston, Wyoming 49.90 
 
 Carbon mine, Carbon, Wyoming. 49.72 
 
 Briggs mine, Boulder, Colorado 47.30 
 
56 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 Baker mine, Boulder, Colorado 50.65 
 
 Osage mine, Osage, Missouri 51 .16 
 
 Monte Diable mine, California 44.90 
 
 Brier Hill mine, Youngstown, Ohio 62.66 
 
 Belleville mine, Illinois 54.60 
 
 Lehigh mine, Pennsylvania (anthracite) 89.15 
 
 Beaver Meadow mine, Pennsylvania (anthracite) 91.47 
 
 The Precious Metals. — Concerning the development of these 
 interests, Colonel Stephen W. Downey, an old-time citizen of 
 Wyoming, says : " Prior to the organization of the Territory, 
 discoveries of rich mineral deposits had been made about the 
 sources of Sweetwater river, in the Wind Eiver Mountains, on 
 the head-waters of Big Horn river, and on the tributaries of 
 North Platte, in Medicine Bow Bange. From these discoveries 
 the hope was entertained here, and the opinion prevailed abroad, 
 that Wyoming was about to take prominent rank as a bullion- 
 producing Territory. Such hope and opinion received a sharp 
 check by the unfriendly action of the United States government 
 in its persistent, though tacit sanction and support of American 
 savages in their hostile incursions upon the miners in established 
 camps. These marauders compelled not only the abandonment 
 of work begun, but also a total cessation of all prospecting through 
 central and northern Wyoming, between the Black Hills and Big 
 Horn river. The mining interests of Wyoming have thus been 
 crippled for nearly a decade. The recent impetus which these 
 interests have received is due largely to the military expedition 
 under Custer, made in the year 1875, «which gave the public 
 some glimpses of the rich deposits of gold in the Black Hills. 
 
 "Although the Black Hills are the grand central objective 
 point of treasure-seeking immigration, they are by no means the 
 only point in or near Wyoming sought, and, within the current 
 year, to be prospected for gold and silver. Many already, from 
 the east and from the west, some with capital and some without, 
 are going into the Medicine Bow mineral districts, on the head 
 waters of the Laramie and Platte, in the Bock Creek, Elk Moun- 
 tain, Brush Creek, Centennial, Last Chance and other districts 
 southward to the bprders of Colorado, these all being in the same 
 mineral belt which, in Colorado, has yielded so much treasure. 
 Others are seeking, again, the Sweetwater region, from whose 
 rich mines prospectors and miners were driven by hostile Indians 
 
MINES AND MINING. 59 
 
 in 1869, and from which, by similar causes, they have been kept 
 until the present time. From this very region I hear of com- 
 panies numbering several hundred each moving northward 
 toward the Big Horn. All indications point to the early dis- 
 covery and development of the most prominent mineral-produc- 
 ing localities in Wyoming." 
 
 We shall, in this chapter, refer more especially to the districts 
 in the southern and central portions of the Territory, leaving the 
 Black Hills and Big Horn regions for special articles. Among 
 the most important gold and silver belts in Wyoming is that in 
 the southern part tributary to Laramie City. The region is 
 almost wholly undeveloped, and consists, first, of the districts in 
 or near the Medicine Bow Mountains, including Rock Creek 
 Placer Mining district, Centennial, Sheep Mountain, Big Lara- 
 mie and Last Chance, or Douglass districts; and second, of the 
 North Park region, extending across the borders of Colorado to 
 Hahn's Peak and the Rabbit Ear range. 
 
 The Rock Creek district is about forty miles northwesterly 
 from Laramie City, on or near the old overland stage road. It 
 was discovered late in 1876 by prospecting the dirt in the old 
 stage road, since which ditches have been constructed to lead 
 water from Rock Creek to one of the bars, and the locators are 
 now prosecuting work with the hydraulic. 
 
 The Centennial district, as its name implies, was opened in 
 1876. One quartz claim in the district yielded about $20,000 
 during last summer. Several additional ledges have been dis- 
 covered and promise very fairly, their large deposits of ores 
 assaying an average of $100 per ton, but are thus far only 
 slightly developed. The district is about thirty miles due west 
 of Laramie, by an excellent natural road. No prospecting has 
 been done for placer gold. 
 
 Sheep Mountain district is near Centennial. Several silver- 
 bearing lodes have been discovered on this mountain, one of 
 which has a shaft 100 feet in depth, showing very rich ore. Ores 
 assaying as high as 2,000 ounces silver per ton have been taken 
 out at different depths from eighty feet downward. The other 
 claims thus far discovered here are undeveloped and no reduction 
 works are convenient to utilize the large deposits of wonderfully 
 rich ores. 
 
 Southeast of Sheep Mountain and also about thirty miles 
 
60 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 from Laramie, is the Jehu Mountain and Big Laramie Quartz 
 and Placer Mining District. Gold was carried largely by the 
 quartz near the surface, but is being rapidly displaced by silver 
 as depth is attained. A shaft 100 feet deep on one of the mines 
 discloses a four-foot vein of "pay rock," averaging nearly 100 
 ounces silver per ton, with occasional streaks of sulphates of 
 silver assaying 1,600 ounces. A quartz mill is beiug located in 
 this district the present season. Large deposits of copper, assay- 
 ing $110 per ton, are also found here. Extensive placers are also 
 found adjacent, which need only a small outlay of capital to 
 prove exceedingly productive. 
 
 Beyond the district last named, and forty miles southwesterly 
 from Laramie, is the Douglass Creek or Last Chance district, 
 containing rich gold quartz and placer mines. The placer gold 
 consists largely of nuggets, and is remarkable for its purity, being 
 960 to 975 fine. Kich free-gold quartz ledges were discovered 
 here late last season, on some twenty of which development has 
 been progressing since, and pay-material has been found on 
 nearly all from the grass-roots down. Four companies now 
 operate the principal mines with gratifying success. The first 
 stamp-mill will here soon be put in operation. Over 300 tons of 
 ore, assaying nearly $300 per ton, are now on the dump of one 
 of these mines awaiting treatment. These districts, it should be 
 remembered, are upon the outskirts of an extensive unprospected 
 mineral-bearing region. 
 
 On the borders of North Park, commencing sixty miles from 
 Laramie, rich discoveries have been made of auriferous quartz, 
 argentiferous galena and ruby silver. Some of these give promise 
 of mineral wealth equal to the best districts of Colorado. Their 
 remoteness from railroad communication and reduction works, 
 and lack of capital, have thus far impeded their development. 
 There is unquestioned foundation for the belief that this vast 
 region, when once understood, will offer an attractive field for 
 the investment of capital in exceptionally remunerative mining 
 enterprises. The most remote of the districts mentioned are 
 within seventy-five or one hundred miles of Laramie city. 
 
 The quartz-mining region tributary to Rawlins, near the 
 center of the Territory, has in years past attracted considerable 
 attention, and, with the new impetus now being given the mining 
 interest, are again materially swelling the yield of bullion. Thirty 
 
MINES AXD MIXING. 61 
 
 miles north of the town are the Ferris and Seminole districts, 
 in which large deposits of gold, silver and copper-bearing ores 
 are found. The ores carrying silver are almost identical in char- 
 acter and accompanying formation with the White Pine mines 
 of Nevada. Over a hundred claims have been located, and about 
 a dozen true fissure veins are now being developed. Selected 
 specimens of ores from some of these have assayed as high as 
 82,000 per ton, while quantities are raised which yield from $100 
 to $200 per ton silver. In a dozen of the mines carrying a large 
 percentage of gold, beautiful specimens of free gold quartz have 
 been taken ; and in such as the Ernest, Mammoth, Break of Day, 
 and Slattery, gold is disseminated in large proportions through 
 the well-defined veins. Only one stamp-mill has been placed in 
 operation here, and this is a very rudely constructed and incom- 
 plete affair. Good wagon roads connect these districts with the 
 railroad, and one of the best routes to the Big Horn Mountains 
 lies across them. 
 
 The quartz and placer mines of the Sweetwater and South 
 Pass districts, lying from 100 to 150 miles north of Green Eiver 
 city, have been more thoroughly developed and have furnished a 
 greater yield than those in any other section of Wyoming. In 
 the early discovery of the principal mines, some ten years ago, 
 the outcroppings of quartz for miles were so distinctly visible, 
 and some of the gulches were so extremely rich, that the mining 
 excitement was at fever heat, and thousands of prospectors, who 
 were looking only for grand bonanzas, flocked thither. This 
 mass, with its wild expectations, soon drifted away, disappointed 
 because richer gulches were quickly worked out, and the absence 
 of proper milling facilities rendered quartz mining generally un- 
 desirable. Then, constant Indian depredations frightened away 
 both miners and capital until the once noted region was almost 
 unheard of. The mining region proper covers an area of about 
 2,000 square miles in the Sweetwater mountains and spurs of the 
 Wind Eiver range, and many gulches are yet unworked which 
 will pay from four to seven dollars per day to the man with the 
 hydraulic. From one of the quartz mines 8200,000 were taken 
 the first year of its discovery, and six or seven are still yielding 
 large wages to the few who faithfully stand by them. Eight 
 quartz mills, running thirty stamps, are in operation on the free 
 gold ores, and will produce about $125,000 the present year. 
 
62 
 
 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 Mine owners have been generally poor to start with, and have 
 worked at great disadvantage, both on account of Indian troubles 
 and the total lack of outside capital to assist in developmen t. 
 
 For the benefit of those treasure seekers who come west with 
 barely capital enough to reach their supposed Eldorado, it may 
 be well to note that there are thousands of square miles of rich 
 mining area in the southern and central portions of Wyoming 
 practically unappropriated. Lying, as this area does, within easy 
 distance of railway, and rendered less speculative on account of 
 its nearness to varied interests already developed, the prospector 
 of limited means can often find other dependencies to look to. 
 For those who have $250 to $500 and upward, it is believed that 
 no more attractive mineral field can be found. Capitalists look- 
 ing for investment, and prospectors with means sufficient to outfit 
 and supply them for a season, are especially recommended to 
 visit and explore the fields above specified. 
 
 Following is a carefully compiled statement of the mining 
 interest of Wyoming for the present year, compared with the 
 official figures of 1870. In the estimates of both quartz and 
 placer gold about one-half the yield is contributed by quartz and 
 placer mines in the Black Hills known to lie within the limits of 
 Wyoming : 
 
 Coal 
 
 Gold, quartz 
 Gold, placer. 
 
 Totals 
 
 Capital Invested. 
 
 1870. 
 
 $250,000 
 11,000 
 
 $261,000 
 
 1877. 
 
 ,000 
 78,500 
 130,000 
 
 $858,500 
 
 Product. 
 
 1870. 
 
 1877. 
 
 $800,000 i $2,096,000 
 
 50,000 
 
 $850,000 
 
 215,000 
 600,000 
 
 $2,911,000 
 
 Iron. — Wyoming is no less bountifully supplied with iron 
 ores than with coal for their utilization. These deposits lie in 
 various sections of the Territory, contiguous to railway, coal, 
 water and forest. One of the largest deposits of iron ore in the 
 Union is that found near the headwater of Ohugwater Creek, 
 forty miles north of Cheyenne, and twenty-five miles from Lara- 
 mie City. The ore is a black, crystalline magnetic, yielding as 
 high as sixty-eight per cent of iron, and the deposit is simply a 
 vast mountain, literally inexhaustible. Of this, Prof. Hayden 
 has said: "Near the sources of the Chugwater are some very rich 
 
MINES AND MINING. 63 
 
 iron mines, which may prove of great value to the country in 
 future. In the winter of 1859-'60, while attached to the explor- 
 ing expedition of General W. F. Raynolds, I made a trip to the 
 sources of the Chugwater, and found great numbers of these worn 
 masses of iron ore, but not until a comparatively recent period 
 were they traced to their sources in the mountains. The ore is 
 located much like that in the Lake Superior region. . . . The 
 quantity of ore in this locality appears to be unlimited. Thou- 
 sands of tons have been washed down into the valley of the 
 " Chug," and distributed among the superficial drift. It will be 
 seen by the analysis that the ore is very rich in metallic iron, but 
 it is supposed that it will be reduced with some difficulty. Prof. 
 Silliman is of the opinion that the brown ore or limonite can be 
 employed with it as a flux with favorable results. Should the 
 time ever arrive when this ore is absolutely demanded by the 
 country, it will be easily accessible from numerous points. It is 
 probable, however, that the branch railroad from Cheyenne to 
 Montana will create a demand for these mines, and then the ore 
 can be taken down the valley of the Chugwater with ease." In 
 Stansbury's Report, page 266, the following occurs : " In the bed 
 of the Chugwater, and on the sides of the adjacent hills, were 
 found immense numbers of rounded black nodules of magnetic 
 iron ore, which seemed of unusual richness." 
 
 Following is the analysis of this ore, as made by Mr. J. P. 
 Carson at the school of mines, Columbia College. Mr. Carson 
 was an assistant in the Hayden survey in this region of 1868 : 
 
 Sesquioxide of iron 45.03 
 
 Protoxide 17.96 
 
 Silica .76 
 
 Titanic acid 23.49 
 
 Alumina 3.98 
 
 Sesquioxide of chromium 2.45 
 
 Sesquioxide of manganese 1.53 
 
 Lime 1.11 
 
 Oxide of zinc 47 
 
 Magnesia 1.56 
 
 Sulphur 1.44 
 
 Phosphorus a trace 
 
 Fe 45.49 99.78 
 
 Near Rawlins, on the line of the Union Pacific, are immense 
 deposits of red oxide ores, already becoming extensively utilized 
 
64 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 in the manufacture of paint. Commencing two and one-half 
 miles north of the city, there are small mountains which are 
 little less than solid masses of the metal, and careful prospecting 
 farther to the north warrants the conclusion that large bodies of 
 the same material extend for miles in that direction. The Raw- 
 lins Metallic Paint Company have invested some $25,000 in 
 opening the mines, building paint works and establishing facil- 
 ities for shipping. Another corporation has also invested quite 
 extensively in an adjoining claim. Over 25,000 tons of the ore 
 have been mined by the company first named, a large proportion 
 of which has been shipped to Utah as a flux for smelting pur- 
 poses. About 200 tons of metallic paint have been manufactured 
 and found to be of very superior quality, as the following analysis 
 and testimonials will show : 
 
 Water 0.12 
 
 Gangue 0.72 
 
 Sulphur aud lime 0.14 
 
 Sesquioxide of iron 9.02 
 
 10.00 
 
 Superintendent Stevens, of the Union Pacific Car and Build- 
 ing Department, says : " Allow us to bear testimony to the value 
 of the Rawlins Metallic Paint manufactured from Rocky Mount- 
 ain iron ore. We use it exclusively for painting box and flat 
 cars, iron and tin roofs, and buildings on the line of this road ; 
 have found it a valuable preservative of wood, and the very thing 
 so long needed for repairs of leaky roofs, for while it is cheap as 
 a paint, it fills up all nail holes and leaks, and becomes virtually 
 an iron-covering — perfectly impenetrable to water. We are sat- 
 isfied that it will cover more surface, pound for pound, last 
 longer and retain its color better than any paint before the pub- 
 lic." The president of the Cooper Engine Company, Mount 
 Vernon, Ohio, writes : " Our painter says the Rawlins paint is 
 the best he ever used. We use it on castings mostly, and are 
 highly pleased with the finish." About a severe test of this 
 paint the master painter of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy 
 Company's car works says : " I have had your iron paint in test 
 for about six months, and find it one of the best, if not the best, 
 iron paints I have ever seen. I put two coats of it, mixed with 
 boiled oil, on a piece of sheet-iron and buried it in strong brine 
 
A SIMPLE QUESTION OF PRIORITY. 
 
MINES AND MINING. 67 
 
 about six months ago, and it has stood the test and does not 
 show any signs of rusting through the paint. I have also used 
 it on locomotive work and find it covers far more surface than 
 any iron paint I have used." 
 
 The paint is made dry, is naturally reddish-brown in color, 
 and is sold in car-load quantities at $50 per ton. Thirty-five 
 thousand tons of the ore are now at the track at Rawlins await- 
 ing shipment to Utah. The home company deserves no little 
 credit for thus utilizing so much of our latent wealth as their 
 means and scope will allow. 
 
 Other valuable deposits of iron ore are found in the north- 
 western part of the Territory and in the Laramie range, on Sa- 
 b-ille Creek. Hematite ores occur near Cheyenne, Laramie City 
 and other points. 
 
 Soda, MarNe, Petroleum, etc. — Among other interests of a 
 different though somewhat kindred nature, and which give 
 promise of growing within a few years to gigantic proportions, 
 are the remarkable and inexhaustible deposits of native soda, in 
 the forms of sulphates and carbonates, and of marble, in the 
 southern-central part of the Territory, as well as the oil wells 
 and the wonderful mine of sulphur near the western end. 
 
 About eleven miles southwesterly from Laramie City is a 
 cluster of lakes exceeding 100 acres in area, consisting of solid 
 beds of pure crystallized sulphate of soda of many feet in thick- 
 ness. The following carefully prepared document, from the pen 
 of Colonel Stephen W. Downey, of Laramie City, will give read- 
 ers a thorough appreciation of this grand resource : 
 
 Laramie City, Wyoming, July # 5, 1877. 
 Robt. E. Strahorn, Esq., Cheyenne, Wyoming: 
 
 Dear Sir, — With reference to the deposits of native soda existing in this 
 Territory, I have the honor to state that attention was especially directed 
 to them by a cube of the material taken from the principal one near this 
 place last year, and exhibited at the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia, 
 attracting much attention. The cube exhibited contained over two hundred 
 cubic feet of solid crystalline sulphate of soda almost chemically pure, and 
 as it exists in its native state. Its constituent elements, as well as I can 
 ascertain, are, by weight, as follows: 19.4 per cent of soda and -24.8 per 
 cent of sulphuric acid, constituting 44.2 per cent of sulphate of soda, the 
 residue being the water of crystallization (55.8 per cent). 
 
 This sulphate fuses in its own water of crystallization at a slightly ele- 
 vated temperature, and by maintaining a temperature of 91%° Fahrenheit 
 for a short time the material would part with its original water and recrys- 
 
68 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 tallize in an almost anhydrous state. The material in the cube, which is as 
 it exists in the deposit, having crystallized below 68° Fahrenheit, contains 
 the maximum of water. In this form it effloresces in the air and its crystals 
 soon fall to powder. Had crystallization taken place at a higher temperature 
 (but under 91^°), a hydrated sulphate would still have been formed, but with 
 less water, and the crystals would have been unalterable in the air. Such 
 being the characteristics of the material, I proceed now to a description of 
 the source of supply. 
 
 The deposit whence the sample mentioned was taken covers an area of 
 more than one hundred acres, being a solid bed of crystallized sulphate of 
 soda about nine feet thick. The deposit is supplied from the bottom by 
 springs, whose water holds the salts in solution. The water rising to the 
 surface rapidly evaporates, and the salts with which it is impregnated readily 
 crystallize in the form mentioned. Upon removing any of the material the 
 water rising from the bottom, tills the excavation made, and the salts crys- 
 tallizing replace, in a few days, the material removed. Hence the deposit is 
 practically inexhaustible, and it now contains about 50,000,000 cubic feet of 
 chemically pure crystallized sulphate of soda ready to be utilized. 
 
 Soda is most valuable in the form of carbonate, although its sulphate, 
 also, has its uses. Neutral carbonate of soda is a salt of vast importance, on 
 account of its uses in the arts, and the production of this salt is a desidera- 
 tum. For a long time it was only obtained from the lixiviation of the ashes 
 of sea- weed — inland plants affording salts of potassa principally, while in 
 marine plants salts of soda preponderate. 
 
 Spain formerly produced the greater part of the carbonate used in Eu- 
 rope, called barilla and sometimes Alicant or Malaga soda. It was after- 
 ward largely prepared on the coasts of Scotland and Wales and among the 
 Hebrides. In the Peninsula the source of supply was limited, and among 
 the rocky crags of the Western Isles it was a difficult task to gather the sea- 
 weed, principally the algse and fuci, by whose incineration the lixiviation of 
 the residual ashes and repeated manipulation, four per cent of soda may be 
 obtained. The supply from these sources being so limited,' and the cost so 
 excessive, early in the present century, chemists, encouraged by the French 
 government, made many attempts to manufacture the article from other 
 materials. After many unsuccessful attempts and fruitless experiments a 
 process was discovered by Le Blanc for the conversion of chloride of sodium 
 into carbonate of soda, and it is to this process that we mainly owe our 
 present supply. 
 
 The soda consumption of the United States amounts to some 250,000,000 
 pounds a year, all of which is imported at an outlay of about $47 in gold 
 per ton, besides the duty, which is, I believe, about 20 per cent ad valorem, 
 making $56.40 in gold per ton, at sea-board. Here is a staple article which 
 is imported at an outlay of $7,000,000 annually, whereas we have within our 
 borders the material for its production in greater purity and abundance than 
 it exists elsewhere, and there is no reason why we should not supply the 
 domestic demand and also foreign markets. 
 
 Le Blanc's process, to which reference has already been had, consists 
 first in converting the chloride of sodium into sulphate of soda by the in- 
 
MINES AND MINING. 69 
 
 i 
 
 troduction of carbonic acid, and then in substituting carbonic acid for the 
 sulphuric acid, which is done by heating together, on the brick hearth of a 
 reverberatory furnace to the point of fusion, materials in the following pro- 
 portions by weight, viz. : 1,000 anhydrous sulphate of soda, 1,040 carbonate 
 of lime, and 530 charcoal. The reaction taking place in such manner that 
 two equivalents of sulphide of calcium, combining with one equivalent of 
 lime, form an oxy sulphide of calcium, perfectly insoluble in water, the water 
 dissolving out only the carbonate of soda. 
 
 As the material of our native deposit is already sulphate of soda, we 
 may dispense with the first and most expensive part of Le Blanc's process, — 
 the production of sulphate of soda from chloride of sodium and sulphuric 
 acid. All that we have to do is to convert the sulphate of soda into the 
 carbonate, and here the latter part of that process seems precisely adapted to 
 the purpose and could be conveniently adopted here, charcoal and limestone 
 bemg cheap and abundant in the immediate vicinity. A Marseilles re- 
 verberatory furnace, such as is used in England and France for the purpose, 
 with the necessary appliances, buildings, etc., for works with a capacity 
 of one ton per day, of the anhydrous carbonate, would cost 'not to exceed 
 $10,000, and the capacity might be increased for less than 50 per cent 
 additional for each ton of increased capacity. 
 
 Now, by a calculation based upon the atomic weight of the combining 
 elements, it is ascertained that for the production of one ton (2,000 pounds) 
 of anhydrous carbonate of soda there are required, — 
 
 2,665 lbs. of anhydrous sulphate of soda. 
 
 2,815 lbs. of carbonate of lime. 
 
 1,013 lbs. of charcoal. 
 
 6,493 lbs. of material, 30 r 8 ff per cent of the sum of the combining 
 equivalents being carbonate of soda. The above proportions differ but 
 slightly from those of the Le Blanc process, which has undergone a thorough 
 practical test, so that we have a safe basis upon which to estimate the cost 
 of production. About 56 per cent of the commercial carbonate being the 
 water of crystallization, after making due allowance for waste in manipula- 
 tion, one ton of the product as above will form two tons in a crystallized 
 state. Hence for the production of one ton of commercial carbonate of 
 soda, — 
 
 1,332 lbs. anhydrous sulphate of soda, costing $1 33 
 
 1,407 lbs. carbonate of lime 70 
 
 506 lbs. charcoal 2 50 
 
 3,245 lbs. material, costing $4 53 
 
 besides transportation to works, the average cost of which would be about 
 $1 per ton=$1.62. Manipulation, it is estimated, would cost $10 per ton, 
 and packages, say $3.50. Summing up, we have for 
 
 material mined $4 53 
 
 transportation to works 1 62 
 
 manipulation 10 00 
 
 packages, etc 3 50 
 
 amounting to $19 65 
 
70 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 per ton of product worth, as hereinbefore stated, $56.40 in gold per ton, 
 assuming- that the article would be worth as much here as it is at the sea- 
 board. Making no allowance for the premium on gold, which at current 
 quotations would compensate for the interest on the capital to be invested, 
 we would have a net profit, on the cost of manufacture, of $36.75 per ton, 
 or 187 per cent. 
 
 And here it might be well to state that the deposit is convenient to lines 
 of transportation, being only about eleven miles from this point on the great 
 trans-continental railroad, the intervening country being a hard and level 
 plain, affording an excellent natural road-bed, with grass and abundance of 
 good water at convenient intervals. And also, in passing, I might mention 
 that the United States Penitentiary, containing about seventy-five (75) con- 
 victs, is located here and at the most convenient point for works. By em- 
 ploying convict labor, which might be obtained for fifty cents per day (a 
 rate as low as the lowest of foreign cheap labor), the cosfc of production would 
 be reduced far below the estimate given. 
 
 Hence, we have a resource here, in addition to our mines of the precious 
 metal, which offers a most promising opportunity for the profitable and safe 
 employment of capital in an immense industry. And as the resource is 
 inexhaustible, the cost of production such as to preclude successful compe- 
 tition by the importers, and other deposits of equal extent, and affording 
 material of equal purity, cannot be found in this country, we may reasonably 
 hope for the establishment of an industry here whose product will supply 
 the entire soda trade of the United States, giving employment to a thousand 
 hands, saving millions to the people and enriching its proprietors. 
 I remain yours truly, 
 
 Stephen W. Downey. 
 
 Sixty miles north of Eawlins are two soda lakes, almost 
 equally valuable, and now estimated to contain 125,000 tons of 
 carbonate of soda crystallized and held in solution by the waters. 
 Calculating upon the low basis of $45 per ton as the net price 
 of this commodity, these lakes would yield from their present 
 supply of water and crystallizations nearly $6,000,000. By build- 
 ing five miles of wagon road through the Seminole mountains 
 these lakes could be reached in a distance of thirty-five miles 
 from Eawlins. 
 
 The marble quarries belonging to the Wyoming Marble Com- 
 pany, located twenty-five miles north of Laramie City and twelve 
 miles from Cooper Lake station, on the Union Pacific railway, 
 are among the wonders of our latent resources. A ledge eighty 
 feet wide has been traced for two miles on its surface and has 
 been prospected to a depth of 100 feet without reaching the 
 bottom. The surface rock is very fine in grain, but naturally 
 discolored by long exposure to the weather. In penetrating sue- 
 
MINES AND MINING. 71 
 
 cessive layers, however, the rock has gradually purified in color 
 until it is a glistening white, and has lost all trace of seams or 
 the partially decomposed texture more common on the top. 
 Specimens now on exhibition at the office of the president of the 
 company, Wm. H. Holliday, Laramie City, have a beautiful 
 crystallized sparkle, and possess all the rich finish of the finest 
 Vermont marble and the solidity and compactness of the best 
 American granite. 
 
 Eegarding the quality of the marble taken from the surface, 
 when the deposit was first opened, J. Pfeiffer & Son, St. Joseph, 
 Missouri, probably the best authorities in the west on marble, 
 write : " We have dressed the samples of Wyoming marble and 
 are much pleased with their appearance. ... If the main body 
 of the marble is as good as these samples, we should prefer it to 
 Vermont marble for monumental work. Any of it would be 
 handsome for store or residence fronts. This is the view we take 
 of it while chiseling and polishing it." The superintendent of 
 the Northwestern Marble and Granite Company, Chicago, says : 
 " The sample of stone sent by you is received, and we have worked 
 it down and polished it. We find it to be what is called ' marble 
 limestone' — that is, the stone that comes from the surface, and 
 which generally covers the real marble. We think that by quar- 
 rying further down you will strike the ' real thing/ probably as 
 good as they have in Vermont." Henry Wilson, the widely 
 known importer and dealer in marble, St. Louis, has this to say 
 of the surface material : " The specimens are received. . . . The 
 rock takes a faint, greasy, flinty polish, but cuts as nice and 
 clean as statuary marble." Of course it will be remembered that 
 these tests were made from surface layers, and that the specimens 
 by no means represented the quality of the marble as it is found 
 at" the bottom of the quarry. A fine vein of richly variegated 
 marble of the delicate bluish tracery, is also found in the deposit. 
 
 The proportion of really first-class building stone in the 
 United States is very small, and outside of this deposit no avail- 
 able marble, worthy of the name, is found west of Vermont. 
 Joliet, Illinois, building stone is going into public buildings at 
 Omaha and Lincoln, Nebraska, and has been shipped even 
 farther west. Cincinnati freestone has been similarly used a 
 thousand miles from the quarries, while Maine furnishes granite 
 for the extensive government buildings at St. Louis and else- 
 
72 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 where in the Mississippi Valley States. Vermont marble sells in 
 every city of the Union, and is almost daily shipped across the 
 continent past our inexhaustible quarries — producing as good 
 an article — to the Pacific slope. This trade in marble and fine 
 cut stone in the United States amounts to over $10,000,000 an- 
 nually, and the production is largely confined to the seven States, 
 Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Ohio 
 and Illinois. An ordinary grade of Vermont marble sells at any 
 of the Missouri river towns at $6 per cubic foot, while the same 
 quality from our Wyoming quarries could be laid down at similar 
 locations at $3 per cubic foot, at a handsome profit to the pro- 
 ducer. We have enough marble in these quarries to build the 
 State-houses of the Union, and enough of the more beautiful 
 grades to share with Vermont and Italy the marble trade of the 
 whole land, reaping as an income therefrom five or six million 
 dollars annually. 
 
 The oil-bearing shales and numerous deposits of crude petro- 
 leum found in Wyoming are worthy of especial note. Ten miles 
 east of Evanston, at the Bear-river crossing, and at a point 
 known ever since the California stampede as "White's Oil 
 Springs," is an oil-bearing stratum, destined at some day to rival 
 the best similar formation of Pennsylvania. Surface oil in the 
 vicinity has always been draining away in copious quantities, and 
 has been found superior to the best of heavy lubricating oils for 
 stationary machinery or locomotive engines. The well-known 
 shale above and sand-rock stratum below, are identical with the 
 formations of eastern oil regions, and the unmistakable surface 
 indications are traced from northeast to southwest for a distance 
 of twenty miles. Mr. E. L. Pease, of Evanston, formerly for years 
 identified with the oil-producing interest of Pennsylvania, looked 
 this ground over carefully, in 1869, and was so firmly impressed 
 with its value that he at once secured an interest, returned to 
 Pennsylvania, secured the necessary machinery for boring, and 
 soon had his enterprise in working order. At a depth of 175 feet 
 the first layer of sand-rock was penetrated, and a better flow of 
 oil obtained than was ever known at a similar depth in the east. 
 
 But on account of large lumbering interests previously ac- 
 quired, and other calls upon his attention, Mr. Pease was com- 
 pelled to be away much of the time. The work fell into incapa- 
 ble hands, drills were fastened into the rock and broken off, aud 
 
MINES AND MINING. 73 
 
 other valuable portions of machinery and casing shattered. While 
 reluctantly giving up his favorite project for a few years, this 
 gentleman has always carefully guarded his interest, and is now 
 on the eve of bestowing upon it the attention merited. Im- 
 proved machinery will soon be introduced upon the scene, and 
 the work will be pushed with the best system and vigor. 
 
 Within half a mile of the deposit are inexhaustible quantities 
 of coal and other auxiliaries necessary to refining. Petroleum 
 also exists in Green River Valley, near Eed Buttes, Bridge r, and 
 at several other points easy of access. Immense quantities of oil- 
 bearing shale near Green River City, are found to yield at the 
 rate of thirty gallons of good merchantable lubricating oil per 
 ton. Oil can be shipped from Wyoming east to the Missouri 
 river, and west to the Pacific Coast and Sandwich Islands in 
 competition with Pennsylvania oils ; and to show the importance 
 of such production, even in a local way, it need only be stated 
 that nearly $200,000 worth of refined and crude petroleum are 
 consumed in Wyoming annually. Then it should be remembered 
 that each of the adjoining States and Territories furnish a mar- 
 ket for from twice to four times as much more. 
 
 On Hayden's Fork, a tributary of Bear river, forty miles 
 southeast of Evanston, is a wonderful mass of sulphur. A vein, 
 forty feet wide, and carrying from fifty to ninety per cent, of 
 sulphur, has been prospected for 300 feet up the side of a large 
 mountain. A United States patent has been secured on the 
 property by a company of enterprising western gentlemen. The 
 deposit can be reached by wagon-road in twenty-three miles from 
 Hilliard, on the Union Pacific. 
 6 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 FOREST PRODUCTIONS. 
 
 PUBLISHED statements of Wyoming's forest area have 
 varied greatly, and in the case of the estimates sent broad- 
 cast by the Department of Agriculture, in its latest annual 
 report, the extent has been sadly underestimated. Instead of 
 5,000,000 acres, as stated in the report of 1875, the Territory 
 contains more than 15,000,000 acres of forest lands, from nearly 
 every acre of which an average yield of merchantable lumber can 
 be cut. Instead of being placed twenty-ninth, therefore, in the 
 list of timbered States and Territories, Wyoming should be no 
 lower than tenth. 
 
 The forests are confined principally to the prominent ranges 
 of mountains in the central and western portions, although 
 quite an extensive area in the northern and northeastern parts 
 of the Territory are bountifully supplied, even on the lower 
 bluffs. Pine, spruce, cedar, fir and hemlock are the varieties pre- 
 dominating in the mountains and bluffs, while along the streams 
 Cottonwood, black ash and box-elder are the more prominent 
 species. At present a variety of pine, common in the Eocky 
 Mountain region, furnishes nearly the entire lumber supply. It 
 is as white as the eastern pine, almost as hard -as the hardest 
 spruce, and is nearly identical with the Norway pine in size and 
 appearance. By lumbermen from Maine and California it is pro- 
 nounced far superior in quality to the white pine native to those 
 sea-girt sections, although trees rarely attain great size. While 
 it contains more knots, this native variety is yet finer-grained, 
 more dense and elastic, and takes a much more beautiful finish 
 than the pine growing at lower altitudes either east or west. Six 
 months are required to thoroughly season it in the open air ; but 
 by that time, as a Wyoming lumberman expressed it to the writer, 
 " it beats the world for outside work, for flooring, or for other 
 hard usage." It has almost supplanted eastern finishing lumber 
 in the cities of Wyoming. 
 
» II Sir 
 
FOREST PRODUCTIONS. 77 
 
 The forests most extensively utilized at present are those 
 tributary to Laramie city, along the Laramie and Little Laramie 
 rivers; those along the North Platte and Medicine Bow rivers, 
 adjacent to Port Steele and Medicine Bow stations ; those farther 
 west, along Bear river and its tributaries, in the vicinity of 
 Hilliard and Evanston, and those in the central part of the Ter- 
 ritory supplying the mining and stock-raising settlements of the 
 Sweetwater and Wind River regions. The forests within a radius 
 of forty miles of Laramie city are producing 2,000,000 feet of 
 lumber, 2,000,000 shingles, 500,000 lath, 270,000 railroad ties 
 and large quantities of fencing per annum. The lumber is sawed 
 in the forests and hauled to the railroad, while ties, poles, etc., 
 are floated down the streams to booms constructed near the 
 track. Several stations near Laramie city, on either side, are 
 shipping points for a portion of this product. Half a dozen 
 companies, employing from twenty-five to fifty men each, are 
 engaged in the industry in this portion of the Territory. The 
 product is increasing annually. 
 
 At Evanston and Hilliard, in the extreme western part of the 
 Territory, three large companies, besides numerous smaller ones, 
 are engaged in the manufacture of lumber and in the production 
 of wood, ties and charcoal. The Evanston Lumbering Company 
 alone produces nearly 2,000,000 feet of lumber per annum, and 
 from a comparatively small beginning in 1869 has grown to such 
 proportions that during the present year seventy-five men are 
 regularly employed, and 2,000,000 feet of logs have already been 
 cut at its logging camps and placed in readiness for the summer's 
 drive down Bear river. The company has improved the river 
 channel to the extent of $10,000. The Hilliard Flume- and 
 Lumber Company has constructed a flume twenty-five miles long 
 from its extensive mills in the Uintah mountains to the railroad, 
 at a cost of $200,000. Over 2,000,000 feet of lumber were used 
 in the construction of the flume. This, continually filled with 
 water tapped from Bear river, has proved even more desirable 
 than a railroad for the transportation of lumber to its. point of 
 final shipment, as its capacity is all that is required, and it 
 performs its work with speed and rare economy. The business 
 of this company the present year is large in both the production 
 of lumber and of cord wood, — the latter being used principally in 
 the manufacture of charcoal. 
 
78 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 At several of the points named, and at other stations along 
 the Union Pacific, the production of charcoal has become a very 
 important interest. Altogether eight or ten firms, operating 
 some fifty kilns or pits, are thus engaged, consuming nearly 
 50,000 cords of wood and producing 2,000,000 bushels of char- 
 coal per year. The charcoal is used principally in the smelters 
 of Utah, a small amount, however, being appropriated by the 
 Hilliard smelting works. 
 
 Following is an accurate statement of the value of Wyoming 
 forest products for the year 1877 : 
 
 Lumber, sawed $345,000 
 
 Railroad ties, wood and fencing 455,360 
 
 Charcoal 240,000 
 
 Total $1,040,360 
 
 Professional lumbermen, from the forests of Maine, are em- 
 ployed by the principal companies. These receive from $4 to $5 
 per day, while ordinary loggers and laborers get $30 to $40 per 
 month and board. About 1,000 men are employed in this 
 interest and in the production of charcoal during busy seasons, 
 and two-thirds of the number find work the year round. Ordi- 
 nary rough lumber sells at railroad stations at an average of $25 
 per thousand feet; finishing lumber, $40 per thousand. The 
 railroads and local markets consume nearly the entire product. 
 It is estimated that these forests in southern Wyoming have in 
 the past ten years supplied 7,000,000 railroad ties, which have 
 sold for $5,000,000, and 50,000,000 feet of lumber, worth $4,500,- 
 000, besides several million dollars' worth of wood, fencing, 
 telegraph poles, etc.; and yet our best forests are practically 
 untouched, and our market scarcely a tithe of what it will be in 
 the near future when other resources are developed. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE MANUFACTURING INTEREST. 
 
 IN Wyoming, as in other Eocky Mountain Territories and 
 States, there exist hundreds Upon hundreds of germs which 
 at no very distant day will give life to the grandest of manufact- 
 uring enterprises, and make new cities quiver with proud activity. 
 Nature paved the way along the western ranges for the sway of the 
 forge, the shuttle and the loom as she never paved it in the older 
 States and worlds. The resources of iron, coal, lumber and wood 
 have always been among the first to enlist the attention of care- 
 ful investors, and have yielded such men wealth and place, while 
 they have clustered about them new interests, new dependencies 
 and incalculable prosperity. 
 
 Iron ores which rival the metals of Michigan and Missouri, 
 forest productions second to those of no State, and pasturage 
 soon to produce its millions in wool, hides and meat, are among 
 the incentives here offered ; while for their profitable utilization 
 are numberless well-distributed and unexcelled water powers, vast 
 deposits of the finest coals, and already a market eager to con- 
 sume a large home product. The very center and dome of the 
 continent, Wyoming pays constant tribute to either the mills, 
 foundries and machine shops of the far east, or else to the 
 smelters of the west and south. Eailroads are not always modest 
 in their charges upon our productions, which only journey far 
 toward the rising sun to again return in due time, — once more 
 well levied for transportation, — manufactured into staple articles. 
 It is a broad assertion, but a true one, that a few of the eastern 
 States are today swallowing the major part of the results of our 
 best western enterprise and energy, with the inevitable sweep of 
 a grand industrial maelstrom. 
 
 From official statistics we learn that Massachusetts employs 
 54,000 people in the manufacture of boots and shoes, annually 
 consumes $40,000,000 worth of raw material, which is largely 
 from the west, pays as wages nearly $30,000,000, and ships prin- 
 
80 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 cipally to western marts $90,000,000 worth of boots and shoes per 
 annum. During the past year Wyoming has sent nearly $300,000 
 worth of the raw material in this line, there or elsewhere worked 
 up. To have tanned it, manufactured and sold it here, without 
 paying the item of several thousand miles of transportation, 
 would have built up a thriving little village, would have mate- 
 rially stimulated productive enterprise, and would have kept six 
 or seven hundred thousand bright dollars in continued home 
 circulation. The manufacture of woolen goods in the same 
 State gives constant employment to 20,000 operatives, who 
 receive as wages and put into circulation annually over $7,000,- 
 000, and convert $24,000,000 worth of wool into $39,000,000 
 worth of cloths. Success is as sure to attend those who would 
 engage in this business, if energetic and persevering, as it has 
 those iron men of New England, who have made their barren 
 and rocky country nourish through the industry of her looms 
 and spindles. Nowhere do they produce a better article of wool 
 than we can produce in these Territories. Only give us the 
 machinery to transform it into fabrics for which we are sending 
 thousands of miles. Our prosperity would then be well based — 
 something that never fails — and add more wealth to the country 
 than the sluice-box or silver veins, and be more evenly prosperous. 
 
 There is plenty of surplus capital here that ought to be in- 
 vested in spindles instead of- brocade silks and furbelows — the 
 products of eastern looms and industry. No country in the 
 world can compete with us in the production of wool, and we 
 are enriching the east — piling wealth into the laps of those who 
 are willing to use their money at a fair and steady profit, and 
 giving work to thousands of men, women and children. We 
 have heard it said that labor is too high to make it profitable 
 business. Not so, for laborers here would work for as low a 
 figure as in the east, if these products were as cheap, and the re- 
 duction can only come through home manufactories. The east- 
 ern imports are what enhance the price of living with us. Why 
 is it that the scattering manufactures that are established about 
 us, on a small scale, are standing up under the pressure of high 
 wages for labor ? Their products are sold as cheap as you can 
 buy imports of like quality, and they are giving employment to 
 a limited number and keeping the money in the country. 
 
 In Dr. Latham's eloquent and enthusiastic outburst upon 
 
THE MANUFACTURING INTEREST. 81 
 
 this subject a few years ago, after describing the vast pasturages 
 directly tributary to Cheyenne on the north, occurred these 
 rather pertinent words : " This 6,400,000 acres of land would 
 give ample pasturage to as many sheep or to all the sheep in the 
 great State of Ohio, which annually produce 24,000,000 pounds 
 of wool, valued at $8,000,000. It would also produce annually 
 500,000 mutton sheep, worth in market $2,500,000. What would 
 be the effect upon Cheyenne to be the entrepot for the trade inci- 
 dent upon the growing and shipping (or manufacture) of 24,000,- 
 000 pounds of wool, such as is used in making the lustrous 
 black broadcloths and French merinos, or the growing of an 
 equal amount of the long, silken, floss-like combing wools of 
 England, and the shipment of 500,000 mutton sheep to market ?" 
 
 The forges and furnaces of Pennsylvania, located 1,000 miles 
 from their largest iron supply, employ 40,000 men, producing 
 $120,000,000 worth of staple iron goods annually, and ship a 
 large percentage of those staples across the continent, past our 
 magnificent mountains of iron and over our vast depths of 
 coal measures. When our incomparable pyramids of the base 
 metal and our blackened strata of never-ending lignites are once 
 utilized to supply even home demand we will have accomplished 
 more than the conquering of a city. The crushing and smelting 
 of ores carrying the precious metals must also eventually prove 
 a great interest here. As much additional income could thus be 
 saved to our miners as the amount of tariff now paid in trans- 
 porting refractory ores to distant markets or smelters. It is sel- 
 dom the small quantity of rich ores, bearing shipment abroad, 
 which render mining regions prosperous, but it is the vast de- 
 posits of loiv-grade ores, ivorked economically at home, which 
 have given to most mining regions their permanent wealth. 
 
 The production of soda from the wonderful deposits of native 
 sulphates and carbonates in our soda lakes is already attracting 
 attention, and must soon prove a large addition to our manu- 
 facturing interests. As is elsewhere stated, these lakes are. capable 
 of supplying the whole of the 250,000,000 pounds of merchant- 
 able soda used annually in the United States, and can therefore 
 keep in home circulation over $7,000,000 in gold which now an- 
 nually goes abroad for the imported article. 
 
 To these interests may be added the utilization of our quar- 
 ries of marble, yet to astonish the world by their extent and 
 
82 
 
 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 beauty of product ; and of our deposits of iron oxides, from which 
 a superior quality of paint sufficient to supply the entire West 
 for an indefinite period can be economically manufactured. 
 
 The writer has bestowed no little time and labor in compil- 
 ing the following comparative table showing the progress of 
 Wyoming in the manufacturing line : 
 
 The official reports of 1870 were taken as a basis for comparison, but have 
 been found very inaccurate in numerous instances. The hitherto almost 
 total absence of statistics regarding the Territory's productions, compiled 
 either by public or private enterprise, has rendered such work extremely 
 difficult, and in a few minor cases — where principals in enterprises could not 
 be personally visited by the writer — necessarily imperfect: 
 
 Industries. 
 
 Boots and shoes . . . 
 
 Blacksmithing .... 
 
 Brewing 
 
 Bread, crackers, etc. 
 
 Confectionery 
 
 Charcoal 
 
 Clothing, men's . . . 
 
 Dentistry 
 
 Drugs & chemicals . 
 
 Gunsmithing 
 
 Jewelry 
 
 Lumber, sawed .... 
 
 Lime 
 
 Masonry, brick and 
 stone 
 
 Metallic paint 
 
 Millinery 
 
 Machinery, railroad 
 repairing, etc 
 
 Printing and pub- 
 lishing 
 
 Photography 
 
 Quartz, milled 
 
 Railroad ties, poles, 
 posts and wood. . 
 
 Saddlery and har- 
 ness 
 
 Tin, copper and 
 sheet-ironware. . 
 
 Sales of tanned 
 robes, hides and 
 furs 
 
 Totals 
 
 No. of 
 Establish- 
 ments. 
 
 1870. 
 4 
 4 
 
 ?A 
 
 1877. 
 22 
 31 
 
 197 
 
 Capital Invested. 
 
 1870. 
 $6,200 
 108,500 
 
 1,500 
 
 10,500 
 110,500 
 
 590,500 
 
 1,800 
 
 ' 46,666 
 
 60,000 
 
 13,900 
 
 $1,149,400 
 
 1877. 
 
 $18,500 
 
 185,000 
 
 54,000 
 
 21,500 
 
 4,500 
 
 54,000 
 
 14,000 
 
 2,500 
 
 13,400 
 
 3,000 
 
 14,000 
 
 241,000 
 
 1,800 
 
 9,000 
 25,000 
 18,500 
 
 837,000 
 
 32,000 
 7,000 
 
 78,500 
 
 18,000 
 22,000 
 
 $1,674,200 
 
 Product. 
 
 1870. 
 
 $41,640 
 55,628 
 
 8,500 
 
 42,167 
 268,000 
 
 226,569 
 
 6,000 
 
 " 76,666 
 
 110,000 
 
 40,320 
 
 $874,824 
 
 1877. 
 
 $78,400 
 
 235,500 
 80,500 
 70,000 
 19,300 
 
 240,000 
 50,000 
 9,000 
 18,000 
 10,000 
 51,000 
 
 345,000 
 4,940 
 
 37,500 
 
 5,000 
 
 44,800 
 
 1,429,420 
 
 74,800 
 
 24,900 
 
 215,000 
 
 455,360 
 
 65,000 
 
 58,500 
 
 295,000 
 
 $3,918,120 
 
THE MANUFACTURING INTEREST. 83 
 
 • The very large increase noticed in the items of machinery, 
 railroad repairing, etc., is due, to a considerable extent, to the 
 product of the rolling mills. These have been established at 
 Laramie City since the first report was made. In the estimate of 
 quartz milled the yield of several mills in the Black Hills, known 
 to be located in Wyoming, is included. That the manufacturing 
 interest has here quadrupled in these half-dozen unfavorable 
 years — while the whole country has been groaning under a 
 gloomy depression, and Wyoming enterprise has been confined to 
 one-fourth of its rightful scope — and that we have seen but the 
 "beginning of the dawn," are facts plain and bright as the noon- 
 day sun. 
 
 It is a golden truth that home production is the only solid 
 foundation for perfect and permanent prosperity. When the 
 unnatural stimulus — received by young western cities and com- 
 monwealths from their first flushed and enthusiastic comers — is 
 gone, there is a universal casting about for genuine "under- 
 pinning/' " What have we to show for all this stir and bustle, 
 and what can we send abroad as an equivalent for the world's 
 coveted dollars?" are the anxious inquiries. To enjoy such 
 resources as are truthfully credited to Wyoming in these pages, 
 and then to properly utilize those resources, must force homage 
 and draw wealth. Proper utilization, then, is, in the end, the 
 lever ; for in this fast age the hare, with all his advantages of 
 speed, strength, elasticity and beauty, wakes up to find that the 
 homely and despised, but energetic tortoise has long since gained 
 the goal. 
 
CHAPTER Till. 
 
 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY AND CLIMATOLOGY OF THE GREAT 
 PLAINS AND ROCKY MOUNTAIN REGIONS. 
 
 By George W. Coket, M.D., Cheyenne, Wyoming. 
 
 IT is our purpose to present in this chapter a brief outline of 
 the physical geography and climatology of the great plains 
 and Eocky Mountain regions. A general knowledge of the 
 physical geography of a country is indispensable in studying its 
 climate, and it is impossible to consider intelligently the climatic 
 conditions of any arbitrary political division, such as Wyoming, 
 Colorado and Utah, without taking into account to % some extent 
 the whole of this vast elevated region of table lands and moun- 
 tains. 
 
 The elevation and direction of these mountain ranges and 
 their accompanying plateaus are the prominent physical features 
 of the western portion of our continent. The bulk and elevation 
 of these lofty mountain ranges and elevated plateaus, when com- 
 pared with the bulk and diameter of the earth, appear very 
 insignificant; yet, slight as it may seem, this element of altitude 
 most powerfully affects the climate of these regions and the pro- 
 ductions of organic life. If at the equator we ascend vertically 
 until we reach an altitude of 18,000 or 20,000 feet, we find a 
 region of perpetual frost. A difference then of a few thousand 
 feet of elevation changes entirely the character of a country, 
 other things being equal. These mountain ranges also influence 
 more or less the direction and character of the winds and the 
 distribution of rain. 
 
 Mountain Formation. — The Pacific mountain formation ex- 
 tends from the Sierra Nevada and Cascade ranges, which lie 
 along the western border of the continent to the great plains 
 that stretch away from the eastern base of the Eocky Mountains. 
 This region comprises these two great marginal ranges, and the 
 great plateau or basin that lies between them. The elevation of 
 this plateau within the boundaries of the United States is from 
 
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY AND CLIMATOLOGY. 85 
 
 4,000 to 6,000 feet. In old Mexico it reaches an elevation of 
 8,000 feet, while away to the north its elevation is only 800 feet. 
 Unlike the plains east of the Rocky Mountains that have for the 
 most part a smooth, undulating surface, the surface of this pla- 
 teau through its whole extent is broken up by an infinite per- 
 plexity of mountain spurs and broken ranges, while no less than 
 five distinct and pretty well defined mountain chains extend 
 across it from one marginal range to the other. Its surface is 
 one vast net-work of mountain chains and broken mountain 
 masses, interspersed with rivers made up of innumerable torrents 
 that pour down the flanks and deep gorges of the mountains, 
 fertile valleys, parks, or intra-mountain basins, fresh and salt- 
 water lakes, sandy and alkaline wastes. This mountainous 
 region covers about two-sevenths of the superficial area of the 
 continent. Along the thirty-ninth parallel its breadth is about 
 1,000 miles, and it extends from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec to 
 the Arctic Ocean, about 4,000 miles. 
 
 The Sierra Nevada and Cascade Mountains. — The Sierra 
 Nevada mountains through the whole length of the State of Cali- 
 fornia are lofty and continuous, presenting an almost unbroken 
 front, with an average elevation of 10,000 feet. This "great 
 sea-wall" perfectly shuts off the mild, beautiful climate of the 
 coast. But little moisture ever surmounts its lofty crest, and the 
 regions along its eastern base are extremely barren and desolate. 
 The Cascade range, which extends along the coast through Ore- 
 gon and Washington Territories and the mountains farther 
 north, are uniformly low and broken, and the contrast between 
 the county east of them and the regions east of the lofty Sierra 
 Nevada is most striking. 
 
 The Rocky Mountains. — This range is the main axis, or back- 
 bone of the continent. It is known as the Snowy Range, the 
 Sierra Madre of the Spaniards, and in Mexico as the Cordilleras, 
 but is essentially one vast chain of enormous bulk and great 
 elevation. It is composed of apparently distinct ranges, approxi- 
 mately parallel and bound together by numerous cross ranges. 
 From old Mexico northward to the north line of Colorado the 
 crests of these mountains are uniformly high — 10,000 to 12,000 
 feet — and the direction of the range is nearly exactly north and 
 south. 
 
 The most elevated region in North America is attained along 
 
86 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 this range between the thirty-ninth and forty-first parallels of 
 north latitude, within the boundaries of the State of Colorado, 
 and known as the Parks. These are immense irregular basins, 
 walled in on all sides by lofty mountain ranges, and are three in 
 number — the North, Middle and South Parks. 
 
 The contrast of climate, soil and verdure between these 
 mountain-locked plateaus, and the grand old desolate peaks and 
 mountain crests that surround them, is without a parallel any- 
 where else in nature. The surfaces of these plateaus are diversi- 
 fied by innumerable streams fed by the melting snows of the 
 mountains around them. The foot-hills and ridges that separate 
 these water-courses are covered with a dense growth of pine, 
 while the valley portion of the parks is clothed with luxuriant 
 grasses and flowering plants of many species, and are extremely 
 fertile. The elevation of these parks is from 9,000 to 10,000 feet 
 and the area of each is about 2,500 square miles. 
 
 In the vicinity of these parks, and standing about them like 
 grim old sentinels, are some of the loftiest peaks of the Rocky 
 Mountain range. The summit of Mount Lincoln attains an 
 elevation of 17,000 feet; Pike's Peak, 14,216 feet; Long's Peak, 
 14,056 feet; Gray's Peak, 14,251 feet. The average elevation of 
 the range here is about 12,000 feet, and its base 6,000 feet. At 
 the southern boundary of Wyoming the range trends rapidly to 
 the north and passes across this Territory, Montana and the 
 British possessions in a northwest course. It is here very much 
 broken, and, through the whole extent of this Territory, appar- 
 ently disconnected. Its summit and general direction is, how- 
 ever, well defined. If we ascend the North Platte river and the 
 Sweetwater and go on through the South Pass, the ascent is so 
 gradual and the regions on either side so vast, with scarcely a 
 mountain crest in sight, we can hardly appreciate that we have 
 attained an elevation of more than 7,000 feet and are crossing 
 the backbone of the continent through this immense gateway of 
 the mountains. 
 
 In the vicinity of the Yellowstone Lake, in the northwest 
 corner of Wyoming, the range again attains an elevation of 
 10,000 feet, but rapidly falls off, and through Montana is uni- 
 formly low — 6,000 to 8,000 feet. Through the regions north 
 of Montana the mountains continue to decrease in elevation, 
 furnishing less obstruction to the warm winds that naturally 
 flow across from the Pacific Ocean. 
 
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY AND CLIMATOLOGY. 87 
 
 The Great Plains. — That vast treeless region that stretches 
 away from the eastern base of the Kocky Mountains, known as 
 the Great Plains, has an average width of about 450 miles, and 
 extends from near the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic Ocean. Its 
 eastern boundary should be located about the 99th degree of west 
 longitude. For purposes of accurate description this country 
 should be divided into zones or regions of different elevations. 
 The line which we have mentioned as the eastern boundary of the 
 plains is very nearly the line of 2,000 feet elevation. Very little of 
 the country west of that line will be found to have less than 2,000 
 feet elevation, while very little of the country east of it has as 
 great an elevation as 2,000 feet. Coming west from the Missouri 
 river anywhere south of the Platte we shall find, as we approach 
 that line, that a very considerable swell or terrace occurs in the 
 surface of the plain ; that west of this a marked diminution in 
 the annual rainfall occurs; that forest trees grow only in the 
 valleys near the streams ; that vegetation is scant, and that the 
 grasses of the plain dry up and cure on the ground during the 
 latter part of the summer and early fall, and that agriculture 
 without irrigation will be found to be impracticable. Along this 
 line, north of the Platte, extending to the great divide between 
 the upper Missouri basin and the slope toward the Arctic Ocean, 
 changes in elevation, climate, etc., occur similar to those we have 
 mentioned as occurring south of the Platte. 
 
 Passing on westward in the regions south of the Platte, we 
 shall find another very rapid increase in the elevation of the plain 
 3,s we reach the vicinity of the 102d degree of west longitude. 
 This swell or terrace is even more abrupt and marked than the 
 other of which we have spoken, and its brow marks the line of 
 4,000 feet elevation. From the base of this terrace flow out the 
 Colorado and Brazos rivers of Texas, the Eed river of Louisiana, 
 prominent confluents of the Canadian river and the Arkansas, 
 -also the Kansas and Eepublican. From the headwaters of the 
 Eepublican the line of this terrace is deflected rapidly to the 
 northwest, and the Niobrara river, the White river and the two 
 forks of the Cheyenne river that encircle the Black Hills flow 
 out of its base. It is lost in the foot-hills at the south end of 
 the Big Horn mountains, and the line of 4,000 feet elevation 
 -continues close along the base of the mountains and among the 
 foot-hills to the line of the British possessions and beyond. We 
 
88 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 have now reached the most elevated table-lands of the continent, 
 and as we leave the line of 4,000 feet elevation and continue to 
 travel westward in New Mexico, Colorado or southern Wyoming 
 the ascent is gradual until the undulations of the plain swell up 
 abruptly into the foot-hills of the great Snowy Range. These foot- 
 hills are the outliers of the main range — they mask its crest and 
 break and graduate its descent. Their surfaces are for the most 
 part smooth and grass-grown to their summits, with here and 
 there considerable forests of timber. At some points, however, 
 they are rugged and abrupt, and crowned with rocky escarp- 
 ments. The elevation of the base of these foot-hills is from 5,000 
 to 6,000 feet. This most elevated region of the Great Plains is 
 well watered, and the valleys of the streams where irrigation is 
 practicable are rich and fertile, and it is on these elevated table- 
 lands that about one-half of the population of the Great Plains 
 and the Rocky Mountain regions is at present to be found — in 
 New Mexico, Colorado and Wyoming principally engaged in 
 agricultural and pastoral pursuits. Almost the entire region 
 of the Great Plains north of the Platte river falls within the 
 lines of 2,000 to 4,000 feet elevation, and from the Platte to the 
 British possessions are entirely within the Great Basin of the 
 upper Missouri. It is in this region that the Black Hills, the 
 Powder river and Big Horn gold fields are situated — it is here 
 that a greater portion of the buffalo remaining are to be found 
 in their original home, and it is here that the most numerous 
 and warlike tribe of Indians that have ever existed on the conti- 
 nent have roamed about at will until recently. This region of 
 the Great Plains presents a more mountainous, uneven surface 
 than the region south of the Platte. Its rivers are more numer- 
 ous, its river valleys and mountain flanks are better timbered, its 
 soils of valley, plain and hill-side are more fertile, and vegetation 
 is everywhere more abundant. 
 
 Climatology. — In discussing the climatology of any particular 
 region of country, it is necessary to consider, to a greater or less 
 extent, the climatology of the whole continent, especially that 
 portion of it that is subject to similar climatic influences, and 
 jalso that portion in the same latitude that is subject to different 
 climatic influences. And it is often very necessary, and the 
 source of a great deal of interesting information, to compare the 
 climates of the continents, and also different portions of the con- 
 
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY AND CLIMATOLOGY. 89 
 
 tinents in the same latitudes. It is our purpose to speak in a 
 geueral way of the climate of the Great Plains and the Kocky 
 Mountain regions, and, closing this chapter, to speak particularly 
 of the region specially under consideration in this volume. Al- 
 though a great deal has been said in late years in a desultory 
 way about the climate of the Kocky Mountain regions, the sub- 
 ject is probably less understood than almost any other in reference 
 to this country.* The climate of these highlands is entirely 
 unlike that of the States east of the Missouri river, or that of the 
 Pacific coast west of the Sierra Nevada mountains. Those 
 regions are designated as having marine climates, being more 
 fully under the influence of the great oceans than are the interior 
 highlands which are designated as having continental climate. 
 If these highlands, with their present latitude and altitude, were 
 subject to the same climatic influences as the Atlantic coast of 
 the continent, or the same as the Mississippi basin east of the 
 Mississippi river, four-fifths of this important division of the 
 country would be uninhabitable on account of the rigor oT its 
 climate. But the influence of the great elevation of these 
 regions, and even the high latitudes of portions of them, is over- 
 come by other influences, as we shall see, making them not only 
 habitable, but giving them a climate extremely healthful and 
 pleasant, more so than that of the Atlantic coast of the continent, 
 at the sea level, in the same latitudes. It is a fact well under- 
 stood that degrees of latitude, or the distance of any given region 
 from the equator, does not absolutely control its temperature, nor 
 the other physical conditions that go to make up its climate. 
 The western coasts of the continent in the northern hemisphere 
 are found to be warmer than the eastern. This fact is due to the 
 influence of the atmospheric currents, and the thermal currents 
 of the great oceans in distributing the heat of the tropics to 
 
 * The most distinguished author on climatology in the United States, wrote for a 
 publication of 1874 as follows: " The mean temperatures for the winter are significant 
 and valuable guides to the climate in its relations to vegetable and animal life. The 
 absolute limit of the growth of grass is coincident with the isothermal line of 32°, which 
 passes near Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, Cincinnati and St. Louis — thence 
 westward to Denver, north of Santa Fe, and northwestward past Salt Lake to the forty- 
 ninth parallel in northern Oregon. Very little winter pasturage exists in all the regions 
 north of this line, except in winters unusually mild." Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, all 
 entirely north of the line above designated, had, according to the census of 1870, 177,000 
 cattle and 10,000 sheep. Sheep are fed in these districts from five to fifteen of the stormy 
 days of each winter, and no one any more thinks of feeding cattle, that graze on these 
 plains the year round (except a few milch cows), than they think of gathering in herds of 
 buffalo and feeding them. 
 7 
 
90 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 these shores. The most remarkable example of the difference in 
 the temperature between the eastern and western shores of the 
 continents in the same latitude, is found between North America 
 and Europe. The difference between eastern Asia and western 
 North America is also very great. The isothermal line of 50° 
 Fahr. leaves the eastern coast of Asia about the forty-second 
 parallel — 2° north of Pekin, China. In crossing the Pacific 
 Ocean it is deflected north about 8° and strikes the western coast 
 of North America at 'the fiftieth parallel, 556 miles north of its 
 point of departure from the eastern coast of Asia. Crossing 
 North America, it is deflected southward to about the fortieth 
 parallel — 10°, or 695 miles — passing near the city of New York. 
 Extending across the Atlantic it shows its greatest deflection 
 to the north, and reaches the city of London in latitude 51°, or 
 764 miles north of New York city. The line of 40° shows still 
 greater departures. It leaves the eastern coast of Asia at the 
 forty-fifth parallel and reaches Sitka, Alaska, in latitude 57°, or 
 834 miles north of the forty-fifth degree. And again it leaves 
 the eastern coast of North America somewhere about Halifax, in 
 Nova Scotia, latitude 45°, and is deflected rapidly -to the north, 
 passing the south coast of Ireland, and on the western coast of 
 Norway extends north of the Arctic Circle. At this point it is 
 1,300 miles north of Halifax. England, situated 764 miles far- 
 ther north, has a warmer and more equable climate than Long 
 Island. Newfoundland, in the same latitude as the north of 
 France, has a rigorous, cheerless climate. The interior of the 
 island is barren and desolate. Where timber grows it is stunted 
 fir, pine, birch and aspen, while large tracts of the country are 
 covered with lichen and reindeer moss. 
 
 Wheat never matures. In the same latitude in France the 
 vine and fig are cultivated successfully, and all the fruits and 
 cereals of the middle temperate zones of the earth reach their 
 greatest perfection. The whole of Europe may be said to be in 
 high latitudes. Madrid, in Spain, is a little north of New York 
 city, and with a very slight exception the whole of Italy is north 
 of the latitude of Philadelphia. Still the climate of Europe is 
 very mild, compared with that of other portions of the globe in 
 the same latitudes. This tempering of the winds, and this mild 
 climate of Europe, is due to the influence of the gulf stream 
 coming in from the heated regions of the tropics, whose vast 
 flow of thermal waters constantly leave its western shores. 
 
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY AND CLIMATOLOGY. 91 
 
 The surface of Europe gradually rises from its western coast 
 until we reach the bases of the mountain ranges of the interior. 
 The soft, balmy winds, heated by the gulf stream and laden with 
 moisture, pass over the whole surface, giving to the north of 
 Ireland the myrtle, blooming as luxuriantly as in Portugal,* the 
 vine, the ivy and the geranium to central Europe, and even in- 
 vading the realms of the winter king far up the sides of the lofty 
 mountain ranges of the interior. Influences exactly similar to 
 this prevail upon the western coast of our continent in a less 
 marked but very considerable degree. The great equatorial cur- 
 rent of the North Pacific Ocean — the Kuro Sivo, or Black Water 
 of Japan — is analogous to the gulf stream of the Atlantic. The 
 warm waters and warm humid winds of this vast tropical stream 
 constantly coming in upou the western coast of our continent, 
 give it a mild equable climate. To what extent this warm breath 
 of the tropics influences the mountain regions and the great 
 plains in the interior of the continent, we shall attempt to show. 
 The effect of this great tropical current of the Pacific Ocean upon 
 our western coast is, however, modified by conditions not met 
 with on the western coast of Europe. Most important of these, 
 and more important than all others, are the mountain ranges 
 along our western coast. The coast range, so called, is low and 
 of no consequence. The Sierra Nevada range is by far the most 
 lofty and rugged, having but few passes and those very high. It 
 extends, as we have seen, through nearly the whole length of the 
 State of California. Its western slope is covered to a height of 
 8,000 feet by a dense forest, which is succeeded by naked granite 
 and perpetual snow. It shuts off most perfectly the mild climate 
 of the coast from the interior. East of this mighty wall through 
 the central portions of the State of Nevada, from the mud lakes 
 of the north through the Humboldt desert and the great salt 
 valley which extends to the south line of the State, and on south 
 to Death Valley, in California, this whole region is extremely 
 arid and barren. The small amount of moisture that surmounts 
 the lofty crests of these mountains does so from January to May 
 each year, during the rainy season of California, and during 
 which time all the rains of this region fall — five to ten inches 
 annually. At about the fortieth parallel of north latitude the in- 
 fluence of the Japanese current begins to be felt. This fact is 
 
 * Hunboll. 
 
92 
 
 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 evinced by the rapid increase of the rainfall of the immediate 
 coast, as we advance to the north from San Francisco. It is also 
 evinced by the fact that all along the coast, as far north as Vic- 
 toria, the annual temperature is only a trifle lower than that of 
 San Francisco, as the following table shows : 
 
 Stations. 
 
 San Francisco ...... 
 
 Fort Reading, Cal.. 
 Fort Orford, Or.... 
 
 Astoria, Or 
 
 Victoria, Vancouver 
 
 North 
 
 Annual 
 
 Latitude. 
 
 Temperature. 
 
 37° 48' 
 
 54.9 
 
 40° 30' 
 
 62.1 
 
 42° 44' 
 
 53.6 
 
 46° 11' 
 
 52.2 
 
 48° 27' 
 
 53.9 
 
 Annual 
 Rain-fall. 
 
 23.50 
 29.11 
 70.59 
 86.35 
 83.19 
 
 The rain-fall continues heavy and the climate comparatively 
 mild along the coast to Sitka, Alaska, in latitude 57°, the annual 
 temperature being 43° and the rain-fall 83 inches. About the 
 forty-first parallel, near the north boundary of the State of Cali- 
 fornia, the Sierra .Nevada mountains and the Coast Range unite 
 by means of a short transverse range in which is situated Mount 
 Shasta. From this point north through Oregon, Washington 
 Territory and the British possessions, the Cascade and other 
 ranges are comparatively low and broken. The country east of 
 these mountains compared with that east of the Sierra Nevada 
 presents a wide contrast. There we find an almost rainless re- 
 gion — only five to ten inches falling annually, from January to 
 May; here, an annual rain-fall of 12 to 16 inches distributed 
 through nine months of the year. There, a region of arid des- 
 erts, with few and unimportant streams of water that evaporate 
 in their courses, sink into sands or fall into shallow mud lakes 
 and evaporate, — none of them ever reaching the ocean; here, a 
 region of innumerable mountain torrents that form mighty rivers 
 that have broken through great mountain walls seeking the 
 ocean. There, a treeless region, almost destitute of vegetation; 
 here, a region of forests with vegetation abundant. The differ- 
 ence between this region and that has been brought about by 
 two causes — first, the Japanese current sending in its warm, 
 humid winds upon the land, and secondly, by the mountain 
 crests being less elevated and less continuous here than there. 
 " The general system of atmospheric circulation is from west to 
 east, all the upper volumes of the air steadily moving in that 
 direction at all seasons; and this upper atmosphere constantly 
 
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY AND CLIMATOLOGY. 93 
 
 brings with it a vast volume of moisture evaporated from tropical 
 seas. The trade winds of the equatorial regions, driven unre- 
 mittingly over vast oceans of tropical seas at high temperatures, 
 take up moisture far more rapidly than in any temperate lati- 
 tudes."* These tropical winds accompany the Japanese current 
 many thousands of miles, and as they approach the land their 
 temperature is so rapidly lowered that vast quantities of rain are 
 precipitated upon the immediate coast; the average amount at 
 Astoria for a single year being equal to a sheet of water seven 
 feet two and one-half inches deep. These warm winds passing 
 over the great plateau, through its valleys, along its mountain 
 flanks, across the comparatively low and broken rocky range in 
 Montana and Wyoming and out upon the great plains, give these 
 vast highlands a climate not only habitable but extremely salu- 
 brious and pleasant. These same conditions extend over that 
 portion of the great plateau, mountains and plains that lie north 
 of Montana and Washington Territories, modified, of course, by 
 the higher latitudes of those regions. 
 
 Rain-fall. — These Pacific currents of air, after passing the 
 Coast and the Cascade ranges, come upon the great plateau with 
 their lower strata largely deprived of moisture. Passing over 
 this region, and constantly coming in contact with mountain 
 ranges and mountain peaks, they deposit during each year from 
 12 to 16 inches of water in the shape of snows and rains ; and as 
 they approach the more elevated regions of the Rocky Mountains 
 they precipitate, during the latter part of spring and early sum- 
 mer, considerable quantities of rain, and during the winter and 
 early spring vast deposits of snow-fall in the mountains. Also 
 during March, April and May, considerable quantities of wet 
 snows fall upon the plains, always melting away in a few hours. 
 These deposits of snow on the mountains are a kind of reservoir 
 of moisture for the great plains during summer. They are 
 melted by the warm sun of June and July, and fill the mountain 
 streams at a time water is most needed for irrigation on the 
 plains. At the same time large quantities of these mountain 
 snows are taken up by evaporation, and, gathering into rain- 
 clouds over the mountains during the middle of the day, come 
 down over the plains almost every afternoon in beautiful re- 
 freshing showers. All over the regions of the Great Plains proper 
 
 * Blodget. 
 
94 
 
 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 the rain-fall is from 12 to 16 inches annually, — the smallest 
 amount noted at any single point for one year being about 6 
 inches and the largest amount 30 inches. The average rain-fall 
 here, being about 14 inches, is one third that of the regions east 
 of the Mississippi, which is set down at from 40 to 45 inches.* 
 There it is distributed about equally over the year; here it is 
 distributed as follows : for the spring months, 7 inches ; summer 
 months, 4 inches; autumn, 2 inches; winter, 1 inch. The pre- 
 cipitation of moisture during the cold season of the year is 
 entirely in the shape of light, dry, fleecy snows, never covering 
 the ground for any length of time. 
 
 The following table is compiled from medical statistics of the 
 United States army, the points compared being Forts Laramie 
 and Bridger, Wyoming ; Salt Lake City, Utah ; Santa Fe, New 
 Mexico, with Fort Independence, Boston Harbor. Mean num- 
 ber of fair, cloudy, rainy and snowy days, with annual rain-fall, 
 compiled from a period of ten years' observations : 
 
 Stations. 
 
 Fort Independence 
 
 Fort Laramie 
 
 Fort Bridger 
 
 Salt Lake 
 
 Santa Fe 
 
 Fair. 
 
 Cloudy. 
 
 Rain. 
 
 Snow. 
 
 191 
 
 157 
 
 89 
 
 22 
 
 227 
 
 120 
 
 45 
 
 29 
 
 253 
 
 1G1 
 
 40 
 
 29 
 
 281 
 
 76 
 
 44 
 
 46 
 
 226 
 
 103 
 
 46 
 
 27 
 
 Rain-fall, 
 Inches. 
 
 39^ 
 
 15M 
 
 13M 
 
 17 
 
 17 
 
 These figures would not be materially changed were the com- 
 parison made between the above-named points and Chicago or 
 Buffalo. It will also be remembered that comparing the density 
 of the clouds of these highlands with that of the clouds of the 
 sea-coast, the former will have a density about one-third that of 
 the latter — a comparison of rain-fall and snow-fall of days will 
 show about the same ratio. The most important facts deserving 
 attention in reference to the precipitation of moisture over these 
 regions is the abundant rains and wet snows of the months when 
 moisture is most needed — the spring and early summer — and 
 the extremely small amount of moisture precipitated in the form 
 of dry snows during the cold seasons of fall and winter; and 
 also the fact that there is no other region on the face of the earth 
 that is subject to such small periodical rains, that is so little sub- 
 ject to drouth or entire absence of rain. On the great plateau 
 
 * Blodget. 
 
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY AND CLIMATOLOGY. 95 
 
 the rain-fall is subject to much greater variations in reference to 
 quantity. From the southern boundary of the United States 
 northward to about the forty-first parallel, including the great 
 basin of the Colorado river and most of the great Salt Lake 
 basin, we have more nearly a rainless region than is anywhere 
 else to be found in the United States. At points along the east- 
 ern base of the Sierra Nevada mountains the annual rain-fall is 
 reported as low as five and even three inches, and some seasons 
 no rain or snow falling at all for a whole year. To the east, 
 along the western slope of the Wausach mountains, eight, ten 
 and twelve inches fall annually, and at Salt Lake City, which 
 lies between mountain ranges, seventeen inches. The western 
 slope of the Eocky Mountains in this region receives from eight 
 to twelve and eighteen inches of rain annually. The confluents 
 of the great Colorado river, the Green, Grand and Rio Gila, drain 
 more than 1,000 miles of this mountain slope. North of about 
 the forty-first parallel the rain -fall increases considerably from 
 causes that we have mentioned, and it is probable will be found 
 to gradually increase as we extend our observations northward 
 through British Columbia. That this is so is evident from the 
 greater number of lakes and running streams, and also the larger 
 volume of water in the streams, together with great increase of 
 forests and other vegetation throughout this region, as compared 
 with the regions south of the forty-first parallel. 
 
 Temperature. — The Great Plains and Rocky Mountain re- 
 gions within the boundaries of the United States have an annual 
 temperature ranging from 60° to 44°. Leaving the southern 
 boundary when an annual temperature of 60° prevails, and pass- 
 ing northward along the 104th meridian until we reach the 
 vicinity of Fort Union and Santa Fe, near the thirty-fifth parallel, 
 we find in northern and western New Mexico an extensive region 
 with an annual temperature ranging from 50° to 47°. There is 
 no other region in the United States, in this latitude, where so 
 low a temperature obtains, except a very small extent of country 
 in western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee. This region 
 in New Mexico has an elevation of over 6,000 feet. Points near 
 the thirty-fifth parallel are Santa Fe, temperature 50° ; Fort 
 Union, 49° ; Fort Defiance, 47°. Points in the same latitude east 
 of the Mississippi are Knoxville, Tennessee, temperature 55°, and 
 Chappell Hill, North Carolina, 59°. In the same latitude on 
 
96 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 the Pacific coast, Monterey has 55.° The isothermal line of 52°, 
 which reaches considerably south of Santa Fe and passes to the 
 northeast by Fort Lyon across five parallels of latitude, from the 
 thirty-fifth to the fortieth, intersects the latter south of Fort 
 Kearney, Nebraska. From this point it extends nearly due east 
 along the fortieth parallel to the Atlantic seaboard. Again, the 
 isothermal of 52° passes northwest from the thirty-fifth parallel 
 in New Mexico to the vicinity of Salt Lake, thence westward 
 to Austin, Nevada, and thence across the Cascade range about 
 the forty-first parallel on to the Pacific coast, and extends along 
 the coast as far north as the forty-eighth parallel in the vicinity 
 of Victoria.* The regions of the Great Plains and Rocky Moun- 
 tains north of this line seem to be under entirely different 
 climatic influences from those south of it. The regions south 
 of it are the most arid and barren to be found on the conti- 
 nent of North America, and west of the Rocky Mountains are 
 fully under the influence of the South Pacific Ocean. The 
 waters of the ocean from San Francisco as far south as the 
 thirtieth parallel of north latitude are extremely cold, their 
 annual temperature being 55°. The interior regions south of 
 the thirty-fourth parallel have an annual temperature of 60°, 
 and at many points in the deserts the extremes of summer reach 
 118° to 121°. 
 
 The winds coming in from the ocean find an atmosphere 
 considerably warmer than they, and any moisture they may 
 bring in the shape of clouds or fogs is at once dispelled, and the 
 result is little or no rain-falls until the lofty mountain ranges of 
 the interior are reached. This region west of the Rocky Mount- 
 ains comprises southwestern New Mexico, Arizona, western and 
 southern Utah, Nevada and eastern California. 
 
 The regions of the Great Plains south of the isothermal of 52° 
 and east of the Rocky Mountains are probably quite fully under 
 the influence of the Gulf of Mexico, and is a country of high 
 temperature of floods and drouths. This region consists of the 
 western portion of Kansas, the western portion of the Indian 
 Territory, western Texas, and eastern and southern New Mexico. 
 The regions under consideration that lie north of the isothermal 
 line of 52° seem to be, as we have said, under almost entirely 
 different climatic influences from those south of that line. 
 
 * See Temperature Chart, Vital Statistics, Census of 1870. 
 
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY AND CLIMATOLOGY. 97 
 
 These regions within the boundaries of the United States com- 
 prise eastern Oregon and Washington Territory, Idaho, a small 
 portion of northern Nevada, eastern Utah, northern New Mexico, 
 Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, western Dakota and western Ne- 
 braska. Their annual temperature ranges from 52° to 44°. 
 Some small unimportant mountain plateaus may fall as low as 
 40° or even 36°, while the valley of the Columbia river east of 
 the Cascade Mountains as far up as Walla Walla, and the valley 
 of the Snake river as far up as Boise City, have the same tem- 
 perature as the coast west of the mountains, 52°. We have seen 
 that the climate of the Pacific coast from the fortieth parallel 
 northward to Sitka, the Japanese current being felt in full force, 
 is extremely mild, and that the warm currents of air that accom- 
 pany this vast thermal stream pass on to the highlands, meeting 
 comparatively little obstruction from the Cascade Mountains and 
 other ranges in British Columbia. All over this vast highland 
 region north of the fortieth parallel, extending to the Arctic 
 Ocean, these Pacific currents of air are more important than all 
 other climatic influences. They bring warmth and moisture, and 
 carry the line of forest trees and other vegetation along the valley 
 of the Mackenzie river far up toward the seventieth parallel of 
 north latitude. 
 
 " The mountain valleys of the Peace and Laird rivers, latitude 
 56° to 60°, are thus influenced by the Pacific winds, and wheat 
 and other cereals are successfully cultivated."* These regions 
 are five to seven hundred miles north of the north boundary of 
 the United States. In the vicinity of Salt Lake these Pacific 
 currents of air begin to be deflected southward. They are prob- 
 ably influenced by the Wahsatch and Uintah mountains, and are 
 forced into the basin of the Colorado river and along the western 
 base of the Eocky Mountains, as far south as the thirty-sixth par- 
 allel in northern New Mexico. They carry to these regions, as we 
 have seen, a lower annual temperature than is to be found any- 
 where else in the United States in similar latitudes. It is thus that 
 a considerable belt of country along the western base of the Eocky 
 Mountains, from Washington Territory to northern New Mexico, 
 is subject to exactly similar climatic influences, as the following 
 table shows — Port Col ville, Washington Territory, being only 
 
 * Sir Roderick Murchison, in Ross Brown's "Mineral Resources," 1868. Appendix, 
 page 14. 
 
98 
 
 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 about thirty-five miles south of the line of British Columbia, and 
 Fort Defiance, New Mexico, being only a short distance north of 
 the thirty-fifth parallel : 
 
 Stations. 
 
 Latitude, 
 North. 
 
 Altitude. 
 
 Temperature. 
 
 Rain-fall, 
 Inches. 
 
 Fort Colville, W T 
 
 48° 54' 
 46° 32' 
 43° 7' 
 40° 46' 
 35° 44' 
 
 2,800 
 3,148 
 4,700 
 5,030 
 6,500 
 
 45.60 
 52.49 
 46.00 
 50.61 
 46.76 
 
 25 75 
 
 Fort Lapwai, Idaho 
 
 14 5 
 
 Fort Hall, Idaho 
 
 11 10 
 
 Salt Lake, Utah 
 
 17.19 
 
 Fort Defiance, N. M 
 
 16.64 
 
 
 
 Crossing the Rocky Mountain range to its eastern base, in the 
 vicinity of Santa Fe and Fort Union, we find climatic influences 
 similar to those we have noted along its western base. Here we 
 find a vast belt of country stretching away to the east from the 
 base of the mountains, extending from Santa Fe to Fort Benton, 
 Montana, and probably to the line of the British possessions, over 
 all of which the same prominent climatic features extend. At 
 Santa Fe this belt is probably 100 to 150 miles wide, and rapidly 
 increases in width as we advance northward into the great basins 
 of the Platte river and the upper Missouri, where it is 300 to 400 
 miles wide. It extends from south to north over twelve to thir- 
 teen parallels of latitude, 800 to 1,000 miles. The following 
 table of stations, with their latitude, altitude, annual temperature 
 and rain-fall, are points along the boundaries of this region. They 
 are widely separated and are representative positions for vast 
 areas of country. 
 
 Stations. 
 
 Santa Fe, KM 
 
 Fort Union, N. M.... 
 
 Fort Lyons, Col 
 
 Denver, Col 
 
 Fort McPherson, Neb 
 
 Cheyenne, W. T 
 
 Fort Laramie, W. T. . 
 
 Fort Benton, Mon 
 
 Fort Pierre, D. T 
 
 Latitude, 
 North. 
 
 Altitude. 
 
 35° 41' 
 
 6.846 
 
 35° 54' 
 
 6,670 
 
 38° 5' 
 
 4,000 
 
 39° 44' 
 
 5,000 
 
 41° 3' 
 
 2,770 
 
 41° 12' 
 
 6,072 
 
 42° 12' 
 
 4.517 
 
 47° 50' 
 
 2,663 
 
 44° 23' 
 
 1,456 
 
 Temperature. 
 
 50.6 
 
 49.14 
 
 49. 
 
 50. 
 
 51.12 
 
 48. 
 
 50.1 
 
 48.2 
 
 51.9 
 
 Rain-fall. 
 
 17. 
 
 19.24 
 
 11. 
 
 16. 
 
 18.48 
 
 16.20 
 
 15.16 
 
 12.50 
 
 13.51 
 
 It will be noticed that while there is a difference of twelve 
 degrees of latitude between Fort Benton and Santa Fe and Fort 
 Union, there is but one or two degrees difference between their 
 
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY AND CLIMATOLOGY. 99 
 
 temperatures. We have seen that a considerable portion of north- 
 ern New Mexico along the thirty-fifth parallel is colder than points 
 in the latitude east of the Mississippi. If, now, we compare points 
 along and near the fortieth parallel, we find these highlands and 
 points eastward along this line have the same temperatures. Salt 
 Lake has a temperature of 50°, Denver 50°, Cheyenne 48°, Fort 
 McPherson, Nebraska, 51°, Logansport, Indiana, 50°, Pittsburgh, 
 Pa., 50°, and New York City 51°. Going north to the forty- 
 seventh parallel and instituting comparisons along that line, Fort 
 Benton has a temperature of 48°, Michipicoten, on one of the 
 islands of Lake Superior, 38°, and Fort Kent, Maine, 37°. Fort 
 Benton being 10° warmer than the former and 11° warmer than 
 the latter, has the same temperature as Albany, New York, and 
 Boston, Mass., these places being near the forty-second parallel, five 
 degrees farther south. Fort Benton is two degrees warmer than 
 Chicago, which lies nearly 500 miles farther south. By compar- 
 ing the tables above submitted, and from what has been said, it 
 will be seen that the climates of the great plateau and the Great 
 Plains from about the northern boundary of the United States 
 southward to the vicinity of the fortieth parallel are, in most re- 
 spects, similar. The average temperature and rain-fall are iden- 
 tical, while the extremes of each are also the same. Elevated 
 mountain basins or regions of limited extent that are subject to 
 peculiar local influences are, of course, exceptions to this general 
 statement. The Pacific currents of air moving from west to east, 
 coming upon the Rocky Mountain range, which extends from 
 northwest to southeast, striking it where its crests are low and 
 its acclivities gradual, are influenced by this vast mountain chain 
 and forced south of the fortieth parallel over five degrees of latitude, 
 carrying along both the eastern and western base of the moun- 
 tains the climate of eastern Oregon, Washington Territory and 
 eastern Montana. 
 
 An important source of heat for these highlands is from 
 the unobstructed rays of the sun. On account of the extreme 
 dryness of the atmosphere there are few cloudy days. There 
 is no sufficient growth of vegetation to protect the earth from 
 the full force of the sun's rays, and from six to eight months 
 of the year there is little or no moisture on the earth's sur- 
 face, and consequently little or no evaporation, thus absorbing 
 or making heat latent. As a consequence the daily range of 
 
100 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 temperature is very great. The earth's surface being rapidly- 
 heated by the sun's rays during the day, is as rapidly cooled 
 b)* radiation during the night. Anywhere along the base of 
 the mountains a hot sultry night is a thing unknown. The 
 plains become heated, and the atmosphere over them very much 
 rarefied, during the day; the air from the more elevated regions, 
 cool and bracing, comes down in gentle breezes during the even- 
 ing, until the equilibrium of the temperature between the two 
 regions has been restored. The hotter and more sultry the day 
 the more certain will the night be cool and pleasant. A differ- 
 ence of forty or fifty and even sixty degrees of temperature 
 during twenty-four hours is frequently noted. The difference in 
 temperature between winter and summer is less here than in 
 regions east of the Missouri ; and while the extremes of tem- 
 perature for the year are about the same, spells of low tempera- 
 ture do not continue as long here as there. Owing to the 
 extreme dryness of the atmosphere during the cold season of the 
 year, men and animals do not suffer as much from a temperature 
 of 20° below zero in this country as they do from a temperature 
 of zero in a climate as moist as that of Chicago. The snow-line 
 on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, in the 
 same latitude as the Park regions of Colorado, is 8,000 feet above 
 the level of the sea. 
 
 On the Atlantic coast, in the same latitude, on the Allegheny 
 Mountains, the line of perpetual snow would be (were these 
 mountains sufficiently high) 7,000 feet above the sea. In the 
 Park regions of Colorado the snow-line is 12,000 feet above the 
 sea. On the summits of these lofty mountains, 10,000 and 11,000 
 feet above the sea, are to be found some beautiful open spots 
 without a tree, and covered with grass and flowers surrounded 
 on all sides by dense forests of pine. Just on the edges of these 
 park-like areas considerable banks of snow may be seen during 
 the whole summer, and, within a few feet of them, multitudes of 
 flowers bloom, and even the wild strawberry seems to flourish.* 
 In these open areas and in the more extensive parks, cattle graze 
 for six months each year on lands from 9,000 to 11,000 feet above 
 the sea. The high winds that are extremely prevalent all over 
 these elevated regions are about the only unpleasant feature of the 
 climate. The almost entire absence of moisture in them during 
 
 * Hayden. Report of 1867 to 1869, page 83. 
 
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY AND CLIMATOLOGY. 101 
 
 the cold season of the year renders them much more tolerable 
 than they would otherwise be; and while high gales of wind are 
 common, hurricanes such as visit the Atlantic coast and the Mis- 
 sissippi basin almost annually never occur here. The winds at 
 these altitudes are fitful, but usually of short duration, and when 
 moving as rapidly as at the sea level their force is very much less, 
 as the atmosphere here is much lighter. 
 
 Resources. — The physical conditions that go to make up the 
 climate of a country have largely to do with deciding its value 
 as a habitation for man. It is probable that pastoral agriculture 
 will be the leading and most important industry of these moun- 
 tain and plain regions when they shall have fallen fully under 
 the control of civilized man. Mining and agriculture will also 
 develop, we imagine, into proportions that no one now has the 
 slightest conception of. Within the boundaries of the United 
 States the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountain regions occupy 
 an area of about 1,650,000 square miles, or more than a billion of 
 acres, most of which is one vast pasture ground. Here the 
 buffalo, antelope, elk, deer and mountain sheep — their numbers 
 reaching far into the millions — have found their food winter and 
 summer for untold centuries, grazing on these vast grassy tables 
 as far south as the thirtieth parallel of north latitude, and as far 
 north as Slave Lake, latitude 64°. The total number of horses, 
 cattle and sheep in the United States, according to the census of 
 1870, was 65,242,752. On these vast pastures, within the bounda- 
 ries of the United States, each of these animals could have an 
 area of over fifteen acres on which to graze, and one hundred 
 million of such animals could each have an area of ten acres. It 
 is no exaggeration to say that, with the care and attention of 
 flock-masters and herdsmen, as great a number of horses, cattle 
 and sheep could be subsisted winter and summer on these vast 
 areas as are now to be found in all the States east of the great 
 plains. The value of these animals could not fall short of a 
 billion of dollars. Winter grazing all over these regions is no 
 longer a problem ; that it is a great success is a fixed fact. The 
 American people are, and have been, slow to comprehend the 
 value and importance of these highlands as an integral part of 
 the noble domain of the United States. It is within a decade 
 that a distinguished and possibly a learned member of Congress 
 from the great State of Ohio, said, in his place in the house, that 
 
102 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 the regions now comprised within the boundaries of Wyoming 
 " were as broad and worthless as Sahara." Now this statement 
 did not change one single fact in reference to Wyoming — it 
 simply showed how little a man might know about some things 
 and still be a member of Congress. All of the people of this 
 country, and their ancestors from the earliest times, have inhab- 
 ited countries of marine climates. They have never known any- 
 thing of elevated regions with continental climates, and are 
 constantly making comparisons between these arid regions and 
 the country east of the Missouri and the Mississippi. Compar- 
 ing these regions with those, they find no similarity, and conse- 
 quently conclude that this country is a desert and worthless. 
 
 One reason this country has been looked upon with great 
 disfavor, and its grand resources very much derided and belittled, 
 is due to the fact that no civilized people in the world's history 
 have ever inhabited a region whose latitude, altitude and climate 
 is similar to this. There is indeed no country on the earth 
 corresponding perfectly with this in these respects. Even the 
 elevated plateaus and mountain regions in central Asia, lying in 
 similar latitudes, are, in many respects, dissimilar. That conti- 
 nent and its elevated regions are much more extensive, the 
 mountain ranges more lofty, and having an east and west direc- 
 tion, in some cases shut off a tropical climate on one side, 
 producing a cold, temperate climate on the other; or with a 
 temperate climate on one side, have almost a frigid region on the 
 other. They are also dissimilar in this, that they are much 
 farther removed from the influence of the great oceans, while 
 the highlands of this continent lie along near the shore of the 
 greatest of the oceans. They have a much less precipitation of 
 moisture, their vegetation is more scant, and their deserts more 
 extensive ; all those regions being only cultivatable when irrigation 
 is practicable, and there, like here, flocks and herds graze the 
 year round on natural pastures. Glancing hastily over these 
 vast areas of central Asia that lie between the thirtieth and the 
 forty-ninth parallels of north latitude, nearly corresponding to 
 the south and north boundaries of the United States, we find a 
 region of elevated table-lands, plateaus and mountains, more 
 than 1,000 miles wide from north to south, and extending 4,500 
 miles from the Caspian sea east to the great Kinghan mountains 
 of eastern China. The climate and general characteristics of the 
 
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY AND CLIMATOLOGY. 103 
 
 various regions of this vast country, its resources, products, and 
 the condition of the people inhabiting it, have been but little 
 known until within the last quarter of a century. We find here 
 in these desert highlands of Asia everywhere finely developed 
 races of men, brave, independent and high spirited, and who, 
 though not a tithe as numerous, have often overrun and con- 
 quered the most powerful nations of the lowlands. And when 
 in time they have been conquered by the people of the lowlands, 
 their subjugation has always cost vastly more than their vassalage 
 was worth. They are generally as well educated as the people of 
 the lowlands, schools of their kind are as numerous in propor- 
 tion to population in Toorkistan, Afghanistan, Thibet, Cashmere, 
 and even in Mongolia, where the country will admit of settled hab- 
 itations, as in India or China. They are also as well versed in the 
 arts and sciences as the other nations of Asia, many of their man- 
 ufactures having for centuries attracted great attention in the 
 markets of the world. Comparing the Asiatic races of these two 
 regions, we readily perceive the influence the different climates 
 have had upon them, and it is but fair to suppose that our own 
 highlands, with their clear, elastic atmosphere and bracing, 
 healthful climate, will produce here upon these plains and in 
 these mountains a very superior race of people, noted for great 
 physical endurance and mental power, despising alike all fetters 
 of mind and body. 
 
 Wyoming. — Being centrally located in the mountain and 
 plain regions of which we have spoken, and north of the iso- 
 thermal line of 52 degrees, Wyoming will require little special 
 attention on the subject of her climate further than what has 
 been already said. The Great South Pass, situated near the 
 western boundary of the Territory, about equally distant from 
 its north and south boundaries, has a very decided influence on 
 the climate of the interior of Wyoming. The valley of the 
 Sweetwater and the extensive basin of the North Platte are very 
 fully influenced by the warm winds from the Pacific coast, and 
 have from the first advent of white men into the country had 
 the reputation of being one of the most desirable locations for 
 winter grazing in the Eocky Mountain regions. This whole 
 country would long since have been filled with flocks and herds 
 had it not been constantly exposed to predatory raids from the 
 Sioux. The Laramie Plains, in southeastern Wyoming, are a 
 
104 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 part of the park system of Colorado. The Kocky Mountain 
 range, as we have seen, is deflected rapidly to the west and north- 
 west at the southern line of the Territory. A considerable moun- 
 tain spur continues almost directly north, known as the Laramie 
 mountains, and terminates in the Laramie Peak about twenty 
 miles west of Fort Laramie. Between this mountain spur and 
 the main range is situated the Laramie Plains, a beautiful valley 
 with an elevation of from 6,000 to 7,500 feet, and an extremely 
 salubrious, healthful climate. It is watered by the Laramie 
 river, which takes its rise in the Rocky Mountains among per- 
 petual snows. There are no other peculiarities in reference to 
 the climate of Wyoming worthy of mention except it be the 
 increased rain-fall in the Black Hills. This short mountain 
 range lies in the extreme northeast corner of the Territory, and 
 extends from north to south one hundred miles. It stands up 
 very abruptly in the midst of the plain two to three thousand 
 feet. Clouds approaching it have their temperature lowered, and 
 a very considerable greater rain-fall occurs here than on the sur- 
 rounding plain — twenty to twenty -five inches falling annually. 
 The same condition obtains in the Big Horn mountains and the 
 Wolf mountains, where very extensive forests of pine are found. 
 As we shall speak in a subsequent chapter of Wyoming as a 
 health resort, we shall defer further remarks on the special cli- 
 matic conditions of Wyoming until then. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 MANNERS AND SOCIETY, WITH A FEW REFLECTIONS. 
 
 OF manners and morals of western people generally, much is 
 said that is far beyond the pale of truth. Nearly every 
 eager itemizer, from the manager of a representative eastern 
 paper down to the senseless and superficial scribbler for the east- 
 ern backwoods press, comes to the new west with mind literally 
 charged with glaring absurdities, and with an unyielding deter- 
 mination to realize only those absurdities. Why this should be 
 so is partially explained by the fact that eastern readers demand 
 experiences from the western plains and mountains which smack 
 of the crude, the rough and the semi-barbarous. To point out 
 the reckless, rollicking traits of character, to tell of the marvel- 
 ous and wild-cat speculations, and to describe the gilded dens of 
 gaming and profligacy (which the writers only know of by hear- 
 say), is magnificently popular. But to write of our model men, to 
 enlarge upon their carefully conducted enterprises and to tell of 
 our churches, schools and societies, — that would fall like a chilly 
 drizzle after the glittering rainbow. 
 
 It is also quite the fashion to create thrilling episodes from 
 whole cloth, in which the savage plays a prominent part, and is 
 valiantly assisted by the writer. While this does the new Terri- 
 tory great injustice, and fills the emigrant with an unfounded 
 dread, it still gratifies the popular demand ; and what matters it 
 if a burning at the stake scene is laid on a level plain where wood 
 does not exist and buffalo chips are scarce ? Or what matters it 
 if more Indians than ever belonged to the tribes of America are 
 concentrated along the Black Hills road ? That is what readers 
 must have, and it is so comfortable and satisfactory to sit in one 
 of the cosy Cheyenne reading-rooms and indite articles in which 
 " armed to the teeth," " dangerous lookout on top of the coach," 
 " redskins seen on every bluff," " the gory graves in Killemquick 
 canyon," etc., are only mild expressions. 
 
 Our settlements are full of odd characters, as are the eastern : 
 8 
 
106 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 but it must be confessed that much of the devil-may-care 
 manner and dress attributed to real frontiersmen belong to 
 eccentric emigrants who have scarcely learned to distinguish our 
 crisp, invigorating atmosphere from the heavy, enervating fluid 
 they had just breathed beyond the Mississippi. The swagger and 
 swell of a recent heavily-armed and buckskinned arrival is as 
 commonly noted and of more disgusting originality than that of 
 the worst "hoodlum" of the prains. And here is where the 
 modern paragraphist shines. During the recent brief sojourn in 
 our midst of the " funny man " on a prominent New York news- 
 paper, he stepped up to a representative business man of Chey- 
 enne and asked : 
 
 " Can you point me out a real original westerner — regular 
 frontiersman, you know, that shows the 'out west' character 
 from head to foot ? " 
 
 "Why, yes sir," replied the resident, "a good many of us 
 here have been west from ten to twenty years. There's Judge 
 
 C , owns that block of brick buildings over there — made his 
 
 money in the stock business, and there comes Captain , 
 
 that well-dressed man, you see — he has .fought Indians and built 
 posts all over these plains ; and if you will come down to the 
 bank I'll introduce you to " 
 
 " Oh, pshaw ! Those are not the kind of men I'm hunting. 
 Now here is a capital subject (pointing to a long-haired man clad 
 in a greasy suit of buckskin, and leaning listlessly against a 
 store-box). Now, come, I'll warrant that man is a dyed-in-the 
 wool border genius, and he will answer my purpose gloriously." 
 
 " That fellow ? Why, he came out here from Natchez about 
 two months ago and called himself ' Buckskin Jack.' He has 
 been loafing around ever since, eating free lunches, and is a first- 
 class deadbeat. Those are not the kind of men to build our 
 towns, raise our cattle and find the gold in the Big Horn 
 mountains." 
 
 " He suits me, anyhow," said the man of the glowing quill, 
 "and I propose to interview him." 
 
 The interview undoubtedly resulted in a thrilling narrative 
 of border experience, for Jack had been west just long enough to 
 distinguish a " tender-foot " and to learn how to manufacture 
 sensational yarns." 
 
 If the ambitious newcomer desires to appreciate thoroughly 
 
MANNERS AND SOCIETY. 107 
 
 and report honestly upon the native intelligence and enterprise, 
 let him try his own metal against it. If he wishes to do credit 
 to Wyoming's manners and customs, let him — instead of un- 
 earthing the outcasts and loafers, who often come from the dens 
 of the east, a prey upon our prosperity — take as examples the 
 large proportion in every community of earnest, thrifty western 
 workers. 
 
 It is not the case, as is often assumed in the east, that dis- 
 tinctions in society — which are generally deemed essential to 
 well-organized communities — are lacking here in the new west. 
 As the merits and demerits of settlers are disclosed these distinc- 
 tions inevitably appear here as elsewhere. In expecting to find 
 boors and gentlemen upon a common social level the visitor will 
 find himself happily or unhappily disappointed according to his 
 own taste or disposition. Intelligence, industry, culture and 
 integrity will be here found to draAv the lines of social distinc- 
 tion as closely as anywhere. Churches and benevolent societies 
 are as numerous in proportion to our population as elsewhere, 
 w r hile schools are as plentiful and as well conducted. Lectures, 
 libraries, public and private parties, and select assemblies for 
 instruction, amusement and social enjoyment are all found here 
 as well as in the east. The press of "Wyoming is perhaps more 
 noticeable for its general excellence and thorough occupancy of 
 the field than any other institutions. Numerous daily and 
 weekly papers are published which would do credit to a popu- 
 lation furnishing twice as many readers. Papers like these, 
 beaming- with frontier news, furnishing well-filled columns of 
 spicy editorials, and special and associate press dispatches, tell in 
 language unmistakable of the morality, the intelligence and the 
 thrift of communities. 
 
 Wyoming stands out bravely in her support of universal 
 suffrage. The better citizens, as a rule, are not only well sat- 
 isfied with the measure which grants women the privilege to 
 vote, but they are proud of it. The matter, so purely an experi- 
 ment, has of course aroused liberal discussion, and from this 
 many points of interest have been developed. Among these are 
 the statements quite recently put forth by prominent officials 
 and citizens of the Territory in answer to questions asked by a 
 well-known local pastor. A few of these statements are appropos 
 here. 
 
108 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 "At the time of the passage of the law creating female 
 suffrage, the project was opposed by a large majority of the 
 people of Wyoming. The enactment was an experiment, and 
 intended as such. At the next session of the legislature an 
 attempt was made to repeal the law; but it failed, in conse- 
 quence of the change of sentiments of the people upon the 
 subject. . . . Since that time no serious attempt has been made 
 to repeal the law. It is now no longer a political question. The 
 attempt to repeal the law would now be a much more unpopular 
 move than its original enactment. The most bitter enemies of 
 the system have, by reason of its beneficial results in actual 
 practice, become its warmest advocates. . . . 
 
 " Eight years' experience has shown that evil associations at 
 the polls or in politics, on the part of ladies, is the result of 
 choice, as in every other relation in life, and not of necessity. . . 
 The women are not contaminated or degraded in any respect or 
 degree by the exercise of their political rights, but, on the con- 
 trary, their appearance in politics has always the effect of quiet- 
 ing the most turbulent crowds. . . . Not a single case in which a 
 respectable woman has been knowingly or wantonly insulted or 
 treated with indignity while exercising the right of suffrage has 
 been known. The practical result of the exercise of the right of 
 suffrage by the women of Wyoming has been noticed in several 
 instances to change the result in favor of the better candidate, 
 and against the less competent and less worthy. 
 
 "We have had an opportunity to watch the practical effect of 
 woman suffrage here from the first, and have seen none of the 
 evil results prophesied for it by its opponents. We have never 
 heard of a case of domestic trouble growing out of it ; women 
 have not been degraded or demoralized ; on the contrary, they 
 have, in a quiet, lady-like manner, exercised their elective fran- 
 chise, as a rule, in favor of law, order and good government. 
 Their influence has done much to refine the politics of our Ter- 
 ritory, and to divest them of their objectionable features. All 
 lovers of law and order, of whatever political faith, acknowledge 
 the benefits of woman's refining influence in our local govern- 
 ment." 
 
 The Territories have assumed a significance, yes, a grandeur, 
 unthought of twenty years ago. The men who have so nobly 
 cast their fortunes here, and have reared industrial monuments 
 
MANNERS AND SOCIETY. 109 
 
 which now astonish the wildest dreamers of the last decade are 
 not to be underestimated. They are representatives of the "best 
 enterprise, the best talent and the best energy from the old States 
 and nations," and have broken away from all hereditary ties to 
 face all dangers and endure all hardships in the cause of develop- 
 ment. It has taken talent, energy and nerve to prove that the 
 Eockies are the treasure-vaults of the world, that our plains and 
 valleys can produce food and clothing for three Americas, and 
 that we possess here an empire complete in itself, of health, 
 wealth and beauty. One of the most learned and ready editorial 
 writers in the Union, after eloquently pointing to such repre- 
 sentative western characters as Benton and Houston, does us the 
 credit to say : " We need not be surprised if the west and the 
 Pacific Slope furnish hereafter the strongest minds in public 
 affairs." 
 
 Brains will find ready recognition and employment in the 
 west, but they must strive, as did the first invoice, and not take 
 it for granted that such commodities are sufficiently scarce to 
 warrant unjust criticism, fault-finding and a "hunt-me-up" dis- 
 position. Willing hands are also wanted, and the writer has 
 never observed a case in which the man who earnestly sought 
 work — with a determination to do something — did not get it. 
 
CHAPTER X, 
 
 WYOMING FOR HEALTH AND PLEASURE. 
 
 IT is not difficult to demonstrate that Wyoming possesses 
 more natural and genuine attractions for the health and 
 pleasure seeker than any region of similar extent in the known 
 world. Her towering mountains and mountain-locked parks, 
 her grand rivers and awe-inspiring canons and her broad areas, so 
 tempting to the research of all, are almost daily reaping richest 
 homage from the most capable explorers and the best scholars of 
 our land. The savant, the sportsman and the pleasure seeker 
 alike find their ideal, and the invalid requiring an elevated 
 region, and in search of health-giving waters or the purest of 
 ether, can never be disappointed. 
 
 Game and Fish. — Wyoming is the huntsman's and angler's 
 paradise. On her plains the buffalo and antelope find an agree- 
 able all-the-year home ; in her mountains the elk, deer, moun- 
 tain sheep, bear and mountain lion abound; and in her thousand 
 crystal streams and lakes the gamiest and most delicate of all 
 fish, the mountain trout, are always ready for the bait. Sage 
 hens, grouse and partridge are always found in numerous locali- 
 ties, while geese, ducks and other wild fowl are native to 
 nearly all the lakes and water-courses. The settler has no 
 trouble in providing himself with the best wild meats the year 
 round, and indeed often makes a good living by hunting game 
 for local markets. From the moment the tourist enters the Ter- 
 ritory until he departs, his bill of fare teems with these riches of 
 forest, plain and river. Fur-bearing animals of almost every 
 description are also taken by the hundreds of trappers who 
 inhabit the frontier, and the number of beavers and wolves 
 especially, which are annually trapped for their skins, is enor- 
 mous. A day's ride from almost any station will take the nimrod 
 into hunting grounds of the best class. 
 
 Natural Curiosities. — Of the wonderful petrifactions and 
 such other natural curiosities as garnet, topaz, jasper, agate, 
 
HEALTH AND PLEASUKE. 
 
 Ill 
 
 chalcedony and crystallizations, much has been written. Not 
 only have these treasures been widely sought for their natural 
 
 interest and beauty, but a very large 
 business is being carried on in the way 
 of manufacturing them into every 
 variety of jewelry. Eare petrifactions 
 of animals, trees and shells and mon- 
 ster fossils abound in many localities. 
 
 Mineral Waters. — Mineral springs 
 of almost every nature are found in 
 accessible localities. The great hot 
 springs near Camp Brown, Sweetwater 
 county, probably excel any of this 
 class in the Eocky Mountain region, 
 for their extent, and for the healing 
 properties of their waters. The water 
 is emitted from numerous orifices in 
 the bottom of a pool or basin, which 
 covers 6,000 square feet, and a large 
 stream is constantly discharged into 
 the ice-cold current of Little Wind 
 river, near by. Carbonic acid and 
 chloride of lime are given off abun- 
 dantly, the temperature running 
 from 100 to 120. Eheu- 
 matic affections and dis- 
 eases of the skin are oft- 
 en eradicated by a short 
 season of bathing, and 
 the Shoshone Indians, 
 whose agency is located 
 here, have a delightful 
 tradition making this 
 out the mythical " fount- 
 ain of youth." A fine 
 bath-house is at hand 
 for the accommodation 
 
 GIANT GEYSER, YELLOWSTONE PARK. Q f yigftorS 
 
 A great many cold sulphur, iron and soda springs are found 
 at Eawlins, Evanston, Hilliard and other points along the rail- 
 
112 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 road, while in more remote locations there are hundreds of these 
 fountains of health and beauty. Near Piedmont is a cluster of 
 the most wonderful soda springs in the west. The sediment 
 thrown out by the principal one has built up a beautiful conical- 
 shaped body, fifteen feet in height. The water is delicious, and 
 for health-giving properties cannot be surpassed by others of the 
 kind in the Union. A short distance from Evanston is another 
 interesting group of soda springs, occupying an area over six 
 miles square. Fremont, many years ago, named some of these 
 "Steamboat Springs," on account of their graceful but noisy 
 steam vents. 
 
 The Yelloivstone Park. — The Senate and House of Kepre- 
 sentatives of the United States did a very wise thing a few years 
 ago when they passed the act which reserved and withdrew from 
 settlement, occupancy and sale that portion of Wyoming's unique 
 northwestern corner known as the Yellowstone Park. If readers 
 may believe half that is written about it, it is the wonder-land 
 not only of America but of the world. "This whole region," 
 says Dr. Hayden, the United States geologist, " was, in compara- 
 tively modern geological times, the scene of the most wonderful 
 volcanic activity of any portion of our country. The hot springs 
 and geysers represent the last stages — the vents or escape pipes — 
 of these remarkable volcanic manifestations of the internal forces. 
 All these springs are adorned with decorations more beautiful 
 than human art ever conceived, and which have required thou- 
 sands of years for the cunning hand of nature to form." " It is 
 probable," he remarks elsewhere, "that during the Pliocene 
 period, the entire country, drained by the sources of the Yellow- 
 stone and the Colorado, was the scene of volcanic activity as great 
 as that of any portion of the globe. It might be called one vast 
 crater, made up of a thousand smaller volcanic vents and fissures, 
 out of which the fluid interior of the earth, fragments of rock 
 and volcanic dust, were poured in unlimited quantities. Hun- 
 dreds of the nuclei or cones of these vents are now remaining, 
 some of them rising to a height of 10,000 to 11,000 feet above 
 the sea." 
 
 The Yellowstone Park embraces an area of fifty-five by sixty- 
 five miles, and contains the most striking of all the mountains, 
 gorges, falls, rivers and lakes in the whole Yellowstone region. 
 The hot springs on Gardiner's river, for example, are along its 
 
HEALTH AND PLEASURE. 113 
 
 northern boundary ; the Grand Canon lies toward its northeast- 
 ern corner, and toward its southeastern corner stretches Yellow- 
 stone lake. The springs in active operation on Gardiner's river 
 cover an area of about one square mile, and three or four square 
 miles thereabout are occupied by the remains of springs which 
 have ceased to flow. " Small streams flow down the sides of the 
 Snowy Mountain in channels lined with oxide of iron of the most 
 delicate tints of red; others show exquisite shades of yellow, 
 from a deep bright sulphur to a dainty cream-color ; still others 
 are stained with shades of green ; — all these colors as brilliant as 
 the brightest aniline dyes. The water after rising from the 
 spring basin flows down the sides of the declivity, step by step, 
 from one reservoir to another, at each one of them losing a por- 
 tion of its heat, until it becomes as cool as spring water." The 
 natural basins into which these springs flow are from four to six 
 feet in diameter and from one to four feet in depth. The prin- 
 cipal ones are located upon terraces midway up the sides of the 
 mountain. " The largest living spring is near the outer margin 
 of the main terrace. Its dimensions are twenty feet by forty, 
 and its water so perfectly transparent that one can look down 
 into the beautiful ultramarine depth to the very bottom of the 
 basin. Its sides are ornamented with coral -like forms of a great 
 variety of shades, from pure white to a bright cream yellow, 
 while the blue sky reflected in the transparent water gives an 
 azure tint to the whole which surpasses all art." 
 
 The banks of the Yellowstone river abound with ravines and 
 canons, which are carved to the heart of the mountains through 
 the hardest rocks. The most remarkable of these is the canon 
 of Tower Creek and Column Mountain. The latter, which ex- 
 tends along the eastern bank of the river for upward of two 
 miles, is said to resemble the Giant's Causeway. It is composed 
 of successive pillars of basalt overlying and underlying a thick 
 stratum of cement and gravel resembling pudding-stone. The 
 pillars are about thirty feet high, and are from three to five 
 feet in diameter. The canon of Tower Creek is about ten 
 miles in length, and is so deep and gloomy that it is called " The 
 Devil's Den." About two hundred yards before it enters the 
 Yellowstone the stream pours over an abrupt descent of one hun- 
 dred and fifty-six feet. The falls, which are about two hundred 
 and sixty feet above the level of the Yellowstone at the junction, 
 
114 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 are surrounded with columns of yolcanic breccia, that extend to 
 the base and rise fifty feet above the top of the falls. " Some 
 resemble towers, others the spires of churches, and others still 
 shoot up as lithe and slender as the minarets of a mosque. Some 
 of the loftiest of these formations, standing like sentinels upon 
 the very brink of the fall, are accessible to an expert and adven- 
 turous climber." The view from these old rocky watch-towers is 
 a grand one, but few are daring enough to climb to their rugged 
 summits for the sake of it. " Below the fall the stream descends 
 in numerous rapids, with frightful velocity, through a gloomy 
 gorge, to its union with the Yellowstone. Its bed is filled with 
 enormous boulders, against which the rushing waters break with 
 great fury." 
 
 Where Tower Creek ends the Grand Canon begins. Twenty 
 miles in length, it is impassable throughout, and inaccessible at 
 the water's edge, except at a few points. Its rugged edges are 
 from two hundred to five hundred yards apart, and its depth is 
 so profound that no sound ever reaches the ear from the bottom. 
 " The stillness is horrible. Down, down, down, we see the river 
 attenuated to a thread, tossing its miniature waves, and dashing, 
 with puny strength, against the massive walls which imprison it. 
 All access to its margin is denied, and the dark, gray rocks hold 
 it in dismal shadow. Even the voice of its waters in their con- 
 vulsive, agony cannot be heard. Uncheered by plant or shrub, 
 obstructed with massive boulders, and by jutting points, it rushes 
 madly on its solitary course. The solemn grandeur of the scene 
 surpasses description. The sense of danger with which it im- 
 presses you is harrowing in the extreme." 
 
 Concerning a view of the Grand Canon and surroundings, 
 Colonel Wm. Ludlow, of the engineer corps United States army, 
 beautifully says : " The view of the Grand Canon from the point 
 where we stood is perhaps the finest piece of scenery in the world. 
 I can conceive of no combination of pictorial splendors which 
 could unite more potently the two requisites of majesty and 
 beauty. Close at hand, the river, narrowed in its bed to a width 
 of some seventy feet and with a depth of four or five feet, through 
 the pure, deep green of which the hardly wavering outlines of the 
 brown boulders beneath are distinctly visible, springs to the crest 
 with an intensity of motion that makes its clear depths fairly 
 seem to quiver. Just before making the plunge, the stream is 
 
HEALTH AND PLEASURE. 115 
 
 again contracted, and the waters are thrown in from both sides 
 toward the center, so that two bold rounded prominences or but- 
 tresses, as it were, are formed where green and white commingle. 
 Lying prostrate and looking down into the depth, with the cold 
 breath of the canon fanning the face, one can see that these ribs 
 continue downward, the whole mass of the fall gradually break- 
 ing into spray against the air, until lost in the vast cloud of 
 vapor that hides its lowest third, and out of which comes up a 
 mighty roar that shakes the hills and communicates a strauge 
 vibration to the nerves. From far below this cloud emerges a 
 narrow, green ribbon, winding and twisting, in which the river 
 is hardly recognizable, so dwarfed is it, and creeping with so oily 
 and sluggish a current, as though its fall had stunned it. On 
 either hand the walls of the canon curve back from the plunging 
 torrent, and rise weltering with moisture to the level of the fall, 
 again ascending 500 or 600 feet to the pine-fringed margin of the 
 canon; pinnacles and towers projecting far into the space be- 
 tween, and seeming to overhang their bases. 
 
 " These details are comparatively easy to give, but how find 
 words which shall suggest the marvelous picture as a whole! 
 The sun had come out after a brief shower, and, shining nearly 
 from the meridian straight into the canon, flooded it with light, 
 and illuminated it with a wealth and luxuriance of color almost 
 supernatural. The walls appeared to glow with a cold, inward 
 radiance of their own, and gave back tints of orange, pink, yellow, 
 red, white and brown, of a vividness and massiveness hopeless to 
 describe, and which would overtax the powers of the greatest 
 artist to portray. The lower slopes, wet with spray, were deco- 
 rated with the rich hue of vegetation, while through the midst 
 the river, of a still more brilliant green, far below pursued its 
 tortuous course, and the eye followed it down through this ocean 
 of color until two or three miles away a curve in the canon hid it 
 from view and formed its own appropriate background." 
 
 The Grand Caiion is not all poetry, however, as those who 
 have descended into it have discovered. It contains a great mul- 
 titude of hot springs of sulphur, sulphate of copper, alum, etc. ; 
 and the river, when it is finally reached after four miles of weari- 
 some clambering over masses of rocks and fallen trees, is warm, 
 and impregnated with a villainous taste of alum and sulphur. 
 Its margin is lined with various chemical springs, some deposit- 
 
116 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 ing craters of calcareous rock, others muddy waters of different 
 colors. The explorers have been unfortunate in selecting their 
 point of descent, which has been at the northern end of the 
 chasm, for at the southern end nothing but magnificence is ap- 
 parent. There the Yellowstone plunges down in two grand 
 cataracts, known as the Upper and Lower Falls. For some dis- 
 tance before it reaches the former the river breaks into rapids, 
 and, narrowed between the rocks as it approaches the brink, 
 leaps, in a sheet of snow-white foam, over a nearly perpendicular 
 precipice about one hundred and forty feet high. The stream, 
 which is about two hundred feet wide between the falls, narrows 
 again as it approaches the Lower Fall to one hundred and fifty 
 feet, where it plunges over a level shelf of rock three hundred 
 and fifty feet high in a compact solid sheet. The Canon here is 
 one thousand feet in depth, its vertical sides rising darkly to 
 shelving summits. 
 
 But the brightest jewel of our wonderful park, — the Yellow- 
 stone lake — must not pass unnoticed. It is about twenty miles 
 long and fifteen miles broad, with a rough and irregular, but 
 almost enchanting, shore line. Its superficial area is about three 
 hundred square miles, its greatest depth three hundred feet, and 
 its elevation above the sea seven thousand four hundred and 
 twenty-seven feet. " Lying upon the very crown of the conti- 
 nent, Yellowstone lake receives no tributaries of any consider- 
 able size, its clear, cold water coming solely from the snows that 
 fall on the lofty mountain ranges that hem it in on every side. 
 In the early part of the day, when the air is still and the bright 
 sunshine falls on its unruffled surface, its bright green color, 
 shading to a delicate ultramarine, commands the admiration of 
 every beholder. Later in the day, when the mountain winds 
 come down from their icy heights, it puts on an aspect more in 
 accordance with the fierce wilderness around it. Its shores are 
 paved with volcanic rocks, sometimes in masses, sometimes 
 broken and worn into pebbles of trachyte, obsidian, chalcedony, 
 cornelians, agates, and bits of agatized wood ; and again, ground 
 to obsidian sand sprinkled with crystals of California diamonds." 
 
 Of the springs at the southwestern edge of the lake, Pro- 
 fessor Hayden says : " Our second camp was pitched at the Hot 
 Springs, on the southwest arm. This position commanded one 
 of the finest views of the lake and its surroundings. While the 
 
HEALTH AND PLEASURE. 11? 
 
 air was still, scarcely a ripple could be seen on the surface, and 
 the varied hues, from the most vivid green shading to ultra- 
 marine, presented a picture that would have stirred the enthusi- 
 asm of the most fastidious artist. Sometimes, in the latter por- 
 tion of the day, a strong wind would arise, arousing this calm 
 surface into waves like the sea. Near our camp there is a thick 
 deposit of silica, which has been worn by the waves into a bluff 
 wall, twenty-five feet high above the water. It must have origi- 
 nally extended far out into the lake. The belt of springs at this 
 place is about three miles long and half a mile wide. The de- 
 posit now can be seen far out in the deeper portions of the lake, 
 and the bubbles that rise to the surface in various places indicate 
 the presence, at the orifice, of a hot spring beneath. Some of the 
 funnel-shaped craters extend out so far into the lake that the 
 members of our party stood upon the silicious mound, extended 
 the rod into the deeper waters, and caught the trout, and cooked 
 them in the boiling spring, without removing them from the 
 hook. These orifices, or chimneys, have no connection with the 
 waters of the lake. The hot fumes coming up through fissures, 
 extending down toward the interior of the earth, are confined 
 within the walls of the orifice, which are mostly circular and 
 beautifully lined with delicate porcelain." 
 
 Lieutenant Barlow contributes the following very interesting 
 description of the great Geyser Basin, and of the points of in- 
 terest near the Yellowstone Falls : " Entering the basin from the 
 north, and following the banks of the Fire Hole river, whose 
 direction there is about northeast, a series of rapids, quite near 
 together, is encountered, when the river makes a sharp bend to 
 the southeast, at which point is found a small steam-jet upon the 
 right. A warm stream comes from the left, falling over a bank 
 ten feet in height. A short distance beyond a second rapid is 
 found, and then another, about 100 yards farther on, where the 
 gate of the Geyser Basin is entered. Here, on either side of the 
 river, are two lively geysers, called the Sentinels. The one on 
 the left is in constant agitation, the waters revolving horizontally 
 with great violence, and occasionally spouting upward to the 
 height of twenty feet, the lateral direction being fifty feet. Enor- 
 mous masses of steam are ejected. The crater of this is three 
 feet by ten. The opposite Sentinel is not so constantly active, 
 and is smaller. The rapids here are 200 yards in length, with a 
 
118 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 fall of thirty feet. . Following the banks of the river, whose 
 general course is from the southeast, though with many wind- 
 ings, 250 yards from the gate we reach three geysers acting in 
 concert. When in full action the display from these is very fine. 
 The waters spread out in the shape of a fan, in consequence of 
 which they have been named the Fan Geysers. A plateau, op- 
 posite the latter, contains fifteen hot springs, of various charac- 
 teristics; some are of a deep blue color, from sulphate of copper 
 held in solution, and having fanciful caverns distinctly visible 
 below the surface of the water. The openings at the surface are 
 often beautifully edged with delicately wrought fringes of scal- 
 loped rock. One variety deposits a red or brown leathery sub- 
 stance, partially adhering to the sides and bottom of the cavern, 
 and waving to and fro in the water like plants. The size of these 
 springs varies from five to forty feet in diameter. 
 
 " One hundred yards farther up the side of the stream is found 
 a, double geyser, a stream from one of its orifices playing to the 
 height of eighty or ninety feet, emitting large volumes of steam. 
 From the formation of its crater it was named the Well Geyser. 
 Above is a pine swamp of cold water, opposite which, and just 
 above, the plateau previously mentioned, are found some of the 
 most interesting and beautiful geysers of the whole basin. First 
 we came upon two smaller geysers near a large spring of blue 
 water, while a few yards beyond are seen the walls and arches of 
 the Grotto. This is an exceedingly intricate formation, eight 
 feet in height and ninety in circumference. It is hollowed into 
 fantastic arches, with pillars and walls o£ almost indescribable 
 variety. This geyser plays to the height of sixty feet several 
 times during twenty-four hours. The water, as it issues from its 
 numerous apertures, has a very striking and picturesque effect. 
 Near the Grotto is a large crater, elevated four feet above the 
 surface of the hill, having a rough-shaped opening two by two 
 .and a half feet. Two hundred yards farther up are two very fine 
 large geysers, between which a\d the Grotto are two boiling 
 springs. Proceeding one hundrt^ and fifty yards farther, and 
 passing two hot springs, a remarkable group of geysers is dis- 
 covered. One of these has a huge crater five feet in diameter, 
 shaped something like the base of a horn — one side broken 
 down — the highest point being fifteen feet above the mound on 
 which it stands. This proved to be a tremendous geyser, which 
 
HEALTH AND PLEASURE. 119 
 
 has been called the Giant. It throws a column of water the size 
 of the opening to the measured altitude of one hundred and 
 thirty feet, and continues the display for an hour and a half. 
 The amount of water discharged was immense, almost equal in 
 quantity to that in the river, the volume of which, during the 
 eruption, was doubled. But one eruption of this geyser was 
 observed. Another large crater close by has several orifices, and, 
 with ten small jets surrounding it, formed probably one con- 
 nected system. The hill built up by this group covers an acre 
 of ground, and is thirty feet in height. 
 
 " Toward the western verge of a prairie of several miles in 
 extent, above the Yellowstone Falls, a hill of white rocks was 
 discovered, which, upon investigation, proved to be another of 
 the ' Soda Mountains/ as they are called by the hunters. Ap- 
 proaching nearer, I found jets of smoke and steam issuing from 
 the face of the hill, while its other side was hollowed out into a 
 sort of amphitheatre, whose sides were steaming with sulphur 
 fumes, the ground hot and parched with internal fires. Acre 
 -after acre of this hot volcanic surface lay before me, having nu- 
 merous cracks and small apertures at intervals of a few feet, 
 whence were expelled, sometimes in steady, continuous streams, 
 sometimes in puffs like those from an engine, jets of vapor more 
 or less impregnated with mineral substances. I ascended the hill, 
 leaving my horse below, fearful that he might break through the 
 thin rock-crust, which in many places gave way beneath the 
 tread, revealing caverns of pure crystallized sulphur, from which 
 hot fumes were sure to issue. The crystals were very fine, but 
 too frail to transport without the greatest care. A large boiling 
 spring, emitting strong fumes of sulphur and sulphuretted hy- 
 drogen, not at all agreeable, was also found. The water from the 
 spring, overrunning its basin, trickled down the hill-side, leaving 
 a highly-colored trace in the chalky rock. Upon the opposite 
 side was found a number of larger springs. One, from its size 
 and the power displayed in throwing water the height of several 
 feet above the surface, was worthy of notice. Near this was a 
 spring having regular pulsations like a steam engine, giving off 
 large quantities of steam, which would issue forth with the roar 
 of a hurricane. This was in reality a steam volcano, deep vibra- 
 tions in the subterranean caverns, extending far away beneath 
 the hills, could be distinctly heard." 
 
120 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 The only blemishes in all this exquisite workmanship are 
 chargeable to man. Colonel Ludlow tells us that the mouldings 
 and carvings about the craters and pools have been chipped and 
 defaced by visitors, or scrawled over with the vacuous names of 
 self-important sightseers. We heartily concur in his opinion 
 that such practices should be stopped at once, together with the 
 whole system of plunder and vandalism which is wasting the 
 reservation. " Hunters have for years devoted themselves to the 
 slaughter of the game, until within the limits of the park it is 
 hardly to be found. I was credibly informed by people on the 
 spot, and personally cognizant of the facts, that during the win- 
 ter of 1874 and 1875, at which season the heavy snows render 
 the elk an easy prey, no less than from 1,500 to 2,000 of these, 
 the largest and finest game animals in the country, were thus 
 destroyed within a radius of fifteen miles of the Mammoth 
 Springs. From this large number, representing an immense 
 supply of the best food, the skins only were taken, netting to the 
 hunter some $2.50 or $3 apiece ; the frozen carcasses being left 
 in the snow to feed the wolves or to decay in the spring. A con- 
 tinuance of this wholesale and wasteful butchery can have but 
 one effect, viz., the extermination of the animal, and that, too, 
 from the very region where he has a right to expect protection, 
 and where his frequent inoffensive presence would give the great- 
 est pleasure to the greatest number." 
 
 P. W. Norris, Esq., superintendent of the park, has issued a 
 series of rules for the regulation of visitors. All hunting, fishing 
 or trapping, except for purposes of recreation or to supply food 
 for visitors or actual residents, is strictly prohibited; no fires 
 must be left burning; no lumber must be cut without a written 
 permit from the superintendent; visitors are prohibited from 
 breaking the silicious or calcareous borders or deposits surround- 
 ing or in the vicinity of the springs or geysers for any purpose, 
 or the removal, carrying away or sale of specimens found within 
 the park. Persons will not be permitted to reside permanently 
 within the limits of the park without permission from the sec- 
 retary of the interior. The superintendent also complains that 
 for the past two years great injury has been done by the careless 
 use of fire, wanton slaughter of rare and valuable animals and 
 vandalism of matchless wonders, and he appeals in the interest 
 of science to all to abstain, and to use all influence in urging 
 
HEALTH AND PLEASURE. 121 
 
 others to desist, from future vandalism of all kinds in the lofty, 
 romantic " wonderland." 
 
 Now that our Indian problem seems so near a final settle- 
 ment, and that highways are being rapidly constructed to this 
 great national pleasure ground, we may hope to soon see the 
 world's attention more strongly riveted upon this object than 
 the Yosemite has ever known. Adding this to Wyoming's other 
 charms of magnificent scenery, healing waters, invigorating 
 atmosphere and choice hunting grounds, she possesses more 
 attractions for the tourist and health seeker than any other 
 State or Territory. To the hundreds of enthusiastic opinions 
 offered by visitors as to the future of this section, Colonel Lud- 
 low adds his own, that " the day will come, and it cannot be far 
 distant, when this most interesting region, crowded with mar- 
 vels and adorned with the most superb scenery, will be rendered 
 accessible to all ; and then, thronged with visitors from all over 
 the world, it will be what nature and Congress, for once working- 
 together in unison, have declared it should be — a National 
 Park." 
 
 There are at present two feasible ways of entering the park, 
 the first from the Montana settlements on the north, and the 
 second from the Wyoming settlements on the south. Travel 
 is now confined principally to the northern routes, although they 
 are much more inconvenient and expensive, as the following 
 tables of distances, with accompanying explanation, will show. 
 Routes are laid down from different stations on the Union Pacific 
 railroad, according to official reports, and we will commence 
 with those of Montana : 
 
 Miles. 
 
 Ogden, Utah, to Franklin, Idaho, (rail) 80 
 
 Franklin to Virginia City (stage) 317 
 
 Madison River (private conveyance) 14 
 
 Driftwood, or Big Bend of Madison, (private conveyance). 28 
 
 Henry's Lake (private conveyance) 18 
 
 Tyghes Pass " 3 
 
 Gibbon's Fork " 23 
 
 Upper Geyser Basin " 15 
 
 Yellowstone Lake " 14 
 
 Total 512 
 
 The Bozeman route is similar to the above so far as distance 
 is concerned. From either Virginia City or Bozeman there are 
 9 
 
122 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 fair wagon roads, with numerous desirable camping places and 
 generally fine trouting. Banches extend within sixty miles of 
 the lake, while animals, camping " outfits " and guides are always 
 available at reasonable rates. Following is the Bozeman route : 
 
 Miles. 
 
 Ogden, Utah, to Franklin, Idaho, (rail) 80 
 
 Bozeman, Montana, (stage) . . .j 405 
 
 Boteler's Ranch, Yellowstone river, (private conveyance) 39 
 
 Second Canon of Yellowstone " 13 
 
 Devil's Slide, at Cinnabar Mountain, 8 
 
 Mouth of East Fork of YeUowstone " 24 
 
 Crossing at Cascade Creek " 24 
 
 Yellowstone Lake " . . 12 
 
 Total 605 
 
 The nearest and most feasible Wyoming route at present is 
 that leaving the Union Pacific at Green Eiver City. Daily stages 
 of the Sweetwater line run into the "Wind Eiver region to Camp 
 Brown, a distance of 155 miles, and from there a passable wagon 
 road leads to Yellowstone lake, 150 miles farther. From Green 
 Eiver City the distances are — 
 
 Miles. 
 
 Alkali Station (stage) 21 
 
 McCoy's Ranch " 27 
 
 Dry Sandy " 22 
 
 Pacific Springs " 13 
 
 Atlantic City " 14 
 
 Miner's Delight " 9 
 
 Eagle Ranch " 18 
 
 Camp Brown " 21 
 
 Head of Wind River (private conveyance) 110 
 
 Yellowstone Lake " 50 
 
 Total 305 
 
 At Camp Brown the tourist will find ample facilities for pro- 
 viding himself for the trip. Leaving that post, a splendid wagon 
 road ascends Wind Eiver valley for a distance of 110 miles to 
 Two Ocean Pass, where the new gold-diggings known as the 
 Ehodes Mining District are found. The balance of the distance 
 — fifty miles — is usually made with pack animals; but the grade 
 is easy, and could be readily followed with wagons. The entire 
 route is noted for the grandeur of its scenery, its ever present 
 and beautiful trout streams, and its superb, continuous hunting 
 
HEALTH AND PLEASURE. 123 
 
 grounds. Stages leave Green River City every morning, reaching 
 Camp Brown in thirty-six hours. Fare, first-class, $27. 
 
 Capt. William A. Jones, of the United States engineers, who 
 was in 1873 sent to find a shorter route to the Yellowstone Park 
 and Montana settlements, was very emphatic in his recommen- 
 dations of one of these southern outlets. His report also was 
 quite pointed and valuable upon the advantages to be derived by 
 the government from building either a rail or wagon road into 
 Montana. He says : 
 
 " At present there are two routes to Montana, over which the 
 interchange of products between that Territory and the east is 
 carried on, and government supplies shipped to the military 
 posts and the Indians in that country. These are: 1st, the Mis- 
 souri River route, by which supplies are carried by steamboat 
 as far as Fort Benton, Montana, and from thence distributed 
 through the Territory by wagons; and, 2d, the Union Pacific 
 Railroad route, over which supplies are carried by rail as far as 
 Corinne, Utah, and from thence northward, by wagons, to Idaho 
 and Montana. In the government's freighting contracts of 1873 
 the rates from Fort Benton to points in the Territory, and from 
 Corinne to the same points, are exactly the same. Of course, so 
 far as rates are concerned, the land-route cannot compete with 
 the water-route; but the river-route is only open during a few 
 months of the year, and during the remainder of the time the 
 land-route is not brought into competition with it. Further- 
 more, during the season that the river is open, its navigability is 
 far from being certain and reliable at all times; so that ship- 
 ments over it are detained a very long and wholly uncertain 
 length of time in transitu. As the business of the country is 
 now conducted, men can ill afford to have their money lying idle 
 for months or weeks, or even days, locked up in goods in transitu. 
 Every day saved on goods, of whatever character, is' the equiva- 
 lent of money gained. It is this element of time and its money 
 equivalent that underlies the astounding success of railroads as. 
 competitors with water-lines of traffic — success through which 
 the steamboat is disappearing from our rivers ; success that is 
 proving to us that there is no such thing as slow freight; that 
 men want some kinds of freight shipped/tf^er than others, but that 
 there is none they want shipped in a slow and unreliable manner. 
 
 "These considerations are so potent that, were a railroad 
 
124 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 constructed to Montana from some point on the, Union Pacific 
 railroad, it would in all probability be followed by virtual dis- 
 appearance of steamboat traffic from the Missouri river; and it 
 is by no means improbable that the great saving in distance 
 effected by the new Yellowstone route will, even without any 
 more railroad, enable the land-route to compete successfully with 
 that via the Missouri. In all events, the proposed route is 
 fraught with benefit to the people of Montana, through the 
 bringing of the rival lines into a closer competition. 
 
 " The present land-route leaves the Central Pacific railroad at 
 Corinne, Utah, and runs in a northerly direction through Idaho 
 to Montana, crossing the Bannock mountains on the divide 
 between the Snake and Missouri rivers. The distance from 
 Corinne to Fort Ellis, Montana, is four hundred and three miles. 
 The proposed [wagon] road should leave the Union Pacific rail- 
 road in the vicinity of Point of Kocks, Wyoming, and run about 
 north into the Wind Eiver valley; thence following up that 
 valley to its head, and through Togwotee Pass, northerly, to 
 Yellowstone lake, and through the Yellowstone National Park to 
 Fort Ellis. This route would pass directly by all of the principal 
 phenomena of the park, except the geysers, which could easily 
 be reached by a short side-road. By it, the distance from Point 
 of Rocks to Yellowstone lake is two hundred and eighty-nine 
 miles, and to Fort Ellis four hundred and thirty-seven miles." 
 
 Captain Jones surveyed a line from Point of Rocks station, on 
 the Union Pacific, and indulges in a few comparisons which, 
 even at this late day, are worthy of close attention. The freight 
 and passenger rates have changed a trifle, but these answer our 
 purpose just as well : * 
 
 Comparative Table op Distances. 
 
 Omaha, Neb., to Corinne, Utah 1,055 miles. 
 
 Omaha, Neb., to Point of Rocks, Wyoming 1 805 " 
 
 Distance saved by rail 250 ' ' 
 
 OMAHA, NEB., TO YELLOWSTONE LAKE. 
 
 Omaha to Corinne 1,055 miles. 
 
 Corinne to Fort Ellis, Montana 403 " 
 
 Fort Ellis to Yellowstone Lake 118 " 
 
 Omaha to Yellowstone Lake (present route) 1,576 miles. 
 
 Omaha to Point of Rocks 805 " 
 
 Point of Rocks to Yellowstone Lake 289 " 
 
 Omaha to Yellowstone Lake (proposed route) 1,094 " 
 
 Proposed route shortens distance to Yellowstone Lake 482 " 
 
HEALTH AND PLEASURE. 125 
 
 OMAHA, NEB., TO FORT ELLIS AND BOZEMAN, MONTANA. 
 
 Omaha to Corinne 1,055 miles. 
 
 Corinne to Fort Ellis 403 " 
 
 Omaha to Fort Ellis (present route) 1,458 miles. 
 
 Omaha to Point of Rocks. .• 805 " 
 
 Point of Rocks to Fort Ellis 437 " 
 
 Omaha to Fort Ellis (proposed route) 1,242 " 
 
 Proposed route shortens distance to Fort Ellis 216 " 
 
 " It is fair to presume that the freight and passenger rates 
 will be about the same over the proposed as they are over the 
 present route, as the distances are nearly the same. A reason- 
 able comparison between these rates can therefore be made from 
 the following table, showing those paid by the government to the 
 Union Pacific railroad : 
 
 Table of Rates, 
 transportation of persons — (amount for each person.) 
 
 Omaha to Corinne $79 25 
 
 Omaha to Point of Rocks 57 25 
 
 Amount per man saved by the proposed route $22 00 
 
 Transportation of Freight. — Third Class. 
 (four cents per ton per mile.) 
 
 Omaha to Corinne (1,055 miles), per ton $42 20 
 
 Omaha to Point of Rocks (805 miles), per ton 32 20 
 
 Amount per ton saved by the proposed route $10 00 
 
 Shipments of Freight to Montana, 
 shipments to montana via union pacific railroad. 
 
 Years. Poimda. 
 
 1869 1,125,960 
 
 1870 6,896,723 
 
 1871 7,501,280 
 
 1872 6,129,644 
 
 1873 (about) 6,000,000 
 
 " The proposed route will not be blocked by snow so much as 
 the present one, as the snow belt lies in a heavily-timbered coun- 
 try, in which the snow will not drift much. This will include a 
 distance of fully 150 miles north from Wind River valley. It 
 will open up a body of 2,000,000 acres of timber land, well 
 
126 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 watered and with a rich soil. There is considerable frost even 
 during the summer, but in spite of it the vegetation is always 
 quite luxuriant. 
 
 "There is good reason for believing that the Yellowstone 
 National Park will in time become the most popular summer 
 resort in the country, perhaps the world. This of itself is a 
 sufficient reason for opening the way to it at once. 
 
 " To sum up : the proposed route will save 250 miles of dis- 
 tance by railroad, 482 miles in reaching Yellowstone lake, and 
 216 miles in reaching the principal cities of Montana; it is a 
 direct route to the Yellowstone National Park, which at present 
 is practically inaccessible ; it opens up a very large tract of low- 
 lying timber land, a feature of rare occurrence in the great 
 Eocky Mountain plateau ; it will open up to settlement the Wind 
 Kiver valley, the Teton Basin, and the valley of the Upper Yel- 
 lowstone ; and, finally, will throw open the Yellowstone National 
 Park to the wonder-seekers of the world." 
 
 Wyoming's Healthfulness. — Concerning Wyoming as a resort 
 for invalids, Dr. George W. Corey, of Cheyenne, contributes the 
 following: "More than forty years ago a kind of vague but quite 
 general impression prevailed among the people inhabiting what 
 was then the frontier of the United States that the Plains, as 
 they were then designated, were peculiarly valuable as a health 
 resort for those suffering from pulmonary consumption, and for 
 those young persons who were weakly and cachectic. As early 
 as 1850, Dr. G. K. Wood wrote as follows from Fort Laramie: 
 ' The climate of these broad and elevated table-lands, which skirt 
 the base of the Rocky Mountains on the east, is specially benefi- 
 cial to persons suffering from pulmonary diseases, or with a 
 scrofulous diathesis. This has been known to the French inhab- 
 itants of the upper Mississippi and Missouri for many years, and 
 it has been their custom since the settlement of that portion of 
 the country to send the young members of their families who 
 showed any tendency to diseases of the lungs to pass their youth 
 among the trappers of the plains and mountains. The beneficial 
 results of this course no doubt depends in a great measure upon 
 the mode of life led by these persons — their regular habits, 
 constant exercise in the open air, and the absence of enervating 
 influences incident to life in cities. But that more is due to the 
 climate itself is shown by the fact that among the troops stationed 
 
THE GREAT FALLS OF THE YELLOWSTONE, 350 FEET HTGH. 
 
HEALTH AND PLEASURE. 129 
 
 in this region (whose habits are much the same everywhere) this 
 class of disease is of very rare occurrence/ 
 
 "A vast amount has been written during the last ten years in 
 reference to the marvelous beauty of the Eocky Mountain scenery 
 and the wonderful curative properties of the climate of these 
 regions, especially in cases of disease of the respiratory organs, 
 such as consumption, asthma, bronchitis, etc. etc., and it would 
 seem that the subject had been pretty well exhausted. Most of 
 this writing has, however, been done by industrious adventurers 
 of particular localities, who have not always observed the strictest 
 regard for exact truth, but have magnified features of scenery 
 and climate that were pleasant and favorable, and sought to 
 cover up or pass unnoticed those that are unpleasant and unfa- 
 vorable. This method of proceeding is certain to react unfavora- 
 bly, and statements of the best established facts in reference to 
 the benefits arising to certain classes of invalids from a residence 
 in these highlands are even now beginning to be looked upon 
 with many grains of allowance by people of the east. This 
 country is beginning to be looked upon as a quack nostrum, and 
 statements favorable to it as a health resort considered as adver- 
 tising dodges. It is our purpose to show in this article that these 
 elevated plains and mountain regions are the most healthful dis- 
 tricts in the United States, and that Wyoming is as healthful as 
 the most favored of them ; that in these elevated regions, where 
 the inhabitants enjoy the greatest degree of immunity from lung 
 diseases, the climate has an actual curative influence upon most 
 diseases of that class; that this climate cures some diseases, 
 while others are made worse; that consumption, in its early 
 stages, may be cured by a residence here, while in a more 
 advanced stage of the disease the sufferer sinks more rapidly here 
 in these highlands than he would down near the sea-shore ; that 
 while this clear, bracing, tonic mountain air is a great, good 
 medicine, it is no quack nostrum that cures everything. We 
 shall also attempt to show that Wyoming, today, possesses more 
 advantages as a health resort for people of all classes than any 
 other region in these highlands, being more accessible from both 
 east and west, and having larger areas unoccupied where people 
 may make homes and follow lucrative pursuits while they im- 
 prove their health. 
 
 " In presenting the claims of any region or country as being 
 
130 
 
 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 peculiarly salubrious and valuable as a resort for invalids or 
 those seeking the improvement of their health, it would seem 
 quite proper in the outset to inquire into the general health, 
 comparatively, of those that may be considered as nearly as 
 possible its permanent residents. For this purpose we have 
 selected several important regions of the United States, and, 
 taking the medical statistics of the United States army,* have 
 compiled a tabular statement of the ratio of sickness and mortal- 
 ity among the troops in these various regions, so that they may 
 be compared with the ratio of sickness and mortality among the 
 troops in Wyoming. 
 
 " It will be noted that the troops of the United States army 
 are subject to exactly the same conditions and surroundings, and 
 have the same habits everywhere more nearly than any other 
 class of people. They are frequently moved from one region 
 to another; their food, clothing, medical attendance and places 
 of abode are nearly identically the same wherever they go, and, 
 consequently, comparing the ratio of sickness and mortality 
 among them in these different regions will enable us to obtain a 
 more correct estimate of the actual healthfulness of each region 
 than could possibly be obtained in any other way. 
 
 TABLE 
 
 Showing comparative sickness and mortality, from disease, among United 
 States troops in different localities; averaged for five years, from 1869 to 
 1874. Compiled from the official reports of the War Department. 
 
 Localities by States and 
 Territories. 
 
 Atlantic Coast, from New- 
 York to Maine 
 
 Arizona 
 
 New Mexico 
 
 California and Nevada. . . 
 
 Pennsylvania, Indiana and 
 Michigan 
 
 Montana 
 
 Dakota 
 
 Wyoming 
 
 Oregon, Washington and 
 Idaho 
 
 Average 
 
 number of 
 
 troops per 
 
 y'r stationed 
 
 in each 
 
 locality. 
 
 841.21 
 1,168.32 
 
 954.79 
 1,393.24 
 
 438.25 
 
 622.74 
 
 2,004.37 
 
 1,919.10 
 
 730.56 
 
 Average 
 number 
 treated in 
 hospital per 
 year for 
 disease. 
 
 1,486.90 
 2,481.15 
 1,176.02 
 2,212.60 
 
 561.75 
 
 720.90 
 
 2,453.35 
 
 2,406.24 
 
 1,074.60 
 
 Average 
 number 
 
 died 
 per year 
 
 from 
 disease. 
 
 15. 
 
 14.15 
 7.42 
 9.60 
 
 2.65 
 3.50 
 9.55 
 9.05 
 
 3.40 
 
 Ratio to 1,000 of 
 mean strength. 
 
 Treated 
 
 each year 
 
 for disease. 
 
 1,768.01 
 2,124.14 
 1,231.70 
 1,587.65 
 
 1,282.53 
 1,157.62 
 1,224.06 
 1,253.77 
 
 1,471.23 
 
 Died ea. 
 y'r from 
 disease. 
 
 17.83 
 12.11 
 
 7.77 
 6.88 
 
 6.05 
 5.62 
 4.76 
 
 4.71 
 
 * Circular No. 4, War Department, Surgeon-General's Office, Washington, December 
 5, 1870, and Circular No. 8, May 1, 1875. We regret not being able to make this table 
 more full and complete, for want of time, but hope to do so iu the future. 
 
HEALTH AND PLEASURE. 131 
 
 " It will be observed that deaths from all other causes except 
 disease have been excluded from the above statement, and that 
 while Dakota, Wyoming, Washington and Idaho Territories, and 
 the State of Oregon, show the smallest ratio of mortality, Mon- 
 tana shows the smallest ratio of sickness. It should also be 
 remembered that the troops in Dakota, Montana and Wyoming 
 were, during the years included in the above table, almost con- 
 stantly harassed and kept on active field duty, assisting a lot of 
 robbers and lunatics to civilize the wild Sioux on the c peace 
 plan/ This plan consisted in the robbers robbing the Sioux of 
 their annuities, while the lunatics taught them to sing psalms. 
 This constant duty brought with it exposure and fatigue, and 
 consequent increase of sickness and mortality. In spite of this, 
 these last named regions show as small a sick-rate, and within 
 a trifling fraction as small a death-rate, as any of the most 
 healthy regions of the United States. 
 
 " Some of the Acute Diseases of Wyoming. — The acute diseases 
 of these mountain regions are the same in many respects that 
 prevail in similar latitudes in the Mississippi basin, modified of 
 course by the very great difference that exists in the climate of 
 the two regions. The most striking peculiarities of this climate 
 are the extreme dryness of the atmosphere and the great daily 
 range of temperature. The season of greatest relative humidity 
 is from October to April, and again from April to October is the 
 season of least relative humidity ; the atmosphere of July being 
 the dryest of the whole year. The greatest daily ranges of tem- 
 perature occur during the season of the dryest atmosphere. 
 These climatic conditions seem to have a controlling influence 
 upon disease, — catarrhal affections prevailing most during sea- 
 sons of greatest humidity of the atmosphere, while diseases of 
 tlie bowels, such as diarrhoea and dysentery, prevail while the air 
 is dryest and the greatest daily ranges of temperature occur. 
 Catarrh, or, as it is popularly called, cold, is the most common 
 disease here, as it is everywhere in this latitude. When special 
 regions of the air passages are attacked, the disease is designated 
 accordingly: cold in the head or coryza, quinsy or tonsilitis, 
 laryngitis or bronchitis. Quinsy is very prevalent, and embraces 
 much the larger proportion of all the cases of sore throat. While 
 catarrhal affections of the upper portions of the air passages are 
 extremely common, inflammatory diseases of the lungs, such as 
 
132 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 bronchitis, pneumonia or lung fever, and pleurisy, are extremely 
 rare. Intermittent fever, or ague, never occurs here except in 
 persons who have lately arrived in the country from malarious 
 districts either east or west. There is, however, a species of 
 remittent fever called i mountain fever/ which is indigenous, and 
 is a very severe disease. It prevails most in autumn and early 
 winter following dry summers, but may occur at any season of 
 the year. Some physicians report a great many cases of this 
 disease, which are simply bilious attacks, and have no resem- 
 blance to 'mountain fever' whatever. Biliousness, or 'bilious 
 attacks/ are extremely common, and prevail most during the 
 spring and summer months, and are speedily cured by remedies 
 that promote the action of the liver. Typhoid fever occurs but 
 rarely. Rheumatism and neuralgia are not very common, and 
 seem to prevail epidemically; more cases of rheumatism have 
 occurred in this place (Cheyenne) during the last year than 
 occurred in eight years before. Childbed fever occurs rarely, and 
 mothers recover from confinement rapidly and successfully, while 
 children born here are extremely fine, well developed and healthy. 
 Scarlet fever and diphtheria have never prevailed epidemically in 
 Wyoming except in one instance, — a quite malignant form of 
 scarlet fever prevailed in Laramie City in 1873. 
 
 " The disease that is most fatal among children in Wyoming 
 is a species of brain affection. Many children are born here with 
 very high-strung, irritable nervous organizations — seem quite 
 healthy at first — grow unusually well, and are extremely preco- 
 cious. They are often quite fleshy, but are noticed to have a 
 bloodless, pearly-white skin, with large, finely-formed, but un- 
 natural-shaped heads. Such children seldom live through their 
 second year. Some of this class of children, however, recover 
 from the most severe attacks of sickness, showing that remark- 
 able tenacity of life sometimes possessed by children, and con- 
 tinue to grow and thrive in spite of the disease and the predic- 
 tions of the doctors. Diarrhoea, dysentery and cholera infantum, 
 while they occur here among children, have never proven to be 
 such severe scourges as they frequently do in the regions east of 
 the Missouri. 
 
 " Wyoming as a Resort for Invalids. — We come now to speak 
 of Wyoming as a resort for invalids ; and first, for those suffering 
 from diseases of the respiratory organs. If we were called upon 
 
HEALTH AND PLEASURE. 133 
 
 to select a climate well calculated to benefit invalids suffering 
 from any particular malady, it would seem the most natural 
 thing in the world for us to select a region where that particular 
 malady, or the class of diseases to which it belonged, were least 
 prevalent, and where climatic conditions prevailed best calculated 
 to prevent its occurrence. The climate of North America is 
 rough and harsh compared with that of Europe, notably so on 
 account of its sudden changes, and great fluctuations of temper- 
 ature in short spaces of time. The opinion has long prevailed 
 that severe and sudden changes of temperature played a most 
 important part in the production of diseases of the lungs, espe- 
 cially bronchial catarrh and other milder diseases of the air pas- 
 sages. Such, however, is found not to be the case, unless these 
 sudden changes are accompanied by great relative humidity of 
 the atmosphere ; and as we have before stated, the ratio of rela- 
 tive humidity here in these highlands is very low, while the abso- 
 lute humidity is even less. The correctness of the latter opinion 
 is constantly verified in this country, where we see persons who 
 have weak lungs spending most of their waking hours in the 
 open air without regard to winds or weather, and suffering no 
 inconvenience, but, on the contrary, being constantly improved 
 in health. The great daily oscillations of temperature are more 
 than counterbalanced by the dryness of the atmosphere and other 
 climatic conditions that exist here. Just what it is that makes 
 up these other conditions it may be difficult to say. It may be 
 an excessive amount of electricity. It may be ozone, or an in- 
 creased amount of oxygen or diminished pressure of the atmos- 
 phere. It may be found in the perfect freedom of the atmosphere 
 from noxious vapors of the lower altitudes, or the clear, pure, un- 
 obstructed light of the sun. It may be found in that antiseptic 
 property which is known to exist in the air of these regions, that 
 heals wounds rapidly, and prevents the flesh of slain animals, 
 when exposed in the open air, from rapid decay. It may be any 
 one or, as we suspect, all these combined that produce tonic air. 
 " The fact that the extremely rough, harsh, changeable cli- 
 mate of New England produced greater ratios of consumption 
 than almost any other, long since led to the conclusion that 
 a climate as nearly the opposite of that — mild and equable — 
 would be the one most likely to benefit consumptives. Such 
 climates, however, are found not to possess tonic properties, such 
 
134 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 as we have just spoken of; but, on the contrary, are enervating, 
 and the benefits anticipated from them have not been realized. 
 We are of the opinion that the influence of this mountain air 
 upon the lungs, directly or locally, is not as important as the 
 profound change it produces upon the whole system during the 
 process of acclimation, giving new life and new energy to consti- 
 tutions that appeared to be shattered and broken down. It acts 
 as a slow and gentle stimulant and tonic to the nervous system — 
 the center of life — and through it upon all the functions of the 
 body. We are not to be understood as saying that this climate 
 produces this effect in every case. This is the rule, to which, 
 however, there are some exceptions. 
 
 "Chronic Nasal Catarrh. — This is an extremely common dis- 
 ease in these dry regions. Persons afflicted with it coming here 
 from the east are about as often made worse as better. The 
 evaporation from the surfaces of the mucous membranes of the 
 nose, caused by the currents of dry air passing in over them at 
 every respiration, keeps them on a constant strain to secrete 
 moisture sufficient to lubricate their surfaces, and an extremely 
 unpleasant feeling of dryness in the nose is experienced by new- 
 comers for some time on this account. This form of catarrh is 
 a very manageable disease except when it attacks persons of 
 feeble constitution. 
 
 " Chronic laryngitis and bronchitis are speedily cured by a 
 residence here unless they exist as complications of pulmonary 
 consumption. 
 
 "Asthma. — It may be said of these regions that they are the 
 paradise of asthmatics. An uncomplicated case of asthma was 
 never seen here that was not either cured or very much benefited 
 by a residence in these regions. Hundreds of the very worst 
 cases have come to Wyoming, both from the Atlantic and Pacific 
 coasts, and the longer they reside here the freer they become from 
 the disease. Persons of advanced age are as uniformly benefited 
 as those that are younger. Asthmatics who have organic dis- 
 ease of the heart may often stay on the Great Plains, in the ele- 
 vations of from 2,000 to 4,000 feet, such as the regions around 
 the Black Hills, with great relief from their asthma and slight 
 inconvenience from their heart trouble. 
 
 " Emphysema. — As a rule this disease seems to be benefited 
 by long-continued residence in high regions. One case that we 
 
HEALTH AND PLEASURE. 135 
 
 have seen occasionally for seven years past remained perfectly 
 free from the disease while living for two years at an altitude of 
 8,000 feet, but on taking up his abode at 6,000 feet elevation has 
 had an attack about every six months, lasting from ten days to 
 two weeks. 
 
 "Consumption. — This terrible scourge of the human race un- 
 questionably originates in imperfect or faulty nutrition. This 
 defect may be either hereditary or acquired. A tendency to con- 
 sumption may exist during a long life and not be developed, 
 because of the correct habits of the person having this constitu- 
 tional defect. And again consumption may be developed in a 
 person having no constitutional taint — it being brought on by 
 poor diet, long-continued transgression of hygienic laws, or resi- 
 dence in an unhealthy, depressing climate or poorly- ventilated 
 dwellings. In view of these facts the prevention of consumption 
 becomes an important consideration. For all persons who are 
 predisposed to consumption these regions offer a more certain 
 lease of life than any other on this continent. Persons whose 
 habits of life do not allow or compel them to fully expand their 
 lungs in a pure atmosphere — pale, thin, bloodless clerks, or 
 those of sedentary habits, with hacking coughs; nervous and 
 dyspeptic persons, children with narrow, stooping shoulders, flat 
 breasts and impaired digestion; — all these should seek the 
 mountains, if possible. The light air of these elevated regions 
 necessitates full breathing. Every nook and corner of the lungs 
 is forced into activity. The chest becomes full and round, the 
 stooping shoulders straighten up, the breathing capacity becomes 
 greater, the blood flows more rapidly and freely through the 
 lungs and is more perfectly purified or aerated. These people 
 -will find no occasion to devote a certain amount of time every 
 morning or evening to dumb-bell exercises and spasmodic efforts 
 to inflate their lungs. They will find that this exercise goes on 
 .all through the twenty-four hours of the day and night ; that it 
 is involuntary and not fatiguing ; that it is constant and natural, 
 and infinitely more beneficial than over-exertion for a short time 
 each day at dumb-bell and gymnastic labors. All such persons 
 as we have mentioned above will find their appetites and diges- 
 tion improved, their weight increased, and their physical and 
 mental energy greater than they have ever known them before. 
 
 "Developed Consummation. — After consumption has been de- 
 
136 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 veloped the question arises whether highlands or lowlands are 
 preferable to relieve the sufferer and prolong his existence, or in 
 rare instances cure him. The extent to which the disease has 
 advanced ; the amount of the lung-substance that has been de- 
 stroyed or rendered useless, and the degree of general emaciation 
 that has taken place, must be the guide in deciding whether the 
 sufferer should go to the highlands or lowlands, or remain at 
 home and die among his friends. The responsibility of the phy- 
 sician is very great in these cases where the patient is seen in the 
 early stages of the disease, and an opinion should be made up at 
 once as to what should be done. As a rule, hemorrhage from the 
 lungs is the first occurrence that fully settles the question in the 
 minds of the patient and his friends as to the true nature of his 
 disease. It is looked upon as a symptom of seated consumption. 
 We have seen a great many persons who, frightened by this 
 occurrence in their cases, have left homes in the east and come 
 here at once, and at least nine out of ten of them have been ben- 
 efited. We should, then, as a rule, advise all persons, as soon as 
 hemorrhage from the lungs has occurred, to come to the moun- 
 tains as soon as convenient, say within a month. There are, of 
 course, some exceptions to this rule, such as extremely acute 
 cases, where inflammation and rapid softening and breaking 
 down of the lungs is followed in a short time by death. After 
 softening of tubercular deposits in the lungs, except in cases 
 where these deposits are of extremely limited extent, the sufferer 
 should not be brought to these elevated regions, as he will only 
 hasten the fatal termination by so doing. Quite a number of 
 these unfortunate people who have been on their way to Cali- 
 fornia over the Union Pacific railroad, have died in their seats 
 while passing over these elevated regions. Chronic inflammation 
 of the lungs and chronic pleurisy never exist here, except as 
 complications of consumption. 
 
 "Other Chronic Diseases. — As a rule, persons suffering from 
 organic disease of the heart, like those in the advanced stages of 
 consumption, should avoid these highlands and remain nearer 
 the sea-level. Chronic diseases peculiar to females are usually 
 made worse by a residence here, unless they exist as a complica- 
 tion of pulmonary disease. 
 
 " Those suffering from general debility or nervous dyspepsia 
 are almost certain to be cured by a residence here for a sufficient 
 length of time to become acclimated." 
 
PART SECOND. 
 
 Counties, Cities, Military Posts, Etc. 
 
 WITH MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION FOR THE 
 
 CITIZEN OR PROSPECTIVE SETTLER. 
 
COUNTIES AND CITIES. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 COUNTIES, CITIES, MILITARY POSTS, ETC. 
 
 IN this chapter it is the purpose of the writer to briefly describe 
 the counties, cities, towns, etc., giving merely the important 
 features of location, size, population, wealth, and similar points. 
 As the most important industries tributary to the principal cities, 
 or belonging to the different counties, have already been treated 
 of in appropriate articles, exhaustive descriptions are rendered 
 superfluous here. In the estimates of area following, no allow- 
 ance is made for the new counties of Crook and Pease, which 
 were created by the last legislature, and which yet lack organiza- 
 tions. Taking up the counties first we naturally commence at 
 the eastern boundary of the Territory. 
 
 COUNTIES. 
 
 Laramie. — Occupying the extreme eastern portion of the Ter- 
 ritory, Laramie county presents an area of 16,800 square miles, 
 consisting largely of high rolling plains. It is watered princi- 
 pally by the Laramie, North Platte and Cheyenne rivers, and its 
 settlements are confined wholly to the valleys of the two first 
 named and their tributaries. The county contains a larger pro- 
 portionate area of summer and winter grazing land than any of 
 the other counties, while its valleys susceptible of cultivation are 
 quite numerous and extensive. The valleys of Horse Creek, 
 Chugwater river, Pole Creek, the Laramie river, and numerous 
 other streams, contain good lands, easily irrigated, and will pro- 
 duce fine crops, with a good market always at hand. Timber is 
 found in abundance within a convenient distance. Nearly 75,- 
 000 head of cattle and 50,000 head of sheep are now feeding upon 
 
140 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 less than one-third of its pasturage, and are confined to the re- 
 gion lying south of the Platte. The sales from these herds the 
 present year will reach $500,000. Assessed valuation of all 
 property for 1877, $3,000,000 ; estimated population, 9,540. Kich 
 deposits of gold, iron and copper are found in accessible localities, 
 and coal abounds in the extreme northern portions. 
 
 Albany. — Next on the west lies Albany county, containing 
 10,400 square miles of unexcelled grazing, forest, agricultural and 
 mineral lands. The Big and Little Laramie, North Platte and 
 Medicine Bow rivers are the principal streams, while the great 
 natural feature of interest — the Laramie plains — furnishes an 
 immense area of available farm and pasture lands. This won- 
 derful basin or park contains nearly 3,000,000 acres, and has an 
 average altitude of 7,150 feet. Over 50,000 head of stock are 
 grazing in this region, and many of the finest ranch sites in the 
 west are still to be had for the simple taking. The lumber, mar- 
 ble, iron and soda interests have already awakened much atten- 
 tion, and are destined to soon make Albany the banner county 
 for the value of productions. Taxable wealth, $2,500,000 ; esti- 
 mated population, 8,500; productions of all kinds for 1877, 
 $1,850,000. 
 
 Carton. — Carbon county occupies 22,080 square miles of the 
 central portion of the Territory. Population, 2,500; assessed 
 valuation, 1877, $1,900,000. The importance and diversity of its 
 resources is a matter worthy of more than usual note. The val- 
 leys of the North Platte, Sweetwater, Medicine Bow and Snake 
 rivers have a total length, within the county, of over 300 miles. 
 Along these can be found large areas of good lands, plenty of 
 water for irrigating purposes, and plenty of timber within easy 
 distance. There are numerous small streams all through the 
 county, principally tributaries of the streams already mentioned, 
 whose valleys contain thousands of acres of good lands, well 
 adapted to the purposes of agriculture and stock-raising. All 
 these valleys will produce fine crops of small grain, potatoes, 
 beets, onions, cabbage and all other kinds of hardy vegetables. 
 Pine timber is always abundant near the sources of the streams. 
 Thousands of railroad ties are made every year from this timber 
 and are floated down the Medicine Bow river to the line of 
 the railroad. The mining interest is also destined to be very 
 extensive. In the northern, central and extreme southern por- 
 
COUNTIES, CITIES, MILITARY POSTS, ETC. 141 
 
 tions, rich deposits of gold and silver are being developed. Coal 
 and iron abound, the former underlying at least one-fourth of 
 the surface. The Carbon coal mines are yielding from eighty to 
 ninety thousand tons of coal per annum. This county is also 
 the source of the western paint supply, and detailed mention of 
 this interest is made elsewhere. 
 
 Siveetivatei\ — This county has the princely area of 29,532 
 square miles and occupies a large proportion of the western half 
 of the Territory. Green, Sweetwater, Wind, Sandy and Popoagie 
 are the principal rivers, and with their numerous mountain 
 tributaries render this entire region unusually well watered. 
 Thus far Sweetwater is the banner agricultural county, nearly 
 every variety of small grains and vegetables being regularly 
 produced along Wind and Popoagie by thrifty and well-satisfied 
 ranchmen. Wheat, oats and barley are the principal crops at 
 present, and a home market is found for all that can be raised. 
 The government purchases all the grain offered for sale, and pays 
 good prices, giving eastern prices with cost of transportation 
 added. Potatoes yield well and are of superior quality ; they sell 
 very readily in the mining towns at good prices. Cabbage, 
 turnips, beets, carrots, parsnips, onions, etc., are raised easily and 
 successfully ; cucumbers, melons, tomatoes and egg-plant mature 
 well and are of an excellent flavor. The rich Sweetwater and 
 Wind river gold and silver mines are located in this county, and, 
 indeed, a large proportion of the Big Horn range, with its vast 
 undeveloped wealth. The Eock Springs coal measures, so famous 
 all over the trans-Missouri region, are also in this county. Pine 
 timber is abundant everywhere. Sweetwater county contains 
 more desirable unoccupied farming lands than any other in the 
 Territory, has vast summer and winter pasturage for stock and 
 presents strong inducements to the prospector or the capitalist 
 seeking investment in mines. Total valuation of property, 
 $1,918,449. Population, 3,500. 
 
 Uintah. — This county occupies the extreme western portion 
 of the Territory and contains 17,064 square miles. Its resources 
 in coal lands, forests, pastures and arable soil are as extensive, in 
 proportion to its area, as are those of any region in the west. 
 Uintah county supplies the Central Pacific railway, Utah, Ne- 
 vada, Idaho and portions of California with coal. It sustains 
 the Utah and Wyoming smelters with charcoal and coke, and it 
 
142 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 furnishes vast quantities of lumber, ties and wood for local and 
 railroad consumption. The Yellowstone, Bear and Snake rivers 
 and Henry's and Ham's forks of Green river are the principal 
 streams. These and their tributaries water finely situated and 
 fertile valleys, only waiting for the labor of man to make them 
 equally as productive as the best sections of the States. There 
 are several large valleys which offer extraordinary inducements 
 to settlers, and large colonies will experience but little difficulty 
 in obtaining desirable locations ; they will find it to their inter- 
 est to examine some of these valleys before deciding upon a loca- 
 tion. The many growing towns afford a home market for every- 
 thing produced ; the supply at present is totally inadequate, and 
 large quantities of vegetables, eggs, butter, etc., are imported 
 from Utah and the east. The soil will produce nearly every 
 variety of the hardy cereals and vegetables. Flax grows sponta- 
 neously and luxuriantly in many parts of the county. No better 
 location for stock-raising and dairying can be found than here, 
 and many are already laying the foundations for competence by 
 earnest efforts in this direction. That mountain-locked gem of 
 all America, Yellowstone Park, lies in the northern portion of 
 Uintah county. A good route can easily be constructed thither 
 through the county, and will undoubtedly soon be a popular 
 highway. 
 
 CITIES, VILLAGES, POST-OFFICES, ETC. 
 
 Cheyenne. — The writer recently asked one of the first settlers 
 of Cheyenne whether he knew who erected the first house in the 
 city, and received as an answer: "Well, one fine day, early in 
 July, 1867, four or five hundred of us pitched our tents here, 
 where there wasn't a sign of civilization, and about half of us 
 woke up at daylight the next morning to find that the other half 
 were living in board shanties!" That is the history of the 
 founding of western cities, in a very small nut-shell, with the 
 exception that while many other cities are short-lived, Cheyenne 
 was founded as permanently as her western walls of granite. The 
 city is situated in the southeastern corner of Wyoming, 516 miles 
 west of Omaha, and is the seat of Territorial government as well 
 as of Laramie county. Her population closely approximates 
 4,500, and her taxable wealth for the present year is estimated at 
 nearly $3,000,000. 
 
 No city of like population in the west can boast as rapid and 
 
COUNTIES, CITIES, MILITARY POSTS, ETC. 143 
 
 permanent a growth during the past two years as Cheyenne. 
 During this period the population has been doubled, over 200 
 residences and twenty massive business blocks have been com- 
 pleted at a cost of 1700,000, and at this writing plans are drawn 
 or work progressing on improvements worth over $100,000 more. 
 Among public improvements may be noted a public school 
 building costing $13,000; a court-house costing $40,000; city 
 hall, $12,000; Odd-Fellows hall, $15,000; five fine churches, 
 belonging to the prominent denominations, and a large outlay 
 upon the grading of streets, construction of sidewalks, etc. An 
 excellent system of water-works, well under way, will soon supply 
 the city with water for both fire and domestic purposes, while 
 arrangements have just been completed for illumination by gas. 
 Several immense reservoirs or lakes, supplied by Crow Creek, 
 occupy elevated positions near the city, and are drawn upon for 
 water for irrigating purposes. Thus, the site once so barren and 
 desolate is not only teeming with wonderful life, but will soon, 
 through the beautifying influences of tasty residences and rich 
 foliage, be a really handsome city. 
 
 In order to show the present importance of Cheyenne in a 
 commercial way we will quote figures of business in a few leading 
 lines. During 1876 there were received at the Union Pacific and 
 Denver Pacific freight depots here over 80,000,000 pounds of 
 freight. During the same time nearly $250,000 were received by 
 these roads at the Cheyenne offices for passenger tickets and 
 extra baggage. 
 
 For the six months ending June 30, 1877, the Cheyenne and 
 Black Hills Stage Company — the finest organization of its kind 
 in the whole west, and of which every citizen is justly proud — 
 carried 3,128 first and second class passengers, for which the 
 fares amounted to $48,766.22. The same company, during this 
 period, has carried 5,680 express packages, on which were charges 
 to the amount of $19,471.47. This company has nearly $200,000 
 invested in its elegant coaches, fine stock, etc. On its Black 
 Hills lines eighty men are regularly carried on the pay-roll, and 
 their wages foot up the snug sum of $7,000 per month. It 
 requires 600 head of stock to run this "broad-gauge" line, 
 which is only second to a narrow-gauge railway; and all other 
 appointments are on the same liberal plan. 
 
 Cheyenne's two solid and well-conducted banks — the First 
 
144 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 National and Stebbins, Post & Co. — have, during the past year, 
 sold exchange to the amount of $4,225,000; have bought $1,200,- 
 000 worth of Black Hills gold dust, and have had an average of 
 $300,000 regularly on deposit. These institutions are officered 
 and conducted by Cheyenne men, and have no superior for sys- 
 tematic and legitimate management. 
 
 The business of the telegraphic companies is another fair 
 indication of the general prosperity. The Western Union, At- 
 lantic & Pacific and Cheyenne and Black Hills companies have 
 offices here. The total number of messages received by these 
 during the past year is 267,971; cash receipts, $35,000; money 
 transfers, $22,000. The Cheyenne and Black Hills line is em- 
 phatically a home institution, and the far northern settlements 
 owe to Superintendent W. H. Hibbard a debt of gratitude which 
 cannot soon be repaid. The wires were first stretched to Dead- 
 wood, December 1, 1876, since which date over 700,000 words 
 have passed over them to or from Cheyenne. 
 
 The three leading hotels of Cheyenne have registered 10,800 
 arrivals during the past year, and a dozen smaller institutions 
 have probably done as much more. 
 
 Real estate transfers for the past year have numbered about 
 five hundred, with the handsome consideration of $175,000. 
 Business lots have increased in value from fifty to seventy-five per 
 cent., and residence lots from twenty to twenty-five per cent. Large 
 areas of outside property are still held by the Union Pacific com- 
 pany at very reasonable figures. First-class business lots 24 X 132 
 feet sell readily at from $2,000 to $3,000; first-class residence 
 lots 66x132, $500 to $800. Good outside property sells for less 
 than half these prices, and that portion held by the railway com- 
 pany still sells in best plats at the uniform rate of $100 per lot. 
 Rents are usually high, and the supply of desirable business or 
 residence structures is never equal to the demand. Strictly first- 
 class brick business houses rent for from $100 to $125 per month 
 for a single floor, while cottages of five and six rooms are eagerly 
 sought at $30 to $35. Insurance premium on first-class brick 
 houses, $1.25. Risks on frame business houses are not taken. 
 Over $600,000 in policies are now out on Cheyenne property. 
 
 What Omaha has been to Nebraska, Dakota and Iowa, or 
 Denver to Colorado and New Mexico, Cheyenne is and will be to 
 Wyoming, Montana and so much of Dakota as is covered by the 
 
COUNTIES, CITIES, MILITARY POSTS, ETC. 145 
 
 Black Hills region. No outlet for all the vast northwest can 
 present half the natural advantages and no northwestern city- 
 can approach Cheyenne for real downright enterprise, sagacious 
 business management or spirit of permanency. Already possess- 
 ing two important railway lines, the "Magic City" is construct- 
 ing a third, and by the avowed determination of Union Pacific 
 authorities will soon have her fourth — that to connect her with 
 the rich Big Horn and Black Hills regions, and to lay at her feet 
 the offerings of all the fertile valleys and metal-seamed moun- 
 tains of Montana. Already her heavy wholesale houses are 
 securing much of the northern and western trade which origi- 
 nally went to the cities of the east, and with their constantly 
 enlarging facilities and liberal spirit this important feature of 
 prosperity has the brightest possible outlook. The stock inter- 
 ests have thus far had more to do with the erection of her elegant 
 blocks and residences, and her prosperity generally, than any 
 other single item, and this, simply inaugurated, promises the 
 grandest possibilities. Of Cheyenne's relations to the Big Horn 
 and Black Hills regions more is said in chapters devoted to those 
 sections. However, in closing this hasty and imperfect sketch,, 
 the writer desires to state that, all things being considered, there 
 are no points aspiring to reap the benefits of the travel and trade 
 of those regions which can be compared with Cheyenne. 
 
 Cheyenne is justly proud of her newspapers, and we doubt if 
 all other interests combined have promoted development to a 
 greater extent than these. There are three large dailies, the Sun r 
 Leader and Gazette, the two first-named issuing fine weekly 
 editions, all publishing the associated press and special telegrams,, 
 and columns of spicy editorial and local matter. The Leader, 
 published in the morning, is the pioneer, having been established 
 during the earliest settlement, and grown in importance and 
 influence with the general prosperity. The Sun, E. A. Slack,, 
 editor and proprietor, and J. P. C. Poulton, associate editor, is- 
 one of the brightest, newsiest and most original journals in the 
 whole northwest, and for solid worth or genuine merit is praised 
 in every hamlet of Wyoming. It is also issued as a morning 
 daily. Published in the afternoon, the Gazette occupies a field 
 exclusively its own, and occupies it in a very satisfactory manner,, 
 as shown by its excellent patronage. 
 
 Laramie. — Laramie City is beautifully situated on the east 
 
146 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 bank of the Laramie river, on the line of the Union Pacific rail- 
 road, 572 miles west of Omaha. It is not only " Queen of the 
 Laramie Plains," but of all Wyoming, for beauty of location, 
 finely laid out streets and tree-embowered homes. The first 
 building was erected in 1868, and without the serious collapse 
 usually suffered by western towns, it has steadily advanced to the 
 importance of a thriving, well built city of 3,500 souls, and is 
 today more noticeable for its grand local resources, its large 
 number of elegant churches, public improvements and resi- 
 dences, and its excellent society, than any other city between 
 Omaha and Salt Lake. 
 
 Besides being the supply point for the entire Laramie plains, 
 the great lumbering districts of southern and central Wyoming 
 and of the grand mining region encircling her — all of which 
 are elsewhere described — Laramie city contains the only rolling 
 mills on the line of the Union Pacific railway. These were 
 built by the Union Pacific company in 1875, at a cost of $250,000, 
 and have a capacity of 20,000 tons of railroad iron per annum. 
 An average of 200 men are constantly employed, and these, with 
 a large force of machinists at work in the company's extensive 
 car-shops, put many dollars into home circulation. 
 
 The long rows of shade trees, well-kept lawns, and pretty 
 flower gardens, are stimulated by the crystal waters of spring 
 brooks which flow through all the streets, and by the utilization 
 of an excellent system of water-works. The latter consist of iron 
 pipes laid from a spring several miles back from the city, and 
 which have so great a fall that an immense pressure is obtained 
 from hydrants on all the streets. 
 
 Business at the Laramie freight depot and at the post-office 
 will give readers an idea of its extent in other lines. For the year 
 ending June 30, 1877, freight was received to the amount of 17,- 
 000,000 pounds, and collections on this amounted to $117,629.18. 
 The post-office, conducted by Dr. J. H. Hayford, is a marvel of 
 system and a fitting pattern for other institutions of the public 
 service. During the fiscal year ending June 30, 1877, $7,514.78 
 worth of stamps were sold ; money orders issued to the amount 
 of $56,237.84; surplus money order funds remitted, $40,400; 
 fees on orders, $469.70; number of registered letters sent and 
 received, 3,301. 
 
 Laramie City is ably represented in the newspaper line by 
 
COUNTIES, CITIES, MILITARY POSTS, ETC. 147 
 
 the daily and weekly Sentinel, Hayford & Gates, proprietors. 
 It is one of the oldest institutions of the kind in Wyoming, is a 
 thoroughly representative western paper and is appreciated as it 
 should be by a large circle of readers. 
 
 Few cities have assurances of a brighter future. The wealth 
 of mines and forests, pastures and farm lands, and the grand 
 auxiliaries furnished by unexcelled deposits of marble and soda, 
 will, at Laramie, in the not distant future, command an atten- 
 tion and insure a prosperity not yet dreamed of even by her own 
 far-seeing and enthusiastic citizens. Laramie is also the county- 
 seat of Albany county. 
 
 From Laramie there is a tri-weekly mail route to the Hahn's 
 Peak gold mines, in northern Colorado, 112 miles; to White 
 River agency, Colorado, 228 miles ; weekly to Fort Laramie, 85 
 miles; and weekly to the Centennial mines and Last Chance 
 district, 30 and 40 miles respectively. 
 
 Bawlins. — Rawlins is the county-seat of Carbon county, 
 named after the late General John A. Rawlins, chief of General 
 Grant's staff, and afterward Secretary of War. It is situated on 
 the line of the Union Pacific railroad, 710 miles west of the Mis- 
 souri river, and 322 miles east of Ogden, at an altitude of 6,540 
 feet above the level of the sea, in the center of a rich mineral and 
 grazing country, and has a population of about 1,000 people. It 
 is the terminus of the Laramie freight division of the Union 
 Pacific railroad, embracing a large depot, first-class railroad and 
 mail facilities, round-house, and machine shops, at which about 
 one hundred men are constantly employed. The town is well 
 supplied with good water from large springs in the immediate 
 vicinity, and distributed through iron pipes. It contains three 
 good hotels, three general stores well stocked and doing an ex- 
 tensive business, two telegraph offices, court-house, public school- 
 house, new stone jail, two churches, a first-class drug store, jew- 
 elry establishment, two blacksmith and wagon shops, livery and 
 sale stable, and a large hall fitted up with stage and scenery 
 for public entertainments. Masonic, Odd-Fellows, Good Tem- 
 plars and other societies flourish. Here are also the two ex- 
 tensive mills in which is manufactured the celebrated Rawlins 
 Metallic paint, obtained by pulverizing a red hematite of iron 
 ore found in large quantities about three miles north of Rawlins, 
 on the route to the Big Horn. This paint is used exclusively by 
 the Union Pacific and other railroad companies. 
 
148 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 The county for miles about Rawlins, and especially along the 
 North Platte river, is well stocked with cattle, and the valleys 
 are being rapidly settled. 
 
 The merit which Rawlins, from its position on the Union 
 Pacific railroad, possesses as a place of departure and outfitting 
 for the Big Horn country will at once be seen by referring to the 
 map. There are two excellent routes, descriptions of which 
 are given in the chapters devoted to the Big Horn region. 
 The large expedition to the Big Horn mountains sent out by 
 the government in 1874, under the command of Captain Mills 
 and conducted by Mr. Tom Sun, late government guide, going 
 by one and returning by the other, passed over both routes, and 
 the commander expressed himself as well pleased with both of 
 them. 
 
 The excellent facilities for shipping stock from Rawlins are 
 beginning to attract their deserved attention, and thousands of 
 head of cattle from Montana and from the great ranges in the 
 vicinity of the railroad are being shipped eastward to market this 
 season. One firm, whose ranch is located south of Rawlins, on 
 Snake river, has recently effected a sale of beef cattle, to be deliv- 
 ered here, the consideration of which was $52,000. 
 
 Green River City. — Three hundred and twenty-nine miles 
 west of Cheyenne, on the Union Pacific railroad, and occupying 
 a central position in the Territory, is Green River City. It is 
 located on the east bank of Green river, here a clear, swift stream 
 averaging seventy-five yards in width. Green River City is the 
 county seat of Sweetwater county, contains 600 inhabitants, ele- 
 gant court-house and other public buildings, and is well supplied 
 with extensive business houses, representing every line. It is the 
 southern terminus of the Sweetwater daily stage line, and has 
 well-founded aspirations for the travel and business of parties en 
 route to the Big Horn and Wind River gold regions. The capable 
 postmaster of Green River, Judge S. I. Fields, is one of the oldest 
 settlers, and is regarded as the " Father of the Town," in that he 
 has extensive land interests and directs his best energies toward 
 building it up. He has experimented quite extensively in the 
 cultivation of the soil in the suburbs of the town, and has estab- 
 lished the fact that all of the hardy grains and vegetables flourish 
 when irrigated. Green River City is the western end of one of 
 the Union Pacific divisions, has one of the company's large repair 
 
COUNTIES, CITIES, MILITARY POSTS, ETC. 151 
 
 shops and round-house, and other extensive railroad buildings. 
 The Daily Press is published here every afternoon by Judge C. 
 W. Holden, and is a sprightly twenty-column paper, having for 
 its field the largest and perhaps richest county in the Territory. 
 See engraving of Green River on another page. 
 
 Evanston. — Evanston is the county seat of Uintah county, 
 and is located in Bear River valley, in the extreme western part 
 of the Territory. It contains 1,200 inhabitants, is built largely 
 of brick and stone and boasts as fine churches, schools and pub- 
 lic buildings as any of the Wyoming cities. The lumber, coal 
 and charcoal interests, together with stock-growing, are the solid 
 foundations of Evanston's prosperity. It is the designated ship- 
 ping point for a large proportion of the Montana cattle w r hich 
 find a southern market every season. To the north for a distance 
 of 100 miles, extending into Utah and Idaho, is a fine agricul- 
 tural and grazing country, which is settled by about 4,000 people. 
 Unexcelled trout fishing in Bear river and tributaries, large sul- 
 phur springs in the vicinity and most picturesque surroundings, 
 combine to render Evanston a point much sought by tourists 
 and health seekers. The bluffs surrounding abound with nearly 
 every species of game, from the rabbit to the elk, and lend addi- 
 tional charms for the sportsman. A ditch eight miles long 
 brings the clear mountain water from Bear river down to the 
 city and through its streets. Yellowstone Park is 290 miles due 
 north of Evanston, and a good route leads thither via Bear val- 
 ley and Caribou. A desirable route for western miners to the 
 Big Horn is also located from here. Evanston post-office busi- 
 ness for the fiscal year just ended is as follows: money orders 
 issued, $28,239 ; remitted on orders, $22,695 ; orders paid, $4,722 ; 
 fees and commissions, $191. The Evanston weekly Age, pub- 
 lished here by Wm. E. Wheeler, is one of the essential and mer- 
 itorious institutions. It faithfully represents the resources and 
 capabilities of western Wyoming and is a most valuable member 
 of the Territory's bright constellation of journals. 
 
 Other Towns. — Among other towns worthy of mention are 
 the following : Rock Springs, 320 miles west* of Cheyenne, the 
 great coal mining town of central Wyoming. Population 450. 
 Besides producing immense quantities of coal, Rock Springs the 
 present season will ship 10,000 head of cattle. Hilliard, fourteen 
 miles east of Evanston, is one of the most prominent lumbering 
 
152 
 
 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 centers, and manufactures many thousand bushels of charcoal 
 annually. South Pass, Atlantic City, and Miners' Delight, are 
 important mining camps in Sweetwater county, and are destined 
 to swell the bullion yield of Wyoming to a very large extent, as 
 low-grade ores and the poorer gulches can be worked profitably 
 by more practicable appliances. 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS INFOBMATION. 
 
 Post- Offices. — Following is a complete list of the post-offices 
 in Wyoming, with the counties in which they are located, and the 
 names of postmasters. Names of money-order offices, are marked 
 with an * ; county seats in small capitals : 
 
 Aliny 
 
 Aspen 
 
 Atlantic City 
 
 Bear Springs , 
 
 Bordeaux 
 
 Camp Brown , 
 
 Camp Stambaugh* . . . 
 
 Cheyenne* 
 
 Chugwater 
 
 Chimney Rock 
 
 Carbon 
 
 Carter 
 
 Centennial 
 
 Dixon 
 
 Davis Ranch 
 
 Eagle Ranch 
 
 Evanston* 
 
 Farrel 
 
 Ferris 
 
 Fort Bridger* 
 
 Fort Fetterman 
 
 Fort Fred Steele 
 
 Fort Halleck 
 
 Fort Laramie* 
 
 Granger 
 
 Green River City* . 
 
 Hat Creek 
 
 Hilliard 
 
 Lander 
 
 Laramie City* 
 
 Last Chance 
 
 Little Horse Creek . '. . 
 
 Little Moon 
 
 Medicine Bow 
 
 Miners' Delight 
 
 North Fork 
 
 Percy \ ». 
 
 Piedmont 
 
 Uintah 
 Sweetwater 
 Sweetwater 
 Laramie . . . 
 Laramie . . . 
 Sweetwater 
 Sweetwater 
 Laramie . . . 
 Laramie . . . 
 Laramie . . . 
 Uintah 
 Uintah 
 Carbon 
 
 Carbon 
 
 Laramie . . . 
 Sweetwater 
 Uintah 
 
 Albany 
 
 Carbon 
 
 Uintah 
 
 Albany 
 
 Carbon 
 
 Carbon 
 
 Laramie . . . 
 
 Uintah 
 
 Sweetwater 
 Laramie . . . 
 
 Uintah 
 
 Sweetwater 
 Albany 
 
 Albany 
 
 Laramie . . . 
 
 Laramie . . . 
 
 Carbon 
 
 Sweetwater 
 
 Sweetwater 
 
 Carbon 
 
 Uintah 
 
 POSTMASTER. 
 
 N. Beeman. 
 J. N. Adams. 
 Robt. McAuley. 
 Isaac Bard. 
 Thos. Hunton. 
 J. K. Moore. 
 J. K Baldwin. 
 H. Glafcke. 
 John Phillips. 
 J. McFarland. 
 W. C. Bangs. 
 Richard Carter. 
 Thos. Markle. 
 Susan Hugus. 
 Henry Davis. 
 B. F. Ward. 
 
 E. S. Whittier. 
 Edward Farrel. 
 H. W. Smith. 
 W. A. Carter. 
 W. H. Murphy. 
 J. W. Hugus. 
 Robert Foote. 
 J. W. Ford. 
 
 F. B. Carley. 
 S. I. Field.' 
 J. Bowman. 
 W. K. Sloan. 
 
 P. P. Dickinson. 
 J. H. Hayford. 
 J. Beagle. 
 Wm. McMinn. 
 N. Janis. 
 A. Trabing. 
 James Kime. 
 H. R. Prather. 
 A. J. Bowie. 
 A. B. Cameron. 
 
COUNTIES, CITIES, MILITARY POSTS, ETC. 
 
 153 
 
 OFFICE. 
 
 COUNTY. 
 
 POSTMASTER. 
 
 Pine Bluffs 
 
 
 J. R Gordon 
 
 Pole Creek 
 
 Laramie 
 
 Fred Schwartz. 
 
 
 James France. 
 
 Red Buttes 
 
 Albany 
 
 Thos. A. McCool. 
 
 Rock Creek 
 
 Albany 
 
 Herbert Thayer. 
 0. C. Smith. 
 
 
 Sweetwater 
 
 
 W. N Gale. 
 
 South Pass City 
 
 Tie Siding 
 
 Sweetwater 
 
 Albany 
 
 James Smith. 
 J. W. Booth. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Albany 
 
 J. Allen. 
 
 
 
 
 Schools, Churches, Societies and Libraries. — The following 
 educational, religious and literary statistics will be found re- 
 liable, and generally interesting: 
 
 WYOMING PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 
 
 Counties. 
 
 Superintendents. 
 
 No. School 
 Buildings. 
 
 Schools. 
 
 No. Pupils. 
 
 Am't paid 
 Teachers. 
 
 Albany 
 
 Carbon 
 
 Laramie 
 
 Sweetwater. . 
 Uintah 
 
 W. E. Hamilton. . 
 
 Daniel Clay 
 
 J. Y. Cowhick. . . . 
 Chas. Washington 
 Wm. E. Wheeler. 
 
 3 
 4 
 
 1 
 3 
 5 
 
 3 
 
 i 
 
 6 
 
 8 
 
 277 
 260 
 432 
 190 
 384 
 
 $3,375 
 
 1,826 
 7,010 
 2,461 
 3,497 
 
 Totals.... 
 
 
 
 16 
 
 27 
 
 1,543 
 
 $18,169 
 
 Total value of public school property, $60,500. All counties 
 have surplus school funds, and several are arranging to erect new 
 buildings and make other needed improvements. 
 
 All religious denominations are represented by good churches 
 and membership. The total value of all church property closely 
 approximates $100,000. 
 
 There are in Wyoming five lodges of the Masonic order, nine 
 lodges of Odd Fellows, two lodges of Knights of Pythias, and six 
 temperance societies. Trades unions are also well represented. 
 
 Siven good public and circulating libraries in the Territory 
 (without including about an equal number at the military posts) 
 contain an aggregate of 8,000 volumes. 
 
 County Officers. — Following is a list of all county officers in 
 Wyoming, corrected up to July 15, 1877 : 
 
 Albany. — Commissioners, Henry Wagner, John S. McCool, 
 N. A. Heath ; Sheriff, Daniel Nottage ; Clerk, J. W. Meldrum ; 
 11 
 
154 
 
 HAND-BOOK OP WYOMING. 
 
 Probate Judge, J. W. Donnellan; Prosecuting Attorney, M. C. 
 Brown ; Superintendent of Schools, "W. E. Hamilton ; Coroner, 
 J. W. Dysart. 
 
 Carbon. — Commissioners, James France, William Brauer, 
 Wm. H. Kobson ; Sheriff, Isaac M. Lowry ; Attorney, Homer 
 Merrell ; Clerk, Joseph B. Adams ; Probate Judge and Treasurer, 
 W. L. Ash; Assessor, Hower L. Bair; Superintendent of Schools. 
 Daniel B. Clay; Coroner, Ed. S. Snow. 
 
 Laramie. — Commissioners, A. P. Swan, E. Nagle, J. Sparks ; 
 Sheriff, T. J. Carr ; Probate Judge and Treasurer, C. F. Miller ; 
 Attorney, W. H. Miller; Assessor, W. C. Pro vines; Coroner, 
 G-. C. Goldacker. 
 
 Sweetivater. — Commissioners, W. P. Noble, James Calhoun, 
 Wm. F. O'Nealey; Sheriff, John W. Dykins; Probate Judge and 
 Treasurer, A. E. Bradbury; Clerk, A. Mcintosh; Assessor, K. 
 McLennan; Superintendent of Schools, J. H. Nason; Coroner, 
 D. Rathbune. 
 
 Uintah. — Commissioners, C. A. Phipps, Noel Beeman, F. H. 
 Harrison; Sheriff, George W. Pepper ; Probate Judge and Trea- 
 surer, Frank M. Foote; Attorney, H. Garbanati; Clerk, All G. 
 Lee ; Surveyor, Alf. G. Lee. 
 
 Banks and Bankers. — The following banks are in operation 
 in Wyoming: 
 
 City. 
 
 Name of Bank. 
 
 Paid-in 
 Capital. 
 
 Cashier. 
 
 
 First National 
 
 $75,000 
 
 J. E. Wild 
 
 
 Stebbins. Post <fc Co 
 
 J. V. Jillich. 
 
 
 
 
 North 
 
 * a 
 
 
 
 
 Laramie City 
 
 Wyoming- National 
 
 Warner <fc Dunbar 
 
 50,000 
 
 C. B. Root, 
 
 
 
 
 
 MILITARY POSTS. 
 
 Wyoming is afforded the best system of military protection of 
 any of the Territories. The different forts and posts are located 
 at the most practicable points for the certain protection of the 
 frontier from marauders, either white or red. This system 
 enables the Territory to extend more certain assurances of safety 
 to the prospective settler, or to parties bound for the northern 
 gold fields, than can be offered by any other commonwealth 
 
 *Evaneton should be credited with a second institution, data in regard to it being 
 withheld by the manager. 
 
COUNTIES, CITIES, MILITARY POSTS, ETC. 155 
 
 adjacent. Nearly all successful sallies during the progress of the 
 Sioux war have been made from these posts. 
 
 Fort D. A. Russell — Fort Eussell is located two miles west of 
 Che} / enne, in the southeastern corner of the Territory. It is 
 designed to accommodate twelve companies — six each of cavalry 
 and infantry, and is used as a general rendezvous for troops pass- 
 ing to and from more isolated posts. Immense quantities of 
 supplies for northern posts are constantly stored at Camp Carlin, 
 near by, and are distributed from there as they may be needed. 
 
 Fort Sanders lies on the Union Pacific railroad, on the Lara- 
 mie plains, three miles south of Laramie City. It was established 
 in 1866, and with subsequent additions accommodates six com- 
 panies. During the incursions of Indians from the north, in the 
 earlier history of the Territory, Fort Sanders was probably of 
 more real utility than any of the others in Wyoming along the 
 railroad. Eows of trees encircling the parade ground and in 
 front of the officers' quarters, with a clear stream flowing imme- 
 diately by, add very much to the beauty of the place. The fort 
 and company gardens furnish fresh vegetables for the use of 
 officers and troops. 
 
 Fort Fred Steele. — Fort Steele is beautifully situated in the 
 southern central part of the Territory, at the crossing of the 
 Union Pacific railway over the North Platte. It was built in 1868 
 and is a six-company fort. It is in the center of one of the finest 
 agricultural and pastoral regions in the west, and the country for 
 a hundred miles to the south has long been noted as the choicest 
 hunting and trapping grounds. These attractions have always 
 served to render the fort a general rendezvous for hundreds of 
 ranchmen, hunters and trappers. 
 
 Fort Bridger. — Fort Bridger is in Uintah county, in the val- 
 ley drained by Black Fork of Green river, and is the most west- 
 erly of Wyoming posts. It was established in 1858 as a means of 
 protection and refuge for emigrants on the old California road. 
 The soil in the valleys adjacent is fertile, and yields abundantly 
 all the hardy grains and vegetables. Streams in the vicinity are 
 well stocked with trout, and fine hunting is afforded in spurs of 
 the Uintah mountains thirty to forty miles south. The staunch 
 old fort has much unwritten and thrilling history of hardships 
 and dangers incident to early pioneering. 
 
 Camp Stambaugh is situated in Sweetwater county, 100 miles 
 
156 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 north of the Union Pacific railway. It is one of the smaller forts, 
 being designed for only two companies. It was established as a 
 permanent fort in 1870, for the protection of the then large min- 
 ing camps, South Pass, Atlantic City and Hamilton City, all 
 within a few miles of the fort. The Sweetwater stage line car- 
 ries daily mails from Green Eiyer City to this fort. Telegraph 
 to the Union Pacific. 
 
 Camp Brown, — Camp Brown is also located in Sweetwater 
 county, in the fertile valley of the South Fork of Little Wind 
 river. It is 160 miles north of the Union Pacific railroad, and is 
 connected with Camp Stambaugh by a good wagon road, over 
 which stages of the Sweetwater line run daily. The post was 
 established in compliance with the terms of a treaty with the 
 Shoshone and Bannock Indians (who of late years have been 
 faithful allies of the whites) for their protection against Sioux, 
 Arapahoe, Cheyenne and other hostile bands. The agency of 
 the friendly Indians above noted is located a mile and a half 
 from the fort. This section of country has been the hunting 
 ground and winter quarters for some few wiiite trappers since 
 1849, and scattered over this and contiguous valleys are burnt 
 ranches and rude graves, attesting the success with which hostile 
 Indians have raided them. The valley in which the fort is 
 located is about forty miles long and three miles wide. The soil 
 is a dark, sandy loam, yielding large returns for the labor be- 
 stowed upon it. 
 
 Fort Laramie is located on the Laramie river, ninety-two 
 miles north of Cheyenne, and is the oldest as well as the most 
 important fort in Wyoming. There are barracks for seven com- 
 panies, and among the relics of the earliest days are concrete 
 block houses and rows of earthworks surrounding the site. The 
 old overland road to Oregon passes up the North Platte here, and 
 one of the routes to Montana and the Big Horn region, as well 
 as the unexcelled Cheyenne and Black Hills stage road, lies across 
 this reserve. Fort Laramie has daily mail service to Cheyenne 
 and the Black Hills cities, semi-weekly to Fort Fetterman, eighty 
 miles distant, and weekly to Laramie City, on the Union Pacific. 
 It is also connected with Cheyenne by telegraphic wires, and in 
 the same way with Fort Fetterman and other northern and 
 northeastern points. It has for many years been the rallying 
 point for trappers, prospectors and emigrants, and during the 
 
COUNTIES. CITIES. MILITARY POSTS. ETC. 157 
 
 recent troubles with the Sioux has played a very important and 
 necessary part. Some of the best stock ranges in Wyoming are 
 located along the tributaries of the Laramie and Platte rivers, 
 within fifty miles of the fort. 
 
 Fort Fetterman. — Eighty miles northwest of the fort just de- 
 scribed is Fort Fetterman. It is located on the south bank of 
 the Xorth Platte, and for ten years has been the extreme north- 
 western fort in this section of Wyoming. It has been the start- 
 ing and supply point for General Crook's different expeditions, 
 and is looked to for protection by the scattering ranchmen located 
 within fifty miles south and southeast. The Cheyenne route to 
 the Big Horn region crosses the Platte here, and two good wagon 
 roads run south to the Union Pacific railroad — to Medicine Bow 
 station, eighty-five. miles, and to Eock Creek, seventy miles. 
 
 Cantonment Reno. — Ninety miles northwest of Fort Fetter- 
 man, on Powder river, and near the base of the Big Horn moun- 
 tains, is the temporary supply post, Cantonment Eeno. It was 
 established in the fall of 1876, near the site of old Fort Reno, 
 as a base of supplies for the expeditions operating against the 
 Sioux. The old Pumpkin Butte Trail, from the Black Hills, 
 crosses the Powder near here, as does also the Cheyenne road, 
 and the hundreds of miners who have recently flocked into the 
 Big Horn region have made the cantonment their outfitting and 
 organizing point. The southeastern base of the Big Horn range 
 is about forty miles distant. Four companies of infantry at 
 present (July 15) constitute the garrison, and are comfortably 
 quartered in log huts built by themselves. 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. 
 
 Altitudes. — The following are the altitudes of prominent points 
 in Wyoming as determined by capable engineers. In the case of 
 the Black Hills peaks, observations of different engineers have 
 not resulted alike, and the ones believed to be most reliable are 
 quoted : 
 
 Feet. 
 
 Laramie Bottom at mouth of Chugwater 4,500 
 
 Chugwater 5.460 
 
 Platte Valley at Fort Fetterman 4.970 
 
 Yellowstone Park (average ) 7.403 
 
 Evanston 6.770 
 
 Millis 6.790 
 
 Gilbert's Peak 13.250 
 
158 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 Feet. 
 
 Hilliard 7,310 
 
 Aspen 7,835 
 
 Piedmont 7,540 
 
 Bridger 6,780 
 
 Carter 6,550 
 
 Church Butte 6,317 
 
 Granger 6,270 
 
 Bryan 6,340 
 
 Green River City 6,140 
 
 Rock Springs 6,280 
 
 Rawlins 6,732 
 
 Fort Fred Steele 6,840 
 
 Carbon 6,750 
 
 Medicine Bow 6,550 
 
 Cooper's Lake 7,044 
 
 Laramie Peak 10,000 
 
 Snow's Peak (Wind River range) 13,570 
 
 Laramie City 7,123 
 
 Red Buttes 7,336 
 
 Sherman, highest point on U. P. R. R 8,242 
 
 Cheyenne 6,041 
 
 Powder River at old Fort Reno : 4,340 
 
 Clear Fork, of Powder 4,560 
 
 Old Fort Phil Kearney 4,770 
 
 Tongue River (average) 3,500 
 
 Cloud Peak (not official) 13,000 
 
 Lake Carpenter, Big Horn mountains 11,000 
 
 Inyan Kara Peak, Black Hills 6,500 
 
 Harney's Peak, Black Hills 7,700 
 
 Bare Butte, Black Hills 4,800 
 
 Belle Fourch, near Black Hills 3,734 
 
 Floral Valley, in Black Hills 6,196 
 
 Castle Creek Valley 6,136 
 
 Expense of Living. — We will take Cheyenne as a fair example 
 in different statements following. Board at first-class hotels, 
 transient, $3 to $4 per day; board at first-class hotels, per week, 
 $12 to $15 ; at ordinary boarding houses, $6 to $9 per week. 
 Ordinary expenses of housekeeping are about twenty-five per 
 cent, higher than at points east of the Mississippi. 
 
 Wages. — Wages in Wyoming settlements average about as 
 follows: Salesmen, $75 to $125 per month; carpenters, $3 per 
 day; bricklayers, $4; plasterers, $3; ranch hands and herders, 
 $30 per month and board; teamsters, $28 per month and board. 
 
 Building Material, — Brick, $9.50 per thousand; common 
 
COUNTIES, CITIES, MILITARY POSTS, ETC. 159 
 
 native lumber, $25 per thousand ; best dressed lumber, $45 ; 
 lime, 40 cents per bushel; plastering cement, $5 per barrel. 
 Hardware as low as in the east, with freight added. 
 
 Railway and Telegraph Rates. — First-class fare, Cheyenne to 
 Chicago, $47 ; to Omaha, $31 ; to Denver, $7 ; to St. Louis, $47 ; 
 to New York city, $70; stage fare to Deadwood,. $50. Tele- 
 graphic rates, ten words, Cheyenne to Chicago, $1 ; to Dead- 
 wood, $2.50; Custer City, $2. 
 
 To Outfitters. — Those who desire to purchase their own teams 
 for the transportation of miners and miners' supplies, can pro- 
 cure an outfit to much better advantage in Cheyenne than else- 
 where. Groceries, provisions, clothing, mining tools, and all 
 other necessary articles can be procured at this point. The 
 following may be considered average prices for animals and 
 wagons : 
 
 Team of two horses $100 to $250 
 
 Team of two mules 200 " 300 
 
 Oxen, per yoke 80 " 100 
 
 Saddle horse 40 " 75 
 
 Saddle mule .'. 40 " 60 
 
 Pack horse 40 " 60 
 
 Pack mule 40 " 50 
 
 Two-horse wagon 100 " 125 
 
 Four-horse wagon 125 " 150 
 
 Following is the average price of provisions : 
 
 Flour per sack, $3 00 to $4 50 
 
 Bacon T. per lb., 15 " 16 
 
 Syrup per gal., 75 " 1 25 
 
 Coffee, Rio per lb., 26 " 30 
 
 Sugar " 12^" 15 
 
 Tea " 60" 150 
 
 Baking powders " 45 " 50 
 
 Beans " 6 '• 7 
 
 Grain — corn per cwt., 1 90 " 2 00 
 
 oats - - 2 50" 2 60 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 SYNOPSIS OF LAWS. 
 
 rj \EE following synopsis of laws now in force in Wyoming, re- 
 -■- lating to exemptions, limitations, interest, etc., and the 
 different mining and homestead laws applicable to the wants of 
 settlers, should be generally scrutinized : 
 
 Exemptions. — Every householder, being at the head of a 
 family, is entitled ito a homestead not exceeding in value fifteen 
 hundred dollars, exempt from execution or attachment for any 
 debt, contract or civil obligation, while such homestead is actu- 
 ally occupied as such by the owner thereof, or his or her family. 
 The homestead may consist of a house and lot, or lots, in any 
 town or city, or a farm of not more than one hundred and sixty 
 acres. The owner of a homestead may mortgage the same, but 
 such mortgage shall not be binding against the wife of a married 
 man who may be occupying the premises with him, unless she 
 shall freely and voluntarily acknowledge and sign the same, and 
 the officer taking such acknowledgment shall fully apprise her of 
 her rights, and of the effect of signing such mortgage. 
 
 Besides the homestead above mentioned, the wearing apparel 
 of every person is exempt from judicial or ministerial process; 
 also the following property, when owned by any person being the 
 head of a family and residing with the same, to wit : The family 
 bible, pictures and school books, a lot in any cemetery or burial 
 ground, furniture, bedding, provisions, and such other articles as 
 the debtor may select, not to exceed in all the value of five hun- 
 dred dollars, to be ascertained by the appraisement of three dis- 
 interested householders ; Provided, that no personal property of 
 any person about to remove or abscond from the Territory shall 
 be exempt. The tools, team and implements, or stock in trade 
 of a mechanic, miner, or other person, and used and kept for the 
 purpose of carrying on his trade or business, is exempt to a value 
 not exceeding three hundred dollars ; also the library, instru- 
 ments or implements of any professional man, not to exceed in 
 
SYNOPSIS OF LAWS. 161 
 
 value three hundred dollars. The person claiming exemption 
 must in all cases be a bona-fide resident of the Territory. 
 
 Limitation of Actions. — Civil actions can be brought only 
 within the following periods, after the cause of action shall have 
 accrued : 
 
 1. An action for the recovery of bonds, tenements and here- 
 ditaments, within twenty-one years. 
 
 2. An action of forcible entry and detainer, within two years. 
 
 3. An action upon a specialty, or any agreement, or contract, 
 or promise in writing, within fifteen years. 
 
 4. An action upon a contract not in writing, within six years. 
 
 5. An action for trespass upon real property, or for taking, 
 detaining or injuring personal property, including actions for the 
 specific recovery of personal property, within*four years. 
 
 6. An action for libel, slander, assault and battery, malicious 
 prosecution, or false imprisonment, within one year. 
 
 7. An action upon the official bond or undertaking of an ex- 
 ecutor, administrator, guardian, sheriff, or other officer, or upon 
 the bond or undertaking given in attachment, injunctions, arrest, 
 or any cause whatever, required by statutes, within ten years. 
 
 8. An action for any cause not before enumerated, within ten 
 years. If any person entitled to bring any of the foregoing ac- 
 tions — except an action for the recovery of real property, and 
 except a penalty or forfeiture — be, at the time the cause of action 
 accrues, within the age of twenty-one years, a married woman, 
 insane or imprisoned, the action may be brought within the times 
 above limited, after such disability shall have been removed. If, 
 when the cause of action accrues against a person, he be out of 
 the Territory, or shall have absconded, or concealed himself, the 
 period limited for the commencement of the action shall not be- 
 gin to run until he comes into the Territory, or while he is ab- 
 sconded or concealed. If, after the cause of action accrues, he 
 depart or conceal himself, the time of such absence or conceal- 
 ment shall not be computed as any part of the period within 
 which the action must be brought. Where the cause of action 
 has arisen in another State or Territory, between non-residents 
 of this Territory, and, by the laws of the State or Territory where 
 the cause of action arose, an action cannot be maintained thereon 
 by reason of lapse of time, no action can be maintained thereon in 
 this Territory. In any case founded on contract, part payment 
 
162 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 of principal or interest, or an acknowledgment of existing debt, 
 liability or claim in writing signed by the party to be charged, 
 takes the case out of the statute, and an action may be brought 
 within the times limited, after such part payment or acknowledg- 
 ment. 
 
 Interest. — Any rate of interest may be agreed upon in writing, 
 but in the absence of express contract, all monies, claims or 
 judgments draw interest at the rate of twelve per cent, per an- 
 num; unsettled accounts draw interests after thirty days from 
 date of the last item. There is no usury law. 
 
 United States Mining Laws — Qualifications of Mining Claim- 
 ants. — All citizens of the United States, or persons who have in 
 due form declared their intention to become citizens, are quali- 
 fied to locate for themselves mining claims on the public lands 
 of the United States, and two or more persons or associations 
 of persons thus qualified may make a joint entry of land under 
 the mineral laws, and individuals who are not citizens and any 
 persons whomsoever may afterward become joint or sole owners. 
 
 Proof of Citizenship in the case of an individual may consist 
 of his own affidavit thereof; and in the case of an association of 
 persons unincorporated, of the affidavit of their authorized agent, 
 made on his own knowledge or upon information and belief; and 
 in case of a corporation organized under the laws of the United 
 States, or of any State or Territory of the United States, by filing 
 a certified copy of their charter, or certificate of incorporation. 
 These affidavits may be taken before the register or receiver of 
 the land district, or any other officer authorized to administer 
 oaths within the district. 
 
 Placer Claims. — No location of a placer claim can be made to 
 exceed one hundred and sixty acres, whatever be the number of 
 locators associated together, or whatever the local regulations of 
 the district may allow; no location made by an individual can 
 exceed twenty acres, and no location made by an association of 
 individuals can exceed one hundred and sixty acres, which loca- 
 tion of one hundred and sixty acres cannot be made by a less 
 number than eight lona-fide locators; but whether as much as 
 twenty acres can be located by an individual, or one hundred 
 and sixty acres by an association, depends entirely upon the 
 mining regulations in force in the respective districts at the date 
 of the location ; it being held that such mining regulations are 
 
SYNOPSIS OF LAWS. 163 
 
 in no way enlarged by said acts of Congress, but remain intact 
 and in full force with regard to the size of locations, in so far as 
 they do not permit locations in excess of the limits fixed by 
 Congress. 
 
 The miners of each district may make rules and regulations 
 not in conflict with the laws of the United States, or of the State 
 or Territory in which such districts are respectively situated, 
 governing the location, manner of recording and amount of 
 work necessary to hold possession of a claim ; but the location 
 must be so distinctly marked on the ground that its boundaries 
 may be readily traced. This is a very important matter, and 
 locators cannot exercise too much care in defining their locations 
 -at the outset, inasmuch as the law requires that all records of 
 mining locations made ■ subsequent to its passage shall contain 
 the name or names of the locators, the date of the location, and 
 such a description of the claim or claims located, by reference to 
 some natural object or permanent monument, as will identify 
 the claim. 
 
 To make the identification clear the claimant should state the 
 names of adjoining claims, or if none adjoin, the relative positions 
 of the nearest claims ; should drive a post or erect a monument 
 of stones at each corner of his surface-ground, and at some point 
 thereon should fix a post, stake or board, upon which should be 
 designated the name or names of the locators and the extent of 
 the claim in each direction from this point. 
 
 Within a reasonable time, say twenty days after the location 
 shall have been marked on the ground, notice thereof, accurately 
 describing the claim in manner aforesaid, should be filed for 
 record with the proper recorder of the district, who will there- 
 upon issue the usual certificate of location. 
 
 In order to retain the possessory right to any placer claim, 
 it must be actually worked to a reasonable extent, and within a 
 reasonable time, according to the local regulations, and if even 
 after having been so worked it should be left beyond the time 
 prescribed in the local regulations, it may be treated as aban- 
 doned, and be thereupon taken by another person. 
 
 Patents for Placer Claims. — The law provides, in respect of 
 placer claims, that "where said person or association, they and 
 their grantors, shall have held and worked their said claims for a 
 period equal to the time prescribed by the statute of limitations 
 
164 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 for mining claims for the State or Territory where the same may 
 be situated, evidence of such possession and working of the 
 claims for such period shall be sufficient to establish a right to a 
 patent thereto under this act in the absence of any adverse claim." 
 
 When an applicant desires to make his proof of possessory 
 right in accordance with this provision of law, the register will 
 not require him to produce evidence of location, copies of con- 
 veyances, or abstracts of title, as in other cases, but will require 
 him to furnish a duly certified copy of the statute of limitations 
 of mining claims for the State or Territory, together with his 
 sworn statement giving a clear and succinct narration of the 
 facts as to the origin of his title, and likewise as to the continua- 
 tion of his possession of the mining ground covered by his appli- 
 cation ; the area thereof, the nature and extent of the mining 
 that has been done thereon; whether there has been any opposi- 
 tion to his possession or litigation with regard to his claim, and 
 if so, when the same ceased; whether such cessation was caused 
 by compromise or by judicial decree, and any additional facts 
 within the claimant's knowledge having a direct bearing upon 
 his possession and hona-fides which he may desire to submit in 
 support of his claim. 
 
 There should likewise be filed a certificate, under seal of the 
 court having jurisdiction of mining cases within the judicial 
 district embracing the claim, that no suit or action of any 
 character whatever involving the right of possession to any por- 
 tion of the claim applied for is pending, and that there has been 
 no litigation before said court affecting the title to said claim or 
 any part thereof for a period equal to the time fixed by the 
 statute of limitations for mining claims in the State or Territory 
 aforesaid, other than that which has finally been decided in favor 
 of the claimant. 
 
 The claimant should support his narrative of facts relative 
 to his possession, occupancy and improvements by corroborative 
 testimony of any disinterested person or persons of credibility 
 who may be cognizant of the facts in the case and are capable of 
 testifying understanding^ in the premises. 
 
 It will be to the advantage of claimants to make their proofs 
 as full and complete as practicable. 
 
 The government price of the placer mines is two dollars and 
 fifty cents per acre. 
 
SYNOPSIS OF LAWS. 165 
 
 Veins or Ixodes. — Any person who is a citizen of the United 
 States, or who has declared his intention to become a citizen, 
 may locate, record and hold a mining claim of fifteen hundred 
 linear feet along the course of any mineral vein or lode subject 
 to location ; or an association of persons, so qualified, may make 
 joint location of such claim of fifteen hundred feet, but in no 
 event can a location of a vein or lode, except fifteen hundred feet 
 along the course thereof, whatever may be the number of persons 
 composing the association. 
 
 The lateral extent of locations of veins or lodes may in no 
 case exceed three hundred feet on each side of the middle of the 
 vein at the surface, and no such surface rights shall be limited 
 by any mining regulations to less than twenty-five feet on each 
 side of the middle of the vein at the surface, the end lines of 
 such claims to be in all cases parallel to each other. 
 
 The act provides that no lode-claim can be recorded until 
 after the discovery of a vein or lode within the limits of the 
 ground claimed ; the object of which provision is evidently to 
 prevent the encumbering of the district mining records with 
 useless locations before sufficient work has been done thereon to 
 determine whether a vein or lode has really been discovered or 
 not. 
 
 The claimant should therefore, prior to recording his claim, 
 unless the vein can be traced upon the surface, sink a shaft, or 
 run a tunnel or drift, to a sufficient depth therein to discover 
 and develop a mineral-bearing vein, lode or crevice ; should de- 
 termine, if possible, the general course of such vein in either 
 direction from the point of discovery, by which direction he will 
 be governed in marking the boundaries of his claim on the sur- 
 face, and should give the course and distance as nearly as prac- 
 ticable from the discovery-shaft on the claim to some permanent, 
 well-known points or objects, such, for instance, as stone monu- 
 ments, blazed trees, the confluence of streams, point of intersec- 
 tion of well-known gulches, ravines or roads, prominent butes, 
 hills, etc., which may be in the immediate vicinity, and which 
 will serve to perpetuate and fix the locus of the claim and render 
 it susceptible of identification from the description thereof given 
 in the record of locations in the district. 
 
 To make the identification clear, the claimant should state 
 the names of adjoining claims, or if none adjoin, the relative po- 
 
166 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 sition of the nearest claims ; he should drive a post or erect a 
 monument of stones at each corner of his surface-ground, and at 
 the point of discovery or discovery-shaft should fix a post, stake 
 or board, upon which should be designated the name of the lode,, 
 the name of the locator, and the number of feet claimed each 
 way on the lode from the discovery point. 
 
 Within a reasonable time after the location shall have been 
 marked on the ground, notice thereof, accurately describing it 
 as above mentioned, should be filed for record with the proper 
 recorder of the district, who will thereupon issue the usual cer- 
 tificate of location. 
 
 In order to hold the possessory right to a claim of fifteen 
 hundred feet of a vein or lode, not less than one hundred dollars' 
 worth of labor shall be performed or improvements made thereon 
 in each year, in default of which the claim will be subject to re- 
 location by any other person or persons having the necessary 
 qualifications, unless the original locator, his heirs, assigns or 
 legal representatives shall have renewed work thereon after such 
 failure and before such re-location. 
 
 These details in the matter of location, labor and expenditure 
 should receive careful attention, because neglect of them may 
 cause expensive litigation or totally invalidate an otherwise most 
 valuable claim. 
 
 Mill Sites. — Where non-mineral land not contiguous to the 
 vein or lode is used or occupied by the proprietor of such vein or 
 lode for mining or milling purposes, such non-adjacent surface- 
 ground may be embraced and included in an application for a 
 patent for such vein or lode, and the same may be patented 
 therewith, subject to the same preliminary requirements as to 
 survey and notice as are applicable to veins or lodes : Provided, 
 that no location of such non-adjacent land shall exceed five acres, 
 and payment for the same must be made at the same rate as fixed 
 for the superfices of the lode. The owner of a quartz-mill or re- 
 duction works, not owning a mine in connection therewith, may 
 also receive a patent for his mill site. 
 
 To avail themselves of this provision of law, parties holding 
 the possessory right to a vein or lode, and to a piece of land not 
 contiguous thereto, for mining or milling purposes, not exceed- 
 ing the quantity allowed for such purpose by the local rules, reg- 
 ulations or customs, the proprietors of such vein or lode may file 
 
SYNOPSIS OF LAWS. 167 
 
 in the proper land office their application for a patent, under 
 oath, which application, together with the plat and field-notes, 
 may include, embrace and describe, in addition to the vein or 
 lode, such non-contiguous mill site, and after due proceedings as 
 to notice, etc., a patent will be issued conveying the same as one 
 claim. 
 
 In making the survey in a case of this kind, the lode-claim 
 should be described in the plat and field-notes as " Lot No. 37 y 
 A," and the mill site as " Lot No. 37, B," or whatever may be its 
 appropriate numerical designation ; the course and distance from 
 a corner of the mill site to a corner of the lode-claim to be inva- 
 riably given in such plat and field-notes, and a copy of the plat 
 and notice of application for patent must be conspicuously 
 posted upon the mill site, as well as upon the vein or lode, for 
 the statutory period of sixty days. In making the entry no sep- 
 arate receipt or certificate need be issued for the mill site, but the 
 whole area of both lode and mill site will be embraced in one- 
 entry, the price being five dollars for each acre and fractional 
 part of an acre embraced by such lode and mill-site claim. 
 
 In case the owner of a quartz-mill or reduction works is not 
 the owner or claimant of a vein or lode, the law permits him to 
 make application therefor in the same manner prescribed therein 
 for mining claims, and after due notice and proceedings, in the 
 absence of a valid adverse filing, to enter and receive a patent for 
 his mill site, at five dollars per acre. 
 
 In every case there must be satisfactory proof that the land 
 claimed as a mill site is not mineral in character, which proof 
 may, where the matter is unquestioned, consist of the sworn 
 statement of the claimant, supported by that of one or more dis- 
 interested persons capable from acquaintance with the land to 
 testify understandingly. 
 
 The law expressly limits mill-site locations made from and 
 after its passage to five acres, but whether so much as that can 
 be located depends upon the local customs, rules or regulations. 
 
 The registers and receivers will preserve an unbroken consec- 
 utive series of numbers for all mineral entries. 
 
 Tunnel Rights. — Where a tunnel is run for the development 
 of a vein or lode, or for the discovery of mines, the owners of 
 such tunnel shall have the right of possession of all veins or 
 lodes within three thousand feet from the face of such tunnel on 
 
168 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 the line thereof, not previously known to exist, discovered in 
 such tunnel, to the same extent as if discovered from the surface ; 
 and locations on the line of such tunnel of veins or lodes not 
 appearing on the surface, made by other parties after the com- 
 mencement of the tunnel, and while the same is being prosecuted 
 with reasonable diligence, shall be invalid, but failure to prosecute 
 the work on the tunnel for six months shall be considered as an 
 abandonment of the right to all undiscovered veins or lodes on 
 the line of said tunnel. 
 
 The effect of this section is simply to give the proprietors of 
 a mining tunnel run in good faith the possessory right to fifteen 
 hundred feet of any blind lodes cut, discovered or intersected by 
 such tunnel, which were not previously known to exist, within 
 three thousand feet from the face or point of commencement of 
 such tunnel, and to prohibit other parties, after the commence- 
 ment of the tunnel, from prospecting for and making locations 
 of lodes on the line thereof and within said distance of three 
 thousand feet, unless such lodes appear upon the surface or were 
 previously known to exist. 
 
 The term " face," as used in said section, is construed and 
 held to mean the first working face formed in the tunnel, and to 
 signify the point at which the tunnel actually enters cover, it 
 being from this point that the three thousand feet are to be 
 counted, upon which prospecting is prohibited as aforesaid. 
 
 To avail themselves of the benefits of this provision of law, 
 the proprietors of a mining tunnel will be required, at the time 
 they enter cover, to give proper notice of their tunnel location, 
 by erecting a substantial post, board, or monument, at the face 
 or point of commencement thereof, upon which should be posted 
 a good and sufficient notice, giving the names of the parties or 
 company claiming the tunnel right ; the actual or proposed course 
 or direction of the tunnel; the height and width thereof, and the 
 course and distance from such face or point of commencement to 
 some permanent well-known objects in the vicinity by which to 
 fix and determine the locus in manner heretofore set forth appli- 
 cable to locations of veins or lodes; and at the time of posting- 
 such notice they shall, in order that miners or prospectors may 
 be enabled to determine whether or not they are within the lines 
 of the tunnel, establish the boundary lines thereof by stakes or 
 monuments placed along such lines at proper intervals, to the 
 
SYNOPSIS OF LAWS. 169 
 
 terminus of the three thousand feet from the face or point of 
 commencement of the tunnel, and the lines so marked will define 
 and govern as to the specific boundaries within which prospecting 
 for lodes not previously known to exist is prohibited while work 
 on the tunnel is being prosecuted with reasonable diligence. 
 
 At the time of posting notice and marking out the lines of 
 the tunnel as aforesaid, a full and correct copy of such notice of 
 location defining the tunnel claim must be filed for record with 
 the mining recorder of the district, to which notice must be 
 attached the sworn statement or declaration of the owners, claim- 
 ants or projectors of such tunnel, setting forth the facts in the 
 case ; stating the amount expended by themselves and their pre- 
 decessors in interest in prosecuting work thereon, the extent of the 
 work performed, and that it is bona-fide their intention to prose- 
 cute work on the tunnel so located and described with reasonable 
 diligence for the development of a vein or lode, or for the dis- 
 covery of mines, or both, as the case may be. 
 
 This notice of location must be duly recorded, and, with the 
 said sworn statement attached, kept on the recorder's files for 
 future reference. 
 
 By a compliance with the foregoing, much needless difficulty 
 will be avoided, and the way for the adjustment of legal rights 
 acquired in virtue of the act will be made much more easy and 
 certain. 
 
 This portion of the law is very important and fruitful in 
 adverse claims, and the United States land office is supposed to 
 take particular care that no improper advantage of it is taken by 
 parties making or professing to make tunnel locations, ostensibly 
 for the purposes named in the statute, but really for the purpose 
 of monopolizing the lands lying in front of their tunnels to the 
 detriment of the mining interests and to the exclusion of bona- 
 fide prospectors or miners, and it will hold such tunnel claimants 
 to a strict compliance with the terms of the act; and as reason- 
 able diligence on their part in prosecuting the work is one of the 
 essential conditions of their implied contract, negligence or want 
 of due diligence will be construed as working a forfeiture of their 
 right to all undiscovered veins on the line of such tunnel. 
 
 Government Titles to .Vein or Lode Claims. — The claimant 
 is required, in the first place, to have a correct survey of his claim 
 made under authority of the surveyor general of the State or 
 12 
 
170 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 Territory in which the claim lies ; such survey to show with ac- 
 curacy the exterior surface boundaries of the claim, which bound- 
 aries are required to be distinctly marked by monuments on the 
 ground. 
 
 The claimant is then required to post a copy of the plat of 
 such survey in a conspicuous place upon the claim, together with 
 notice of his intention to apply for a patent therefor, which 
 notice will give the date of posting, the name of the claimant, 
 the name of the claim, mine or lode; the mining district and 
 county ; whether the location is of record, and if so, where the 
 record may be found ; the number of feet claimed along the vein 
 and the presumed direction thereof ; the number of feet claimed 
 on the lode in each direction from the point of discovery, or 
 other well defined place on the claim ; the name or names of ad- 
 joining claimants on the same or other lodes ; or if none adjoin, 
 the names of the nearest claims, etc. 
 
 After posting the said plat and notice upon the premises, the 
 claimant will file with the proper register and receiver a copy of 
 such plat, and the field-notes of survey of the claim, accompanied 
 by the affidavit of at least two credible witnesses that such plat 
 and notice are posted conspicuously upon the claim, giving the 
 date and place of such posting ; a copy of the notice so posted to 
 be attached to, and form a part of, said affidavit. 
 
 Attached to the field-notes so filed must be the sworn state- 
 ment of the claimant that he has the possessory right to the 
 premises therein described, in virtue of a compliance by himself 
 (and by his grantors, if he claims by purchase,) with the mining 
 rules, regulations and customs of the mining district, State or 
 Territory in which the claim lies, and with the mining laws of 
 Congress ; such sworn statement to narrate briefly, but as clearly 
 as possible, the facts constituting such compliance, the origin of 
 his possession, and the basis of his claim to a patent. 
 
 This affidavit should be supported by appropriate evidence 
 from the mining recorder's office as to his possessory right, as 
 follows, namely : Where he claims to be a locator, a full, true and 
 correct copy of such location should be furnished, as the same 
 appears upon the mining records; such copy to be attested by 
 the seal of the recorder, or if he has no seal, then he should 
 make oath to the same being correct, as shown by his records ; 
 where the applicant claims as a locator in company with others, 
 
SYNOPSIS OF LAWS. 171 
 
 who have since conveyed their interests in the lode to him, a 
 copy of the original record of location should be filed, together 
 with an abstract of title from the proper recorder, under seal or 
 oath as aforesaid, tracing the colocator's possessory rights in the 
 claim to such applicant for patent; where the applicant claims 
 only as a purchaser for valuable consideration, a copy of the loca- 
 tion record must be filed, under seal or upon oath as aforesaid, 
 with an abstract of title certified as above by the proper recorder, 
 tracing the right of possession by a continuous chain of convey- 
 ances from the original locators to the applicant. 
 
 In the event of the mining records in any case having been 
 destroyed by fire or otherwise lost, affidavit of the fact should 
 be made, and secondary evidence of possessory title will be re- 
 ceived, which may consist of the affidavit of the claimant, sup- 
 ported by those of any other parties cognizant of the facts 
 relative to his location, occupancy, possession, improvements, 
 etc. ; and in such case of lost records, any deeds, certificates of 
 location or purchase, or other evidence which may be in the claim- 
 ant's possession, and tend to establish his claim, should be filed. 
 
 Upon the receipt of these papers the register will, at the 
 expense of the claimant, publish a notice of such application for 
 the period of sixty days, in a newspaper published nearest to the 
 claim, and will post a copy of such notice in his office for the 
 same period. The notices so published and posted must be as 
 full and complete as possible, and embrace all the data given in 
 the notice posted upon the claim. Too much care cannot be 
 exercised in the preparation of these notices, inasmuch as upon 
 their accuracy and completeness will depend, in a great measure, 
 the regularity and validity of the whole proceeding. 
 
 The claimant, either at the time of filing these papers with 
 the register, or at any time during the sixty days' publication, is 
 required to file a certificate of the surveyor general that not less 
 than five hundred dollars' worth of labor has been expended or 
 improvements made upon the claim by the applicant or his 
 grantors ; that the plat filed by the claimant is correct ; that the 
 field notes of the survey, as filed, furnish such an accurate 
 description of the claim as will, if incorporated into a patent, 
 serve to fully identify the premises, and that such reference is 
 made therein to natural objects or permanent monuments as will 
 perpetuate and fix the locus thereof. 
 
172 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 It will be the more convenient way to have this certificate 
 indorsed by the surveyor general, both upon the plat and field- 
 notes of survey filed by the claimant as aforesaid. 
 
 After the sixty days' period of newspaper publication has 
 expired, the claimant will file his affidavit, showing that the 
 plat and notice aforesaid remained conspicuously posted upon 
 the claim sought to be patented during said sixty days' pub- 
 lication. 
 
 Upon the filing of this affidavit the register will, if no adverse 
 claim was filed in his office during the period of publication, per- 
 mit the claimant to pay for the land according to the area given 
 in the plat and field-notes of survey aforesaid, at the rate of five 
 dollars for each acre and five dollars for each fractional part of 
 an acre, the receiver issuing the usual duplicate receipt therefor ; 
 after which the whole matter will be forwarded to the commis- 
 sioner of the general land office and a patent issued thereon if 
 found regular. 
 
 In sending up the papers in the case the register must not 
 omit certifying to the fact that the notice was posted in his office 
 for the full period of sixty days, such certificate to state distinctly 
 when such posting was done and how long continued. 
 
 Adverse Claims. — An adverse mining claim must be filed 
 with the register of the same land office with whom the applica- 
 tion for patent was filed, or in his absence with the receiver, and 
 within the sixty days' period of newspaper publication of notice. 
 
 The adverse notice must be duly sworn to before an officer 
 authorized to administer oaths within the land district, or before 
 the register or receiver; it must fully set forth the nature and 
 extent of the interference or conflict; whether the adverse party 
 claims as a purchaser for valuable consideration or as a locator ; 
 if the former, the original conveyance, or a duly certified copy 
 thereof, should be furnished, or if the transaction was a mere 
 verbal one he will narrate the circumstances attending the pur- 
 chase, the date thereof, and the amount paid, which facts should 
 be supported by the affidavit of one or more witnesses, if any 
 were present at the time, and if he claims as a locator he must 
 file a duly certified copy of the location from the office of the 
 proper recorder. 
 
 In order that the "boundaries" and "extent" of the claim 
 may be shown, it will be incumbent upon the adverse claimant 
 
SYNOPSIS OF LAWS. 173 
 
 to file a plat showing his claim and its relative situation or posi- 
 tion with the one against which he claims, so that the extent of 
 the conflict may be the better understood. This plat must be 
 made from an actual survey by a United States deputy surveyor, 
 who will officially certify thereon to its correctness; and in addi- 
 tion there must be attached to such plat of survey a certificate 
 or sworn statement by the surveyor as to the approximate value 
 of the labor performed or improvements made upon the claim of 
 the adverse party, and the plat must indicate the position of any 
 shafts, tunnels, or other improvements, if any such exist upon 
 the claim of the party opposing the application. 
 
 Upon the foregoing being filed within the sixty days as afore- 
 said, the register, or in his absence the receiver, will give notice 
 in writing to both parties to the contest that such adverse claim 
 has been filed, informing them that the party who filed the 
 adverse claim will be required, within thirty days from the date 
 of such filing, to commence proceedings in a court of competent 
 jurisdiction, to determine the question of right of possession, and 
 to prosecute the same with reasonable diligence to final judg- 
 ment, and that should such adverse claimant fail to do so, his 
 adverse claim will be considered waived, and the application for 
 patent be allowed to proceed upon its merits. 
 
 When an adverse claim is filed as aforesaid, the register or 
 receiver will indorse upon the same the precise date of filing, 
 and preserve a record of the date of notifications issued thereon ; 
 and thereafter all proceedings on the application for patent will 
 be suspended, with the exception of the completion of the pub- 
 lication and posting of notices and plat, and the filing of the 
 necessary proof thereof, until the controversy shall have been 
 adjudicated in court, or the adverse claim waived or withdrawn. 
 
 In the foregoing abstract of the mining laws of the United 
 States it will be observed that reference is frequently made to the 
 mining statutes of the particular State or Territory in which the 
 claim is situated, and also to the local regulations of the Mining 
 District. Many of the miners of the Black Hills are within the 
 Territory of Dakota, the legislature of which has passed a law in 
 relation thereto. This limits the width of a lode claim to 150 
 feet (instead of 300) on each side of the lode, but gives power to 
 the county to increase or diminish the width by vote at a general 
 election. Also that the discoverer must record his claim within 
 
174 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 three months after discovery with the recorder or register of 
 deeds of the county, before which the claim must be located; and 
 besides the discovery, shaft or equivalent adit, open cut, cross 
 cut, or tunnel to be completed in sixty days from discovery, and 
 the sign or notice posted there, the boundaries must be marked 
 by eight substantial jiosts, hewed or blazed on the side facing the 
 claim, and sunk in the ground, or if this is impracticable, held 
 in place by stones — one at each corner, one at each end of the 
 lode, and one at the centre of each side-line. 
 
 Re-locations are substantially like new ones. Not only must 
 at least one hundred dollars' worth of work and improvements be 
 done in a year, but, within six months after the time allowed, 
 an affidavit of the fact must be made and recorded with the 
 register or recorder of deeds. 
 
 There is no doubt that all locations which do not conform to 
 this law will be void, whether they are in accordance with local 
 regulations or not. For these latter the locator should consult 
 the mining recorder and other people of the district. 
 
 Settlers wishing to obtain non-mineral land for agricultural 
 purposes should study the following 
 
 ABSTRACTS OF THE UNITED STATES HOMESTEADS AND 
 PRE-EMPTION LAWS. 
 
 Pre-emption. — Every head of a family, or widow, or single 
 man or woman, over twenty-one years of age, being a citizen, or 
 having filed a declaration of intention to become a citizen, can 
 pre-empt 160 acres of any American government lands, with the 
 exception of some limited special reservations. The first act 
 necessary is settlement, or the commencement of some work or 
 improvement upon the land, and the pre-emption right dates 
 from the first improvement or occupation of the land. Upon 
 surveyed land a pre-emptor must, within three months of settle- 
 ment, go or send to the land office in that district, pay $2, make 
 a "filing" or written declaration of intention to pre-empt, and 
 within thirty months from filing the land must be paid for. If 
 within ten miles of a land -grant railroad, the price is 12.50 per 
 acre ; outside of that distance, $1.25 per acre. No one can pay 
 for land under the pre-emption law until the claimant and 
 family (if he has one) has actually resided upon the land for six 
 months, and he must not be the owner of 320 acres of land 
 
SYNOPSIS OF LAWS. 175 
 
 within the United States (exclusive of pre-emption claim). No 
 person can make a settlement or improvements on land for 
 another, which will hold for pre-emption. No one can hire 
 another to live upon the land for six months in such a way to 
 answer the requirements of the law that the pre-emptor shall 
 have resided on the tract. One land warrant or Agricultural 
 College scrip in same manner can be laid on a quarter section 
 (160 acres) in pre-empting; but, if the land is 82.50 per acre, 
 the extra 81.25 per acre must be paid in cash. Soldiers have no 
 rights in pre-emption beyond any other person. Heirs may com- 
 plete the pre-emption in their own names. 
 
 Citizens' Homesteads. — Any person qualified as for pre-emption 
 can acquire by occupation', and the payment of commission and 
 fees (818 to 826), 160 acres of land held at $1.25 per acre, or 80 
 acres of land within ten miles of railroad, and held at 82.50 per 
 acre. Every homestead settler, except soldiers, must in person 
 go to the land office to make the filing, unless he is actually living 
 on the land, and then it is allowable to make the filing before the 
 clerk of the county within which the land is situated. The right 
 to land under homestead law dates back from filing (not from 
 settlement as under pre-emption), and the claimant is allowed six 
 months, within which time he must take possession of the land 
 by occupation and improvement. Not sooner than five, nor later 
 than seven years after entry, the settler must go to the land office 
 and prove by two witnesses that he has resided upon and culti- 
 vated the land for five years immediately succeeding the time of 
 filing, and thereupon he or she is entitled to a patent. Absence 
 from a homestead for more than six months at any one time 
 during the five years works a forfeiture of all right to the land, 
 if proven to the satisfaction of the United States Register. 
 Neither pre-emption nor homestead claims are liable for debts or 
 taxes incurred previous to completion of title. 
 
 In case of death before title is perfected, either by pre-emption 
 or homesteading, the right of the deceased descends to the widow 
 or heirs, or, in case of infant children only, it may be sold for 
 their benefit, even though the five years be not expired. 
 
 Each and every homestead settler, at any time after the end 
 of the third year of his or her residence, who, in addition to the 
 settlement and improvements required by the homestead laws, 
 shall have had under cultivation for two years one acre of timber 
 
176 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 (the trees thereon being not more than twelve feet apart each 
 way, and in a good thrifty condition) for each and every sixteen 
 acres of said homestead, shall, upon due proof of such fact by two 
 credible witnesses, receive his or her patent for said homestead. 
 
 One may take a homestead and a timber claim, or a pre-emp- 
 tion and a timber claim at the same time ; but a homestead and 
 a pre-emption claim cannot run together, because both require 
 actual residence. 
 
 A soldier's actual or enlisted service in the army will be counted 
 as equal to a like period of residence on the land. 
 
 The fact that a person has had the benefit of the Pre-emption 
 Act does not in any case interfere with his right to homestead. 
 The fact that a person has had the benefit of the Homestead Act 
 does not prevent him from pre-empting, but no one can leave his 
 or her own land in the same State # or Territory to take the benefit 
 of the Pre-emption Act. No person can pre-empt more than once. 
 No person can homestead more than once. No person can make 
 a second entry to a homestead unless the first was illegal. 
 
 Commuting a Homestead. — Homestead settlers may pay for 
 their land in cash or warrants at the government price [$1.25], 
 upon making proof of actual residence and cultivation for a 
 period of not less than six months from the date of entry to the 
 time of payment, but this does not interfere with the right to 
 pre-empt. 
 
 Desert Lands. — Under an act of Congress, approved March 
 3, 1877, any person of lawful age who is a citizen of the United 
 States, or who has declared his intention to become a citizen, 
 may file his oath with the register and the receiver of the land 
 office in the district in which any desert land is located, that he 
 intends to reclaim not to exceed six hundred and forty acres of 
 said land, in a compact form, by conducting water upon it within 
 three years of the date of said oath, and by describing accurately 
 the boundaries of said land, if surveyed, and if not surveyed, as 
 near as possible without a survey; and paying to the receiver the 
 sum of twenty-five cents per acre for all the land claimed. 
 
 Any time within three years after the filing of said oath a 
 patent can be obtained by making proof to the register and 
 receiver that he has reclaimed said land, and paying to the 
 receiver the sum of one dollar per acre. But no person shall 
 enter more than one tract of land. 
 
synopsis or laws. 177 
 
 By desert lands is meant all lands, not timber or mineral, 
 which will not produce some agricultural crop without irrigation, 
 which fact shall be established by proof of two or more credible 
 witnesses under oath. Said oaths to be made before some per- 
 son competent to take oaths, and filed in the land office of the 
 district in which the laud is situated. 
 
 This act only applies to desert lands in Wyoming, Utah, 
 Montana, Idaho, Nevada, Arizona, Washington, Oregon, Cali- 
 fornia, New Mexico and Dakota. 
 
 Legal Weights and Measures in Wyoming. — The law of Wy- 
 oming prescribes the following as the standard weights : 
 
 Lbs. 
 
 Wheat 60 
 
 Rye , 56 
 
 Corn 56 
 
 Corn in ear 70 
 
 Barley 48 
 
 Oats 32 
 
 Potatoes 60 
 
 Beans 60 
 
 Clover seeds 60 
 
 Timothy seed 46 
 
 Hemp seed 44 
 
 Buckwheat . 52 
 
 Blue-grass seed 14 
 
 Corn meal 50 
 
 Onions 57 
 
 Salt 80 
 
 Lime 80 
 
 Mineral coal 80 
 
 A perch of stone in mason work shall be considered sixteen 
 and one-half (16^-) cubic feet, and for brick-work measure, when 
 laid up in wall, shall be counted twenty-two brick per cubic foot 
 for foot wall, and fifteen brick for what is known as eight-inch 
 wall ; a common brick to be 8£ inches long, 4J inches wide and 
 2-J- inches thick. All grain and nearly all vegetables sold by the 
 pound. 
 
PAET THIRD. 
 
 The Big Horn, Black Hills and Yellow- 
 stone Regions. 
 
 MINERALS, SOIL, GRASSES, SCENERY, CLIMATE, ETC. 
 
THE BIG HORN REGION. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 LOCATION AND PROMINENT NATURAL FEATURES. 
 
 IT has been quite natural for the average reader, when referring 
 to the Big Horn Eegion, to cover with his imagination all of 
 that vast country lying between the Yellowstone on the north 
 and the Sweetwater on the south, and between the Black Hills 
 on the east and the degree of longitude defining the line of Wyo- 
 ming and Idaho on the west. While it should be remembered 
 that within these generous bounds are three or four distinct and 
 naturally separate mountain ranges, almost as large as the Big 
 Horn, and with their own well defined system of drainage, yet 
 there is no reason why one of the grandest of western rivers and 
 this great central backbone should not give the region adjacent 
 a distinguishing title. In these pages the Big Horn Eegion will 
 be treated of as one covering the broad country above outlined, 
 while its spurs or tributary regions, which are attracting less at- 
 tention at present, will be briefly outlined as we progress. 
 
 The Big Horn mountains lie almost wholly in northwestern 
 Wyoming, between the thirtieth and thirty-second degrees of 
 longitude west from Washington, and the forty-third and forty- 
 fifth parallels of north latitude. The mountain region proper is 
 therefore 125 miles in extent north and south and about the 
 same east and west, and contains 15,000 square miles. Eising 
 near the head of the main fork of Powder river the range trends 
 off to the northwest 200 miles, and then, turning almost directly 
 west, soon loses itself in the different ranges bordering the Yel- 
 lowstone National Park. At the southeastern terminus the range 
 singularly doubles back upon itself to the west, and is said to 
 
182 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 have thus taken the significant name, " Big Horn." By a few 
 of the old-time mountaineers we learn that the big horn of the 
 mountain sheep, there so plentiful, is the source of the title, 
 while others claim that the entire range, from its horn or cornu- 
 copia shape, has, from the earliest advent of the fur company 
 employes, been thus distinguished. The average altitude of val- 
 leys at the immediate base of the range is 4,500 feet above sea 
 level, and the higher peaks are from nine to twelve thousand feet. 
 
 A scene never to be forgotten is that which the visitor from 
 the south, or the Cheyenne route, enjoys when this great water- 
 shed is first seen from the Powder river divide. Nearly the whole 
 of the resplendent range, stretching off along the northwestern 
 horizon 150 miles is grasped by the eager vision. "A cloud-land 
 mirage ! " we first exclaim, its lofty peaks appearing white, fleecy 
 and ethereal enough to belong to cloud-land, and yet too sur- 
 passingly grand to be spared by even a beautiful earth. In 
 most harmonious contrast to the great banks of glittering snow- 
 banks of burnished silver, they looked to us, are the long, pur- 
 pie-tinged pedestals upon which they rest. These are the unu- 
 sually rugged foot-hills, and they receive their rich coloring from 
 dense forests of pine and spruce, which cover them from base to 
 summit. From near the center rise Cloud and Hayes peaks, the 
 proudest landmarks of all the northern country, while at frequent 
 intervals on either side other snow-capped sentinels are clearly 
 outlined against the sky. Even from this distant view the grand 
 canons of the Tongue river tributaries are defined — sombre and 
 threatening gashes, and sometimes almost cavernous in their 
 rocky mould. 
 
 It was the writer's good fortune to traverse this grand wilder- 
 ness almost from end to end, and to several times cross the range 
 in the vicinity of Cloud Peak. From the summit, at an altitude 
 of some 12,000 feet, a view which can hardly be equaled in the 
 mountain ranges of America was obtained. Eastward it swept 
 from the Powder Eiver region to that of the Yellowstone, and a 
 radius of 250 miles was but a comprehensive panorama for the 
 naked eye. The Tongue, Powder, Eosebud and other rivers 
 could be traced almost from the feet of the enraptured visitor, 
 out northward among their lesser mountains and flanking plains, 
 until lost in the picturesque brakes of the Yellowstone, 150 miles 
 away. Westward for over 100 miles stretched the valley of the 
 
LOCATION AND PROMINENT NATURAL FEATURES. 18o 
 
 Big Horn, the crystal sheen of that river itself often emerging 
 from graceful groves of richest green. Still beyond in that 
 direction were the Wind River mountains, with their thousand 
 rugged canons and unbroken covering of snow. Yet beyond — 
 over 200 miles distant — was the Shoshone range, bordering the 
 National Park, its giant peaks rising up like spectres in the dim 
 background saying "thus far and no farther shalt thy vision 
 penetrate." Then the grand mass of granite upon which we 
 stood, so long the fascinating terra incognita of the northwest, 
 and today the richest field of promise in all our broad land, 
 afforded a study never to be forgotten. Mountains upon mount- 
 ains rolled up toward our common footstool like the exaggerated 
 waves of an ocean — with "white caps" of snow for "white 
 caps " of foam — these when analyzed becoming live forests of 
 refreshing green or fire-licked forests of sombre brown and gray, 
 sheltering hundreds of mountain torrents, leaping waterfalls, 
 pine-embowered parks and rock-girt lakes. It was simply a sur- 
 vey of America's best hunting-grounds, her deepest and grandest 
 solitudes, and her land richest in native tradition, adventure and 
 " extravagant possibilities". Much abler pens filled columns with 
 glowing descriptions of those " dizzy altitudes, blackened cliffs 
 and awful gorges," and yet the half has not been told. 
 
 The formation is principally limestone, with granite and slate 
 occasionally cropping out. There is also some conglomerate 
 showing in the Big Horn canon, and sandstone on the south 
 fork of Powder river. 
 
 From foot-hill to summit the mountains north of Cloud peak 
 are covered with a dense growth of pine ; south of this bare 
 ridges and peaks predominate. There are several high points, 
 the most prominent being Hayes and Cloud peaks, whose bald 
 heads rise one thousand feet above their fellows. On the south 
 side of these mountains and on the main divide are a number of 
 pretty little lakes, the largest about two miles in circumference. 
 These are clear as crystal, often very deep, and some of them 
 fringed with perfect masses of water lilies. 
 
 The creeks, owing to their rapid descent, have nearly all cut 
 deep canons in the solid limestone, making it almost impossible 
 to travel lengthwise in the mountains when not near the summit. 
 But they compensate the traveler for their roughness by their 
 beautiful and grand scenery. Waterfalls and cascades, rocks 
 
184 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 worn into fantastic shapes, and the ever-luxuriant foliage, where 
 it can obtain foothold, complete a picture never tiring to the eye. 
 During the recent jaunt of Generals Sheridan and Crook in 
 the Big Horn region, a determined effort was made by members 
 of the party to further explore the dizzy heights. Their success 
 is gossiped of as follows by the Chicago Tribune : " The party 
 left the Union Pacific railroad at Bryan, and proceeded north in 
 stages to Camp Brown, in the Wind River valley, Wyoming Ter- 
 ritory, thence to a camp at the base of the Big Horn mountains. 
 At this point a scientific party composed of Lieutenants Bourke, 
 Schuyler and Carpenter was made up to ascend this heretofore 
 unexplored mountain. That is to say, no one has ever reached 
 the actual summit of Cloud Peak. After reaching an elevation 
 of about 13,000 feet they were unable, to proceed farther, owing 
 to the inaccessible rocks encountered. They, however, reached 
 a higher point than any former party. Several like attempts 
 have been made during the occupancy of the Big Horn country 
 by United States troops in 1867-8, but none have been success- 
 ful. Amongst other interesting occurrences of this exploration 
 was the discovery and naming of H#yes Peak, a point jutting 
 out from Cloud Peak, and the highest mountain of this range. 
 A large collection of the fauna was made, including some very 
 interesting discoveries of new species. These have been properly 
 preserved, and will be forwarded to the Smithsonian Institute. 
 While on this subject it may be as well to say that General Welsh, 
 of Chicago, who accompanied the expedition in the cause of sci- 
 entific investigation, shot two of those rare animals known as 
 the prock and camelco, — so some of those who were there say. 
 Any persons interested in zoology should call on the general for 
 a detailed description. Of course all kinds of game were killed, 
 including black-tailed deer, mountain sheep, mountain bison, 
 and two bears. Of the latter, General Sheridan killed one and 
 General Crook the other. The generals were in luck. The bison 
 is a species much smaller than the buffalo, as fleet almost as a 
 deer, and as sure-footed as a big-horn sheep." 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 INDIAN TRADITION — EARLY GOLD-HUNTING— TESTIMONY 
 OF ARMY OFFICERS AND NOTED SCOUTS. 
 
 EVER since the explorers of our own race have commenced 
 their efforts to penetrate and hold the Big Horn region, it 
 has been the scene of strife and the jealously guarded rendez- 
 vous of different savage nations. The Crows and Shoshones, long 
 the faithful allies of the whites, have for years disputed vainly 
 with their powerful and deadly enemies, the Sioux, for its pos- 
 session, and have sacrificed their best blood and treasured prop- 
 erty in the never-ending war. These tribes and others call the 
 Big Horn and Tongue River regions the most beautiful of 
 America, the most favored for game and fish, and the natural 
 home of the buffalo, elk and deer. The Crows say, beautifully, 
 " The Great Spirit only looks at other countries in summer, but 
 here he lives all the year." Another tribe have a tradition which 
 tells them that this country is nearest the "happy hunting 
 ground," and that the warrior who falls here is particularly 
 favored, because he makes only one short step from the old 
 scenes to the enchanting new. 
 
 Some of these savages tell us that many years ago, when their 
 people had no horses, and, in fact, when tribes known by other 
 names freely roved the land, that strange people came from the 
 south and east, commenced to found homes in the solitudes, and 
 worked among the rocks in the mountains. The country was 
 made to yield rich treasures of not only furs, but something 
 which was found in the ground, and native jealousy only brooked 
 the loss for a few years, when it destroyed all of the strangers in 
 their new homes. A little further down the ages the savages 
 found these glittering treasures themselves, but they cared less 
 for them than for their bales of furs. Then, still later, when 
 missionaries and trappers appeared upon the scene, and the 
 rightful owners of the wilds were taught the value of gold, tres- 
 passers were more closely watched than ever, the stronger tribes 
 13 
 
186 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 announced their determination to hold this, their last and best 
 hunting-ground, forever, no matter what the cost might be. 
 Finally, with the establishment of fur-trading posts, came the 
 oft-repeated proof of golden riches found somewhere in the 
 region — proof furnished by the Indians themselves, who fre- 
 quently showed pouches of gold and glittering ornaments of the 
 same metal. 
 
 At the time when hordes of frenzied California gold seekers 
 were crossing the continent, not a few penetrated portions of the 
 Big Horn region, and subsequently laid claims to rich discoveries 
 there. Again, during and after the Montana and Pikes Peak 
 stampedes — which have resulted in the development of two of 
 the grandest metal-yielding centers in the world — numerous 
 small and a few large parties of miners entered this region, and 
 found enormous prospects, but supernumerary savages as well. 
 The writer has frequently interviewed members of some of these 
 parties, and has always been met with the same general statement 
 that gold was discovered in quantity, but that it would require 
 thousands of men to hold the country against the Sioux — the 
 latter a truth which the experiences of 1876 only too thoroughly 
 demonstrated. These pioneers have faithfully bided their time; 
 have followed our different military expeditions through the 
 region, in the hope of again viewing their treasure vaults, and at 
 this date they are delving early and late in the shadowy gulches of 
 the Big Horn to attain the same end ; and with the changes in the 
 Indian policy inaugurated by President Grant early in 1876, and 
 the advent of General Crook into this department, the present 
 state of affairs promises a permanency never before thought of. 
 Today hundreds of men are scattered from end to end of the 
 region which one year ago was regarded as practically impenetra- 
 ble by any force short of two or three regiments of well disci- 
 plined troops. Camps, trading posts and mail routes are estab- 
 lished, and the daily six-horse coach is a thing of the not very 
 distant future. 
 
 Gold in the Big Horn Mountains. — As to the existence of gold 
 in the Big Horn mountains, the writer can only say that " colors" 
 have been found in nearly all the streams between Powder river 
 and the Yellowstone. Our personal knowledge in the matter is 
 confined principally to tributaries of the Powder, and to a stream 
 flowing westward from Cloud Peak. In these we know fair pros- 
 
INDIAN TRADITION — EARLY GOLD-HUNTING. 187 
 
 pects were made from surface gravel. But in accepting the many 
 testimonials in succeeding pages, which come from reliable 
 sources, there is no room left for doubt; and it is now only a 
 question of special locality, the general distribution of fine gold 
 throughout the gulches clearly indicating that at some point in 
 this great range the wonderful deposits referred to by Father De 
 Smet will be found. Immense deposits of decomposed gold- 
 bearing quartz are found at many points, from base to summit, 
 of the higher mountains. The veins are clearly defined, and 
 ledges of from five to twenty feet in width protrude from the 
 vast walls of granite so plainly that they can be traced for miles. 
 Among the early discoveries were several large masses of this 
 rock, which were most beautifully seamed and specked with 
 flakes of native gold. Within the past few weeks several small 
 shipments of Big Horn gold have been made from Cheyenne and 
 Laramie city, the specimens being very coarse (weighing from 
 fifty cents to ten dollars each), and the gold of very fine quality. 
 The latest arrivals at Cheyenne have most flattering news from 
 the mountain tributaries of Tongue river. There are nearly 
 3,000 prospectors scattered along the different streams, and con- 
 siderable coarse gold has been found. Owing to the melting of 
 very deep snows, however, water had up to July 15 been too plen- 
 tiful, and bed-rock could not be reached in the best localities on 
 account of the floods. It is unfortunate that no more satisfactory 
 intelligence is available at this writing, but the work of another 
 month will undoubtedly prove the claims of those whose testi- 
 mony follows : 
 
 In the month of July, 1859, Captain W. F. Keynolds, of the 
 corps of topographical engineers, under orders from the War 
 Department, penetrated from Fort Pierre, on the Missouri, to 
 the Black Hills. He explored the northern and northeastern 
 portion of them, and then wended his way to the Powder river, 
 Yellowstone and Big Horn countries. In his report, on page 14, 
 under head of "Mineral Products," he says: "Very decided evi- 
 dences of the existence of gold were discovered by us in the 
 valley of the Madison and in the Big Horn mountains, and we 
 found some indications of its presence also in the Black Hills, 
 between the forks of the Cheyenne. The very nature of the 
 case, however, forbade that an extensive or thorough search for 
 the precious metals should be made by an expedition such as I 
 
188 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 conducted through the country. The party was composed in the 
 main of irresponsible adventurers, who recognized no moral 
 obligation resting upon them. They were all furnished with 
 arms and ammunition, while we were abundantly supplied with 
 picks, and carried with us a partial stock of provisions. Thus 
 the whole outfit differed in no essential respect from that which 
 would be required if the object of the expedition had only been 
 prospecting for gold. The powder would serve for blasting, and 
 the picks and shovels were amply sufficient for the primitive 
 mining of the gold pioneer, while the arms would be equally 
 useful for defense and in purveying for the commissariat. It is 
 thus evident that if gold had been discovered in any considerable 
 quantity, the party would at once have disregarded all the 
 authority and entreaties of the officers in charge and have been 
 converted into a band of gold miners, leaving the former the 
 disagreeable option of joining them in their abandonment of 
 duty or of returning across the plains alone, through innumera- 
 ble perils. It was for these reasons that the search for gold was 
 at all times discouraged, yet still it was often difficult to restrain 
 the disposition to ' prospect,' and there were moments when it 
 was feared that some of the party would defy all restraint." 
 
 As early as 1869 Lieutenant Maynadeer wrote of that coun- 
 try, in his report of his explorations, the following: "The valley 
 of the Yellowstone offers the greatest advantages of any part of 
 the country explored. It is fertile enough to yield generously to 
 the farmer, and the capacity of the hills for grazing is unlimited. 
 It is the paradise of the Indian, and in every direction it is 
 marked by the track of vast hordes of buffalo, antelope and elk, 
 which subsisted upon it. This will apply to the Yellowstone 
 from the mouth of the Big Horn river to the mountains. Nearly 
 all the country inside the curve of the Big Horn mountains is 
 also of this description. There is every reason to believe that the 
 mineral wealth of the mountainous portion is very great. I pur- 
 posely discouraged any desire among those under my command 
 to search for gold, but in several instances small quantities of the 
 sands of some of the streams were washed and found to yield 
 gold. Moreover, the geological features of these mountains are 
 precisely similar to those of California and the neighborhood of 
 Pike's Peak (Colorado), which abound in gold. But it is hardly 
 probable that the gold could be obtained profitably, except by 
 
INDIAN TRADITION — EARLY GOLD-HUNTING. 189 
 
 large outlays of capital and concerted operations of organized 
 companies." 
 
 Mr. Thomas Sun, late government guide and scout, from long 
 continued travel, has a very general knowledge of the Big Horn 
 country and its approaches, and all information given by him is 
 vouched for as implicitly reliable. Mr. Sun makes Kawlins, Wy- 
 oming, his home when not in the mountains, and can be referred 
 to for any further particulars. In giving the writer a short 
 sketch of his adventurous career in the mountains of the north- 
 west, he said : 
 
 " I am a native of the Province of Quebec, and left my home 
 when only eleven years old to come to the States. Three years 
 afterward I joined some hunters and trappers on the Missouri 
 river who had spent many years in the employ of the Northwest- 
 ern American Fur Company. With them I lived several years, 
 and have during that time an<J ever since trapped, hunted and 
 prospected in the northwest, as well as acted in the capacity of 
 guide to government expeditions and private hunting parties. 
 During the past eight years I have hunted and prospected prin- 
 cipally in the Big Horn mountains and Sweetwater country, and 
 have traveled manv hundreds of miles all over them, and I think 
 for the miner, the farmer and the stock-raiser this country is, 
 without doubt, the finest and best to be found anywhere. Gold, 
 no doubt, from discoveries already made, exists in great abun- 
 dance in the Big Horn mountains, and the valleys have the best 
 ranch lands in the west. 
 
 " Sweetwater valley alone is about 75 to 80 miles long and from 
 35 to 40 miles wide, with an altitude of about 6,000 feet above 
 the level of the sea. It is surrounded by mountains covered with 
 fine large* timber, and watered by a number of rivers and creeks 
 along which are splendid hay lands. Very large bunch grass 
 grows on the plains, affording stock plenty of good feed summer 
 and winter. I am quite sure that no finer stock country is to be 
 found in the world. Upward of 2,000 cattle are now on these 
 plains, belonging to Montana stock-men, who have told me they 
 intend driving a very large number in there this summer." 
 
 In speaking of gold in the Big Horn country, Mr. Sun said : 
 " When I was on the Missouri river some twenty-three years ago, 
 I saw the late Father De Smet at Yankton, in Dakota, and heard 
 him giving an account of some portions of his life amongst the 
 
190 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 Indians. ' He told my partners and myself that he had no doubt 
 but that the Big Horn country was the richest gold field in the 
 whole world, and he prophesied that when the Indian troubles 
 were over his words would come true. He had seen several of 
 the whites, who lived and hunted with the Indian tribes, panning 
 dirt which showed gold in large quantities, and he had himself 
 made many very rich discoveries, but could do nothing in the 
 way of developing them, as the Indians would not permit white 
 men to mine in the country. He had also seen large nuggets in 
 the hands of the Indians on very many occasions." 
 
 Mr. Sun added: "My partners and myself have discovered 
 good paying diggings and some rich quartz leads, and I know of 
 several parties who have made some rich strikes at different 
 points in the Big Horn mountains, but none of them could be 
 worked, as it was too great a risk for small parties on account of 
 the Indians. 
 
 "In 1862 a party consisting of five French Canadians, I. Pat- 
 neen, J. Dubois, and three others whose names I have now for- 
 gotten, outfitted at the Sweetwater crossing of the old stage road 
 (where the route from Rawlins to the Big Horn crosses this road), 
 to go into the mountains and work some placer ground they 
 had previously found, and which they said was very rich. It was 
 during the rush to Idaho and Montana in that year. They 
 endeavored all in their power to persuade some of the many par- 
 ties traveling along this route, bound for those Territories, to 
 join their party to the Big Horn to strengthen it, as they feared 
 trouble with the Indians. But although they offered to show 
 them very rich ground, they were unsuccessful, and had to go 
 alone, and, as they were never heard of again, it is thought they 
 must have been killed. Being quite certain that the representa- 
 tions made by these men were honest and true, and the prospects, 
 from what they said, most favorable, as they were willing to 
 risk their lives in an Indian country to work their discovery, 
 my partners and myself, while out hunting, made a trip to the 
 place where they said they had found the gold, and there saw 
 traces where white men had camped and had prepared to mine. 
 I have no doubt it was the same party, no other miners having 
 ventured into the mo nn tains at that time. 
 
 " The following was told me by old man ' Dakota/ who, if 
 living, is the oldest mountaineer in the northwest, and I have 
 
INDIAN" TRADITION — EARLY GOLD-HUNTING. 191 
 
 heard the same statement from Bruere, Paul Packet and Lami- 
 reaux, all old mountaineers, and also from many others: 'That 
 before California was known as a mining country, an old free 
 trapper named La Pondre, who always hunted and trapped alone, 
 making long journeys into the Big Horn mountains — that being 
 his favorite hunting ground — had in his possession several large 
 nuggets sufficient to fill his bullet pouch, and which they all saw 
 with him. But in those days the value of gold in its crude state 
 was not known amongst the trappers, they having come into this 
 country young boys, like myself. Old man La Pondre stayed 
 round Fort Pierre, and exhibited his nuggets freely to his 
 friends, amongst whom were the men I have named. He told 
 them he was going to St. Louis, and if what he had in his hand 
 was what he expected it was, namely, gold, he had done with 
 trapping for furs, as he could find enough of the stuff to buy up 
 the American Fur Company whenever he liked. He left St. 
 Pierre to go to St. Louis, telling the men to be on hand and stay 
 round, as he was coming back in the spring, and would take them 
 with him to the place where the gold was. He said it was lying 
 free in the bed of a creek, on bed rock, where there was any 
 amount of it. 
 
 " Travel to St. Louis in those days was slow. The trappers 
 used to make boats of buffalo hides and fill them with their bales 
 of furs, paddling down stream to St. Louis, and returning m 
 barges hauled or cordelled by ropes from shore. When old man 
 La Pondre arrived at St. Louis he showed what he called his 
 yellow bullets and found they were gold nuggets of great value. 
 The American Fur Company at once offered him great induce- 
 ments to show them where he had found them and wanted to 
 buy him out, but he refused to tell them or sell at any price, as 
 he said the company did not always act on the square with the 
 people in their employ, and he was going to have the first show 
 for himself and his friends. 
 
 "It was the custom for the trappers and hunters in those 
 days to work for two or three years and then make a trip to St. 
 Louis to draw their money and have a good time. Old man La 
 Pondre, after finding that he had made such a wonderful discov- 
 ery of gold, feeling rich on the strength of it, and knowing 
 where he could make a good haul in the Big Horn if he got 
 broke in St. Louis, took in too much bad whisky forced on him 
 
192 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 by some of the Fur Company's men, who wanted to get hold of 
 his secret, and he died from this and cholera. Thus he died 
 without disclosing anything about the place where the gold was 
 to be found in the Big Horn, and was buried at St. Louis. 
 
 "I have myself seen gold in the possession of Indians at Bo- 
 ray's ranch and at several other places, which they traded at the 
 posts for goods. But this is no reason for me to suppose that 
 they took it from the ground themselves, and I should rather 
 suspect that they had taken it from miners whom they had found 
 in the mountains and killed." 
 
 Asking Mr. Sun to give his opinion of the new country as a 
 hunting-ground, he enthusiastically replied : " For game no place 
 in the world can beat the Big Horn country; there are any 
 amount of antelope, black and white tailed deer, Rocky-mountain 
 sheep, elk and moose, buffalo and bison, cinnamon, black and 
 grizzly bear, and Rocky-mountain lion, wild cats, silver-gray, 
 black and red foxes, etc. Mountain grouse, sage hens, geese, 
 ducks and chickens are found in great abundance. Swarms of 
 trout and other fish in the streams." 
 
 Interviewed by a reporter a month before his death, General 
 Custer had the following to say about early gold-hunting in the 
 Big Horn region, and the characteristics of the country : 
 
 " The mining party from Bozeman that I spoke of, set out for 
 that region. A few persons had contrived in the past, when the 
 Indians were not troublesome, to enter a portion of it, and they 
 returned with wonderful stories of the riches hidden there ; and 
 fine specimens of gold were shown as proof. General Sheridan, 
 in his letter to General Sherman, corroborates this view, and he 
 thinks that the wealth of the Big Horn country will be found to 
 surpass that of the Black Hills. Beyond report nothing positive 
 is known about it. 
 
 " In passing westward from the Black Hills we find a low, 
 rolling landscape, the timber growing smaller and scarcer, until 
 the plains are reached, so that the Black Hills are a cluster sepa- 
 rate and distinct from the great range. We gradually approach 
 the upheaval, which is the commencement of the Rocky Moun- 
 tains. 
 
 " No snowy peaks can be seen as you leave the Black Hills, 
 but when nearing the Big Horn the Big Horn mountains appear, 
 and as the march continues their white peaks come out in glit- 
 
*\.Q^V^a.-5>s. 
 
 ''one too many." 
 
INDIAN TRADITION — EARLY GOLD-HUNTING. 195 
 
 tering splendor. As the mountains are precipitous, abrupt and 
 of a peculiar formation, and as many stories are told of the 
 wealth that is in them, western people are of the opinion that 
 this is the locality to which gold seekers must go if they would 
 make their fortunes. 
 
 "Numerous rivers flow through the canons out to the plains, 
 and they are very clear and full of trout. Wind river flows 
 through the Big Horn mountains, through a canon which is 
 between fifty and one hundred miles long, and it has never been 
 explored. Bridger, the famous Indian scout, claimed to have 
 passed through it, but there is no definite record of its ever hav- 
 ing been explored." 
 
 Old Jim Bridger, the mountaineer, who has spent forty-five 
 years in the Eocky Mountains, tells the following story of his 
 discovery of gold in the Big Horn region : 
 
 "In the spring of the year 1859 I was employed by Captain 
 Eeynolds, United States Engineers, as a guide and interpreter to 
 an exploring expedition of the government, commanded by the 
 above-named officer, whose purpose was to explore the head- 
 waters of the Yellowstone and Big Horn rivers, and various other 
 streams in the Big Horn country. The party consisted of Cap- 
 tain Reynolds, Lieutenant Lee, and one company of United 
 States soldiers commanded by Captain Menadier, Dr. Hayden 
 and several other scientific gentlemen, a number of teamsters 
 and other employes. 
 
 " One day, after having traveled a few days in these regions 
 known as the Big Horn, I, feeling thirsty, got off my mule and 
 stooped down at a small brook containing clear and inviting 
 water from the snow-capped mountains to drink, and while so 
 doing my attention was attracted by the curious appearance of 
 the bottom of the stream. It appeared to me like yellow pebbles 
 of various sizes, from that of the head of a common pin to a 
 bean and larger. Though well acquainted with the appearance 
 of gold, I was somewhat in doubt of its being the precious metal, 
 since it had never occurred to me that gold could be found in 
 that locality; but my curiosity being excited, I scooped up a 
 handful of the stuff, and rode up to Dr. Hayden and Captain 
 Reynolds. Both at once pronounced it pure gold, and asked me 
 where I had procured it. After I had told them where I had 
 found it, Captain Reynolds got very much excited, and insisted 
 
196 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 that I should cast it away, and not tell anyone of the party of 
 the matter under any circumstances, he fearing that a knowledge 
 of gold in such abundance and of such easy access would certain- 
 ly break up his expedition, since every man would desert to hunt 
 for gold. I very reluctantly complied with the officer's request. 
 Since my first discovery of gold I have found the same metal in 
 that country while trading with the Indians, though not in such 
 abundance as the first." 
 
 James Bridger is now an old man, but still hale, hearty and 
 active. Nearly his whole life has been spent in the Rocky 
 Mountains and among the Indians. Bridger Pass and Cut-off, 
 on the old emigrant road to California, were named after him 
 many years ago. Mr. Bridger now makes his home in Jackson 
 county, Missouri, near New Santa Fe. 
 
 General P. E. Connor, who led an expedition through this 
 region ten years ago, says in a letter to the writer concerning it : 
 " I did not have time to examine its mineral resources, but from 
 information derived from some of my officers and men I am of 
 the opinion that silver and gold will be found in paying quanti- 
 ties on the headwaters of Powder, Tongue and Big Horn rivers 
 and their tributaries." 
 
 Frank Grouard, the widely -known chief scout of General 
 Crook's principal expeditions, has frequently told the writer of 
 his knowledge of placer gold in this range, and of his finding it 
 in fine large nuggets. In a letter recently received from him he 
 uses these words: "In the northern portion of the Big Horn 
 mountains there is plenty of gold that I know of myself." Mr. 
 Grouard was for six years a prisoner of Sitting Bull, and in his 
 rambles with the hostiles had ample opportunity to make these 
 discoveries. 
 
 Dozens of other reliable authorities could be quoted, but these 
 must suffice, as we wish to take a glimpse at the other resources 
 of this interesting region. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 CHOICE NOOKS FOR THE FARMER AND STOCKMAN — 
 VALLEYS AND STREAMS. 
 
 THE future importance of the Big Horn region rests much 
 less upon the development of rich mines than the average 
 reader can now realize. There is a wealth of farm and grazing 
 lands which alone will soon attract thousands of eager husband- 
 men and supply the whole northwest with bread and beef. One 
 of the pleasing peculiarities of the country, and one to be consid- 
 ered here, is the water supply. For nearly two hundred miles 
 along the northeastern base of the Big Horn mountains the 
 clearest and most beautiful of streams sweep violently down 
 through their picturesque gorges and course northward 150 miles 
 to the common reservoir — the great Yellowstone. These often 
 occur at intervals of less than five miles, and it is seldom that 
 more than a dozen miles of the unequaled uplands separate 
 them, or that crystal springs do not send pretty laterals bounding 
 over gravel beds to the more pretentious creeks or rivers. These 
 mountain streams and sheltered valleys are more numerous 
 throughout this region than are water-courses in any of the half 
 dozen Eocky Mountain Territories which the writer has had the 
 pleasure of thoroughly viewing. And here he is willing to stake 
 his reputation upon the assertion that none of the Territories 
 can boast a region of similar extent so favored in all the natural 
 elements of fertility, beauty and practical value to producers as 
 is found here along the eastern and northeastern base of the Big 
 Horn mountains. 
 
 The soil of the valleys is usually a porous loam, rich, black, 
 bottomless — so far as the needs of the farmer are concerned. 
 Every element of fertility seems to be present and every species 
 of vegetation attests its wonderful nourishment by a most luxuri- 
 ant growth. Of course rain, out in the lower valleys, "other 
 than the dripping skirts of some mountain shower," are as rare 
 as the average western farmer could wish. But with these num- 
 
198 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 berless dashing streams, bearing with their beauty the impalpable 
 fertilizers of crumbling mountains, irrigation would be a pleasure 
 rather than a task. Vegetable life does not differ very materially 
 from that in Rocky Mountain regions, four hundred miles fur- 
 ther south, except that here the same varieties nearly always 
 have a much stronger growth. Wild rye is found in large 
 patches, so tall that a cavalryman could nearly, if not entirely, 
 hide himself in it while mounted. Wild oats, native blue-grass 
 and all the varieties of plains grasses present this same strong 
 testimony of fertility of soil and congenial climate by their heavy 
 carpetings and unusual height. The average altitudes of the 
 valleys being less than 4,000 feet, the region of summer frosts is 
 not reached. Experiments made in the cultivation of the soil at 
 Fort Smith, on the Big Horn, and Fort Kearney, on the Piney, 
 during their occupation ten years ago, proved that all vegetables 
 and cereals commonly grown in temperate climates were thor- 
 oughly adapted here. While following the fortunes of General 
 Crook, during the summer of 1876, the writer was furnished a 
 striking example of the possibilities within range in this line 
 even much farther north. When the lamented Custer marched 
 across the Yellowstone region from Fort Lincoln, Dakota, early 
 in the spring, the surface was thoroughly soaked by the more 
 generous rains of that northern country, and his wagon trains 
 cut deep gashes into the black soil. Grains of corn often leaked 
 from the sacks composing these loads and fell into the ruts. 
 When with Crook's gallant division on the terrific march of 
 August following, we crossed Custer's trail, the corn was found 
 growing far above the tops of the highest grasses — some of it as 
 high as our heads — and was evidently in a fair way to mature. 
 
 It is the purpose of the writer to prove beyond the shadow of 
 a doubt all claims made in this volume, and where opinions of 
 reliable parties concerning important points are to be obtained, 
 they are inserted. General Luther P. Bradley, of the United 
 States army, spent several years in this region during its occupa- 
 tion by the military, and in response to inquiries made several 
 years ago, put himself on record as follows : 
 
 "I respond very cheerfully to your request for information 
 about the climate, soil, grasses, etc., of the country on the east 
 slope of the mountains, from the Big Horn down to the Repub- 
 lican and Smoky Hill, which I prospected or scouted pretty tho- 
 
CHOICE KOOKS FOR THE FARMER AND STOCKMAN. 199 
 
 roughly in 1867 and 1868. From the Smoky Hill, in about 
 latitude 39 north to latitude 44, the country is very much like 
 that immediately around the Union Pacific railroad, with which 
 you and the traveling public are familiar. The character of all 
 this country is rolling prairie, very well watered, and abounding 
 in good grasses to such an extent that the assertion may be safely 
 made that the supply of grazing is unlimited. 
 
 "All of the streams in this range furnish some timber, and 
 many of the tributaries of the Eepublican, Powder, Tongue, Big 
 Horn and other rivers are covered with heavy forests of hard and 
 soft wood. All of the bottom lands on the streams flowing from 
 the mountains are what would be called east, good, reliable farm- 
 ing lands, fit to produce any of the regular crops, except, perhaps, 
 corn. The only danger to the corn crop would be, I suppose, the 
 shortness of the season, and the frequency of frosts consequent 
 on the extreme altitude of this section. 
 
 " North of latitude 44 the country changes materially for the 
 better. It is better watered, having an abundance of pure, clear 
 mountain streams. The soil is richer, the grasses are heavier 
 and stronger, and the climate very much milder than that for 
 several degrees south. I think the valleys of Tongue river, Little 
 Horn, Big Horn and the Yellowstone, will produce corn, and 
 good corn, too. About the other crops, barley, wheat, potatoes, 
 etc., there is no question. This, I take it, shows about the max- 
 imum of soil and climate, for there is no question about the value 
 of a country that embraces hundreds of millions of acres, that 
 will produce good crops of cereals and grasses. 
 
 " The valley of the Big Horn, five to twenty miles in width, 
 by about one hundred miles in length, I regard as one of the 
 choice spots of the earth. Here the climate, soil, scenery and 
 natural productions combine to make a country I have not seen 
 excelled anywhere from Georgia to Montana, and equaled only 
 by the favorite countries along the Ohio, the Cumberland or 
 the Tennessee. The prevailing winds are westerly, bringing 
 the mild airs of the Pacific to these inland slopes, and tempering 
 the winters of latitude 45° and 46° to about the temperature of 
 the mountain country of Kentucky and Tennessee. 
 
 " The value of this country for grazing may be estimated from 
 the fact that good fine grasses grow evenly all over the country, 
 that the air is so fine that the grasses cure on the ground without 
 
200 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 losing any of their nutriment, and that the climate is so mild 
 and genial that stock can range and feed all the winter and keep 
 in excellent condition without artificial shelter or fodder. The 
 fact of grasses curing on the ground is a well-known peculiarity 
 of all the high country on the east slope of the mountains, and 
 in this is found the great value of this immense range for grazing 
 purposes. 
 
 " The difference between grasses which have to be cut and 
 cured and those which are preserved on the ground, is enough 
 to convince the stock-raiser and herder of the value of these im- 
 mense ranges known as 'The Plains/ I believe that all the 
 flocks and herds in the world could find ample pasturage on 
 these unoccupied plains and the mountain slopes beyond, and 
 the time is not far distant when the largest herds and flocks in 
 the world will be found right here where the grass grows and 
 ripens untouched from one year's end to the other. I believe 
 there is no place in this section of the country, from latitude 47° 
 down, where cattle and sheep will not winter safely with no feed 
 but what they can pick up, and with only the rudest shelter. In 
 the mountains, or in the valleys of the mountain streams, they 
 would find ample shelter from storms in the frequent canons 
 and ravines. 
 
 " The mountain ranges are peculiarly adapted to sheep rais- 
 ing. The range is unlimited, the grasses are fine, and the air is 
 pure and dry — conditions which insure healthier stock and bet- 
 ter wool than the climate and soil of the low country. 
 
 " I have said that the climate about Big Horn was very mild ; 
 as an indication of this I will state that the average temperature 
 in the valley, latitude 45° 30', was in December, 1867, 32° above ; 
 in January, 1868, 20° above; in February, 40° above, and in 
 March 55° above. In August, 1867, the mercury was as high as 
 107° above. Coal, iron and fine building stone are plentiful in 
 the mountains of the Big Horn ranges. Fine clay and limestone 
 are found in abundance, and the mountains furnish good pine 
 timber in fair quantity. Nature has provided most liberally for 
 the wants of civilization in this favored region, and when it is 
 opened up to settlement it will attract a large population, and 
 will prove to be a great producing country." 
 
 General Eaynolds, who had occasion to winter in this region 
 several years ago, uses this language in his official report : 
 
CHOICE NOOKS FOR THE FARMER AND STOCKMAN. 201 
 
 " Through the whole of the season's march the subsistence 
 of our animals had been obtained by grazing after we had reached 
 camp in the afternoon, and for an hour or two between the dawn 
 of day and our time of starting. The consequence was that when 
 we reached our winter quarters there were but few animals in the 
 train that were in a condition to have continued the march with- 
 out a generous diet. Poorer or more broken down creatures it 
 would be difficult to find. They were at once driven up the val- 
 ley of Deer creek and herded during the day, and brought to 
 camp and kept in a corral through the night. In the spring all 
 were in as fine condition for commencing another season's work 
 as could be desired. A greater change, in their appearance could 
 not have been produced, even if they had been grain-fed and 
 stable-housed all winter. Only one was lost, the furious storm 
 of December coming on before it had gained sufficient strength 
 to endure it. This fact, that seventy exhausted animals, turned 
 out to winter on the plains the first of November, came out in 
 the spring in the best condition, and with the loss of but one of 
 the number, is the most forcible commentary I can make upon 
 the quality of the grass and the character of the winter." 
 
 The small rain-fall along the Big Horn mountains is confined 
 to the spring and early summer months. There is no dew, and 
 sickness is so rare that, for many days in succession, out of 
 large garrisons of soldiers who were stationed here ten years ago, 
 not one could be found at the hospital. The summer tempera- 
 ture rarely exceeds ninety, the nights always being deliciously 
 cool and refreshing. While the mercury sometimes ranges very 
 low in winter, the cold is far more endurable than in the low 
 eastern sections. The writer has campaigned along these moun- 
 tains, and far to the north, in midwinter, without tenting and 
 with but scanty bedding, when mercury solidified, and out of five 
 hundred men composing the expeditions not one suffered perma- 
 nently from frost-bite. Being the chosen winter home of the 
 buffalo and other game, and the choice herding ground for many 
 years of thousands of Indian ponies, this whole region has long 
 since gained the appellation, on the frontier, of the " stockman's 
 future paradise." 
 
 The valleys and uplands are totally unlike those of Colorado, 
 or even eastern Wyoming. In those sections it is often difficult 
 to tell where valley ends and upland begins, because the two are 
 14 
 
202 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 so naturally merged by broad stretches of gently-sloping plain. 
 In the Big Horn region the line of demarcation is as plain as 
 the wall of China. The uplands are usually several hundred feet 
 higher than the valleys, and when the visitor descends into the 
 latter he reaches stretches of unmistakable lowlands — but never 
 a slough or marsh, — stretches that may be exquisitely narrowed 
 to almost canon width or swelled into graceful parks of from two 
 to ten miles wide, and with always the dark valley soil and grate- 
 ful valley foliage and vegetation. Natural hay lands are really 
 not plentiful, considering the extent of all the valleys, because 
 such an item as overflow of valleys or a permanent swamp is 
 never known. But where stock will not need an ounce of arti- 
 ficially prepared food, as here, there will be little use for extensive 
 hay lands, and enough of the very best quality of hay can be cut 
 for all possible needs. The fall of all the streams is so great that 
 every farmer can have his own system of irrigation, if he desires 
 it, and there is no danger of future quibbles about water-rights 
 in this most bountifully-watered of all regions. 
 
 Many of the valleys contain enough Cottonwood, ash, box- 
 elder and other timber to supply logs for fuel or building pur- 
 poses for years to come. But the great mountains overlooking 
 on the one side, and many of the bluffs on the other, are covered 
 with forests of pine, hemlock, spruce, cedar, etc., furnishing 
 building material for all time. We opine that about every other 
 settler will own a coal mine, as the "black diamonds" crop out 
 almost everywhere, and are known to furnish an excellent quality 
 of fuel in numerous localities where tests have been made. 
 
 Commencing at the south and naming the more prominent 
 streams in their order northward, we have Powder river, Crazy 
 Woman's Fork of Powder, Clear Fork of Powder, Big and Little 
 Piney, Penoe creek, South and North Forks of Goose creek, 
 Tongue river, Kosebud, Little Big Horn, Grass Lodge creek, 
 Rotten Grass creek, Big Horn river, the latter's numerous tribu- 
 taries flowing from the northwest, and the Yellowstone. These, 
 in other portions of the west, where moisture is not so abundant, 
 would all be called rivers. Indeed, with their great fall, their 
 wonderfully-swift flow, and their often respectable breadth of 
 channel, they deserve such appellation even here. Then it must 
 be remembered that dozens of large creeks and brooks, drawing 
 their supply from the never-failing snows in the mountains, and 
 
CHOICE NOOKS FOR THE FARMER AND STOCKMAN. 203 
 
 from some of the most extensive and beautiful limestone springs 
 on the continent, are not mentioned — they are nameless as they 
 are almost numberless, but in their rambles to the sea play none 
 the less important parts. 
 
 In briefly describing some of these prominent streams and 
 valleys we may be frank in commencing by declaring that we 
 have nothing good to say of Powder river, the southern boundary 
 of the Big Horn region. Its waters are darkly mysterious and 
 villainously alkalied; its southern tributaries ditto; and it is far 
 from a fitting gateway to the land of beauty and plenty just out- 
 lined. However, the valley soils are among the richest in all the 
 northern region, and the flanking bluffs furnish very fair grazing 
 lands. The stream rises in the Powder Eiver range, flows almost 
 due north to the Yellowstone, and in its tortuous windings has a 
 length of over 300 miles. The valley is from one to three miles 
 wide, is well timbered with cottonwood, and shows the coal for- 
 mation almost everywhere. Cantonment Eeno, garrisoned by 
 United States troops, is located on Powder river near the cross- 
 ing of the Cheyenne and Big Horn road. It is a general outfit- 
 ting point for Big Horn miners. The most direct and well- 
 traveled road from Deadwood to the Big Horn region strikes the 
 Cheyenne road near here. 
 
 Twenty-six miles north is Crazy Woman's Fork of the Pow- 
 der. Its waters are clear, flowing over a gravelly bed, and it 
 drains a more desirable region than the parent stream. But not 
 until Clear Fork of Powder, twenty miles north of the last named 
 stream, is reached does the visitor feel thoroughly possessed 
 of that enthusiasm we are endeavoring to inspire. The land- 
 scape surrounding is perfect in its loveliness, and the broad valley 
 is very nearly our ideal of a spot for the creation of most inviting 
 homes. The valley is four or five miles wide and seventy miles 
 long, and besides being quite well timbered at the point of cross- 
 ing possesses greater stretches of hay lands than most others in 
 this section. A ranch and trading post, called Murphy's ranch, 
 the first to be located in the Big Horn region, is found here at 
 the crossing. 
 
 Twenty miles travel farther north over grazing lands which 
 are not equaled south of the Platte anywhere, brings the visitor 
 to the forks of the Piney — the road crossing them just above 
 their union. The ruins of old Fort Phil Kearney, near the road, 
 
204 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 stimulate disagreeable thoughts about the played out peace policy, 
 and lead us to think what a shame it was for a powerful govern- 
 ment to lose its grip upon such beautiful domain, and to allow 
 the massacre of its subjects by the hundred. These valleys are 
 about as extensive as that of Clear Fork, are just as beautiful and 
 fertile, and undoubtedly will soon teem with the best life our 
 Yankee enterprise can bequeath. A few miles away lies Lake 
 De Smet, named after the noted missionary. It is about two 
 miles long and nearly a mile wide, and for its shores has a circle 
 of gracefully rounded hills. Myriads of geese, ducks and other 
 water fowl, with evidently little appreciation of danger, float its 
 surface, and in the shallow water of the beaches we noticed in- 
 numerable small insects, resembling fish animalculse. But the 
 water is so wonderfully brackish and charged with alkaline salts 
 that it is doubtful whether fish could exist in it. 
 
 In reaching the different forks of G-oose creek, tributaries of 
 Tongue river, about twenty miles farther north, we are in the 
 heart of the choicest portion of the Big Horn region. Where 
 the two principal forks of Goose creek unite the valley is nearly 
 ten miles wide, and right here is the garden of the whole north- 
 west. Unequaled ranch sites for either farming or grazing pur- 
 poses lie up and down the valley for a distance of twenty-five 
 miles. This spot has long been the loved rendezvous for our 
 different savage tribes on fete days or during their grand revel- 
 ries of hunting and feasting. The streams here furnish fine trout 
 fishing. Hayes and Cloud Peaks overlook the scene and the old 
 Sioux Pass across the Big Horn mountains is close at hand. 
 
 A dozen miles or more northward is Tongue river and its 
 many feeders. Tongue river rises in the snow fields of Cloud 
 Peak, and flows out northward two hundred miles to the Yel- 
 lowstone. The river is extremely crooked and the valley is not 
 often more than two miles wide, its tributaries furnishing more 
 arable land than itself. Shortly after leaving the Big Horn 
 range it is flanked by the Big Panther mountains on the south 
 and by the Wolf and Little Panther mountains on the north. 
 Although these ranges are extremely rough and often well tim- 
 bered they hardly deserve to be called mountains, as they are 
 generally only from five hundred to one thousand feet in height. 
 The writer does not believe that indications warrant any of the 
 statements recently made that these ranges are mineral-bearing. 
 
CHOICE NOOKS FOR THE FARMER AND STOCKMAN. 
 
 205 
 
 Where gold has been found in them, it is our belief that it must 
 have been the wash of deposits far up in the Big Horn range. 
 
 Down along Tongue, and other rivers here in the heart of 
 "Indian Ground," are many evidences of savage eccentricity. 
 Many of the cottonwood trees have attained great size, and 
 
 GOOSE CREEK RAPIDS, BIG HORN REGION. 
 
 numbers which have died are still standing, their bark having 
 all dropped off, leaving a smooth and sometimes almost perfectly 
 white surface. These have often been ornamented by savage 
 artists, the beds of ochre in the vicinity furnishing a pretty fair 
 article of paint for the purpose. One would bear the picture of 
 an Indian horse-race, with the brutes neck and neck, bending 
 
206 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 down to their work. On another would be the scene of a san- 
 guinary engagement in which white men, pierced with arrows or 
 bullets, were tumbling from their horses. But some of these 
 trees were desecrated by pictures of a still more atrocious and 
 revolting nature by the hands of these vandal artists, and in 
 future years, when happy homes take the places of the present 
 reigning solitude, residents can better judge from some of these 
 how worthy are our savage wards of the consideration they are 
 receiving. 
 
 Northward still are numerous valleys running out at right 
 angles from the mountains, and in passing on to the Montana 
 settlements, a distance of about 300 miles, one is rarely out of 
 sight of them. The Big Horn, however, is our limit to the 
 region we have been describing, and is distant from Tongue river, 
 by the Cheyenne and Montana route, about seventy-five miles. 
 The Eosebud, which lies between the Tongue and Big Horn, and 
 which empties into the Yellowstone, drains a grazing region 
 which, as a packer who had served all over the trans-Missouri 
 country said, " beats the world." From the lowest depth of the 
 valley to the summits of the highest hills the different varieties 
 of native grasses grow as though cultivated, and are not only 
 very thick upon the ground, but attain greater height than else- 
 where. The valley is wide and picturesque, covered with splendid 
 meadow and possessing numerous large groves of cottonwood. 
 The soil is deep and practically bottomless, as those of us who 
 had our horses mired in it in the creek-bed can testify. 
 
 The Big Horn and its tributaries probably water more arable 
 valley lands than any of these streams, the valley of the Big 
 Horn alone being from three to ten miles wide and over a hun- 
 dred miles long below its grand canon. Large areas of hay lands 
 here make up for their scarcity elsewhere in the region. The 
 Big Horn furnishes choice trouting and is navigable during 
 early summer months by light-draught steamers to a point some 
 seventy-five miles above its junction with the Yellowstone. 
 
 The belt of land drained by these streams, and to which 
 reference is made here, lies wholly east or northeast of the Big 
 Horn mountains, and that portion of it particularly desirable to 
 the settler lies within twenty-five miles of their base. West of 
 the range the region is not generally so fine — although a number 
 of good valleys are there found — until the valley of the upper 
 
CHOICE NOOKS FOR THE FARMER AND STOCKMAN. 207 
 
 Wind river and its numerous tributaries are reached. These 
 possess the same general characteristics and attractions as the 
 ones on the east side and are already being quite extensively 
 settled. 
 
 Bounding this region on the north is the navigable Yellow- 
 stone, of which General J. W. Forsythe, of Sheridan's staff, has 
 reported as follows, after one of his visits : 
 
 " The Yellowstone river, from the highest point reached by 
 us to the mouth of Powder river, sweeps through the country in 
 long and majestic stretches, with a current of at least four miles 
 an hour. Its bosom is studded with islands by hundreds, some 
 of which are three or more miles in length and covered with Cot- 
 tonwood groves; and many of them: are so handsome that they 
 almost make the voyager believe that they are the well-kept 
 grounds pertaining to some English country house. I never saw 
 so fine a growth of Cottonwood in my life as on the Yellowstone, 
 twenty-five miles above Tongue river. These trees will run from 
 three to five feet, and some are six feet in diameter. The supply 
 of Cottonwood and pine which exists throughout the upper Yel- 
 lowstone country is ample to meet all the requirements of any 
 settlement of the valley ; and the indications are that large beds 
 of coal can be found and worked in the neighborhood of Powder 
 river. 
 
 " The mouth of the Big Horn may be regarded as the head of 
 navigation on the Yellowstone river, and for three months of 
 the year this river presents less obstacles to its navigation than 
 the upper Missouri, and, indeed, many other rivers in this and 
 other countries. The channel is unchanging, for it passes over 
 a gravel bed from its head to its mouth, and there are no snags. 
 When this is contrasted with the shifting and unreliable water 
 of the upper Missouri, it ought to make the rates of insurance 
 less on the Yellowstone river than on the upper Missouri. 
 
 " We found the greatest abundance of game along our entire 
 route — antelope, bear, black -tail deer, elk, mountain sheep; also 
 herds of buffalo, between Tongue river and the Big Horn, as we 
 went up ; but before we returned they had all crossed the river 
 and gone north. 
 
 " We steamed up the Big Horn river for a distance of twelve 
 miles, found it quite crooked, with a narrow valley, and were 
 obliged to return on account of the water becoming distributed 
 
208 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 over so wide a space that the main channel did not afford a suffi- 
 cient depth of water for us to continue our course. The current 
 of the Big Horn was about as strong as that of the Yellowstone : 
 water muddy, and at the mouth it was about 150 yards wide. 
 Where it joins the Yellowstone the points of land on each side 
 are small prairies with good grass. On the east bank the bluffs 
 run close to the river and are sparsely timbered. On the west 
 bank the valley is mostly filled with cotton wood, and the hills 
 are about 150 feet high, with plateaus on the top. Near the 
 point where we turned back there was a small stretch of prairie 
 about a mile wide and a mile and a half long. The north bank 
 of the Yellowstone, opposite the mouth of the river, is a sand- 
 stone bluff, 150 feet high, with rolling plateau on top covered 
 with sage and some bunch grass. 
 
 " Where Pryor's river empties into the Yellowstone, sixty-two 
 miles above the Big Horn, is a small stream, twenty-five feet 
 wide, winding through the western part of the prairie, which 
 extends from Pompey's Pillar to it. Very little lumber on it. 
 It is reported to have a fine country near its head-waters. 
 
 "After passing above the mouth of the Big Horn the growth 
 of pines is much larger. At a distance of from twenty to thirty 
 miles back from the river, on the south side, a park country 
 exists, as is evidenced by the abundance of game coming from 
 that direction. Miners have found color in prospecting for gold 
 in the different streams in the mountains of this locality. As 
 the tributaries of the Yellowstone have a gravelly bottom of igne- 
 ous and metamorphic rocks, porphyry, granite and quartz, there 
 is no reason that there should not be gold found, even in consid- 
 erable quantities, in this formation. The Yellowstone river has 
 its source in the Yellowstone lake, and takes a course a little west 
 of north until it unites with Shields river. At this point it takes 
 a general direction a little north of east to the mouth of Powder 
 river, and thence a due eastern course to the Missouri. In low 
 water the stream is navigable with ease as far up as Pompey's 
 Pillar. The fish of the Yellowstone consist of catfish near its 
 mouth, shiner, catfish and jack salmon between Powder river 
 and the Big Horn west of Powder river. Buffalo, elk, antelope, 
 mountain sheep and beaver are found in great numbers. The 
 Yellowstone valley above the mouth of the Powder river can all, 
 or nearly all, be cultivated, as the soil is rich. The islands, many 
 
CHOICE NOOKS FOE THE FARMER AND STOCKMAN. 211 
 
 of which are very large, could be cultivated. There is abundance 
 of coal and pine wood that could be taken out with profit. The 
 water is fine. . . . And in the valleys there grow large quantities 
 of wild plums, cherries, crab-apples, grapes, gooseberries, buffalo 
 berries, currants and wild strawberries." 
 
 That portion of the Yellowstone valley with which the writer 
 is more particularly conversant lies between the mouths of the 
 Powder and Eosebud, and is one hundred miles long. In this 
 portion we have seen a vast extent of fertile valley and superbly 
 grassed upland. The bottoms often widen to an extent of three 
 or four miles, and occasionally reach a width of ten miles. These 
 are generally ornamented by large groves of cottonwood. The 
 high lands adjacent rise up in picturesque terraces, terminating 
 in broad and wonderfully level plateaus, and covered with a 
 splendid growth of bunch and grama grasses. Eiver, valley and 
 surroundings often blend into the most exquisite landscapes. A 
 stream broad and majestic as the Upper Mississippi ; banks gently 
 sloping, or occasionally rising vertically a hundred feet above the 
 water's edge ; graceful groves, almost forests, shading and beauti- 
 fying every bend; and distant mountains with their deep, rich tint 
 of purple, unite to create a picture as pleasing as could be wished. 
 
 Why, with cheap river transportation, even these far northern 
 limits of our possessions should not soon be sending cargoes of 
 beef, mutton, wool and grain to lower river marts, it is not easy 
 to see. Then, with our Wyoming and Montana railroad soon to 
 pass along the eastern base of the Big Horn mountains, this 
 proud northwestern empire cannot want for outlets or the most 
 desirable means of communication. Tri-weekly mail service is 
 now furnished by the government from Bozeman and Fort Ellis, 
 Montana, to the mouth of Tongue river, a distance of 350 miles. 
 This is for the accommodation of the military permanently sta- 
 tioned on the Yellowstone, as well as for the benefit of small 
 settlements already clustering near. 
 
CHAPTER TV. 
 
 FRUITS, FLOWERS, GAME, FISH, ROUTES, ETC. 
 
 OF wild fruit there is a great variety in all these northern 
 valleys. Kaspberries, strawberries, red currants, plums, 
 cherries and rock grapes are among the number. The settler 
 will certainly not have cause to complain in this respect, and if 
 the growth, so prolific in its native state, gives reliable foretaste of 
 what can be done by cultivation, the production of improved 
 varieties must some day be an important item. During one of 
 our visits some of the valleys were perfect orchards of wild fruits 
 and beds of native flowers. Observing particularly along the 
 Piney, near the site of old Fort Kearney, we found the valley a 
 perfect mass of plum and cherry blossoms, which, with the 
 flowers, fairly charged the air with a delicious fragrance. 
 
 Most Of the varieties of flowers are those common all along 
 the Eocky Mountains, although a few very lovely varieties seemed 
 entirely new. The rose, blue-ball, butter-cup, daisy, phlox, 
 violet, lily, and dozens of others familiar everywhere as house- 
 hold words, are waiting here to surprise old admirers who may 
 think they are to lose them when they seek such far-off wilds. 
 Nature could not be more extravagant with the gift of flora than 
 that everywhere found inside the Big Horn mountains. In every 
 park, by the side of every stream and lake, and under the shade 
 of either thrifty or ruined groves, we found the same dense masses 
 of scarlet, purple, white, blue and yellow, with all the intermedi- 
 ate shades imaginable. The visitor here in the higher altitude 
 can enjoy the strange sight of blooming strawberries within a few 
 yards of snow-banks, or pluck flowers with one hand and have 
 the other immersed in an all-the-year drift. 
 
 As has already been intimated, this is the paradise for hunters, 
 white or red. It was choice ground for the hundreds of Fur 
 Company employes half a century ago, and many were the bat- 
 teaux, or Mackinaw boats, which floated down the great rivers 
 
FRUITS, FLOWERS, GAME, FISH, ROUTES, ETC. 
 
 213 
 
 from these wilds, freighted with the richest offerings of field, 
 forest and stream. A pretty good joke — and one with solid 
 foundation in fact — is told at the expense of one of the promi- 
 nent officers who led a large expedition through this region 
 about ten years ago. The column was near the forks of the 
 Piney, and scouts came back with the report that a large body of 
 Indians was moving up the valley, with evident intent to attack. 
 The general hastened forward, took in the terrors of the situa- 
 tion with his field glass, and soon had his forces posted in first- 
 rate style for defense. The attacking column advanced in very 
 close order, and kicked up so much dust that little could be seen 
 of it. But it surged on resistlessly. Men were holding their 
 breath in the tremor of suspense, and just as they expected the 
 order to fire a sharp breeze wafted away the dust, disclosing a 
 herd of a thousand elk — ten thousand, our informant says, but 
 we should prefer not to spoil a good story. 
 
 Elk, buffalo, mountain sheep, black and white tailed deer, 
 antelope, grizzly and other varieties of bear, with all kinds of 
 
 small game, find 
 in this region their 
 deepest solitudes 
 and their own 
 most coveted sur- 
 roundings. Many 
 of the streams are 
 yet full of beaver 
 and other fur- 
 bearing animals, 
 and the region is 
 literally alive with 
 several species of 
 the wolf. From estimates furnished by Indian traders, we are of 
 the belief that the value of all kinds of furs taken in this region 
 annually by savages, before the commencement of the Sioux war, 
 and traded at the agencies, would not fall short of $200,000. The 
 presence of the prairie chicken here is a fact worthy of note. It 
 is the first recorded instance of its having attained such an 
 extreme western range, although its gradual extension westward 
 in the path of cultivated fields has been known for some time. 
 The Yellowstone, Big Horn and Tongue rivers, and their thou- 
 
214 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 sand tributaries, are plentifully supplied with trout, mountain 
 pike, shiners, catfish, suckers and other varieties. In the rivers 
 and larger creeks the beautiful speckled trout attain a weight 
 of from three to six pounds, while in the brooks a half-pound 
 trout is a very fair average. We have caught these smaller and 
 far more delicate trout, in large quantities, in simple rivulets 
 where there was scarcely room for even such delicate bodies to 
 navigate. 
 
 Before passing to the subject of routes, it may be well for us 
 to have a few words on the Indian question. We do not assert 
 that the last American Indian has surrendered his claims to this 
 his loved home, nor do we believe that hostilities are forever at 
 an end. A few small bands of renegades, who do their work 
 under cover of night or from ambush, are yet prowling over the 
 country, and probably will be until they are hunted down. But 
 we have no fears of an extended outbreak so long as the present 
 military management is continued. With officers like General 
 Cook at the helm; and granted all the latitude they need, the 
 question of the early redemption of any frontier is settled. Three 
 thousand determined miners have already crossed Powder river 
 on their way to the Big Horn, while a large battalion of cavalry 
 is kept constantly at work along the base of that range, in en- 
 deavors to ferret out the remnants of savage tribes left. Then 
 more than a full regiment of cavalry is stationed permanently 
 along the Yellowstone, to punish depredators from the British 
 possessions. With all this force and a determination upon the 
 part of our people to occupy this region — and the back of the 
 Sioux nation broken — it will be passing strange if the few 
 straggling savages which are left can hold out till the leaves of 
 autumn fall. 
 
 Routes. — The Cheyenne route from the southeast is the only 
 one which yet furnishes a complete list of camping places and 
 which has been measured by odometer. It is also the only one 
 yet traversed by the writer, and therefore the only one of which 
 he can speak understandingly. It is the old overland Montana 
 route, possesses a splendid road-bed and easy grades from begin- 
 ning to end, and lies over the country soon to be traversed by 
 the Cheyenne and Montana railway. Following the regular Black 
 Hills road to Huntbn's ranch, on the Chugwater, the emigrant 
 then branches off to the northwest upon the old and constantly 
 
FRUITS, FLOWERS, GAME, FISH, ROUTES, ETC. 215 
 
 traveled government highway to Fort Fetterman. Such clear, 
 strong streams as the Laramie river, Horseshoe, Big Cottonwood, 
 Elkhorn and La Bonte creeks are crossed en route, affording fine 
 camping places with plenty of wood and pure mountain water. 
 The only unfordable stream, the Laramie river, is spanned by a 
 fine public bridge. At Fort Fetterman an excellent ferry facili- 
 tates the crossing of the Platte at seasons of high water. From 
 thence northwest a distance of ninety miles, over choice grazing 
 lands, the traveler will find as fine a road as crosses any portion 
 of our prairies. This stage of the journey completed, Canton- 
 ment Eeno, on Powder river, is reached. Forty miles distant 
 the grand Big Horn range rises in plain view, and the journey 
 thither is finished easily in a day's ride. At the Powder river 
 crossing a good stock of provisions is always on hand, and that 
 point will be found a most convenient outpost. A weekly mail 
 now goes to that point via Cheyenne. 
 
 There has been such a wide difference made in distances from 
 different points to the rather indefinite " base of the Big Horn 
 mountains," that we compile all tables to read to the "base of 
 Cloud Peak." Following is an accurate table of distances over 
 the Cheyenne route : 
 
 Miles. 
 
 Cheyenne to Lodge Pole Creek 16 
 
 Lodge Pole Creek to Bear Springs 20 
 
 Bear Springs to Chugwater 14 
 
 Chugwater to Hunton's Ranch 15 
 
 Hunton's Ranch to South Laramie River 22 
 
 Laramie River to Cottonwood Ranch 20 
 
 Cottonwood Ranch to Elkhorn 25 
 
 Elkhorn to Wagon Hound 15 
 
 Wagon Hound to Fort Fetterman 16 
 
 Fort Fetterman to Sage Creek * , 14 
 
 Sage Creek to South Fork Cheyenne River 18 
 
 South Fork Cheyenne to Antelope Springs f 21 
 
 Antelope Springs to Dry Fork of Powder River 23 
 
 Dry Fork Powder to Cantonment Reno 14 
 
 Cantonment Reno to Crazy Woman's Fork 27 
 
 Crazy Woman's Fork to Clear Fork 20 
 
 Clear Fork to base of Cloud Peak 25 
 
 Total 325 
 
 * No wood. + Water poor and scarce. 
 
216 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 Eawlins furnishes the shortest routes, but, of course, is yet 
 behind in the way of improving them. There are two roads, as 
 follows : 
 
 FIRST — VIA WHISKY GAP. 
 
 Miles. 
 
 From Rawlins to the Paint Mines 3 
 
 Paint Mines to Bell Springs 9 
 
 Bell Springs to Sand Springs 26 
 
 Sand Springs to Whisky Gap 15 
 
 Whisky Gap to Sweetwater River 8 
 
 Sweetwater River to Sunk Creek and junction with Seminole route . 8 
 
 Sunk Creek to Rattlesnake Range 8 
 
 Across Range to Poison Springs Creek 8 
 
 Poison Springs Creek to Cloud Peak 125 
 
 Total 210 
 
 SECOND — VIA SEMINOLE MINES. 
 
 Miles. 
 
 From Rawlins to the Paint Mines 3 
 
 " Paint Mines to Brown's Canon 9 
 
 " Brown's Canon to Seminole 23 
 
 " Seminole to Sand Creek 10 
 
 " Sunk Creek to Sweetwater River (bridged over) 15 
 
 " Sweetwater River to Sunk Creek and junction with Whisky Gap 
 
 Route 8 
 
 " Sunk Creek to Rattlesnake Range 8 
 
 " Across Range to Poison Springs Creek 8 
 
 " Poison Springs Creek to Cloud Peak 125 
 
 Total 209 
 
 The roads on these two routes to the Sweetwater river are 
 well defined, easy of travel for teams, and a good down grade all 
 the way from Eawlins. They come together at Sunk creek, 
 sixty-eight miles from Eawlins and eight miles north of the 
 Sweetwater river. Good camping ground can be found at each 
 point where the mileage is given above. The Seminole route has 
 been traveled over more than the Whisky Gap route, it being the 
 road generally used to the Seminole and Ferris mines and min- 
 ing districts, and also to the Sand Creek settlements; both roads 
 are, however, equally good for ordinary travel. The Sweetwater 
 river is bridged over, but it can be forded nearly all the year. 
 
 The Green Eiver route, from Green Eiver City, possesses the 
 advantage of having a daily stage, mail and express, 160 miles of 
 the distance, and of passing through a tolerably well-settled 
 
FRUITS, FLOWERS, GAME, FISH, ROUTES, ETC. 217 
 
 region and a number of mining towns on the way to Camp 
 Brown. Following are the camps : 
 
 Miles. 
 
 Green River Station 9 
 
 Alkali Station 12 
 
 McCoy's Ranch 27 
 
 Dry Sandy 22 
 
 Pacific Springs 13 
 
 South Pass City 12 
 
 Atlantic City 4 
 
 Strawberry Diggings 2 
 
 Camp Stambaugh 5 
 
 Miners' Delight 2 
 
 Red Canon 9 
 
 Eagle Ranch 9 
 
 Lander City 9 
 
 North Fork 3 
 
 Camp Brown 11 
 
 Cloud Peak 149 
 
 Total 298 
 
 Fare by the Sweetwater daily stage line is $27 to Camp 
 Brown ; forty pounds of baggage allowed. Express freight, six 
 cents per pound. The Sweetwater line is in excellent trim to 
 stock the entire route to Cloud Peak whenever the demand 
 arises for through coaches, as it now possesses first-class equip- 
 ment and runs one hundred miles nearer than any other. Run- 
 ning time to Camp Brown, thirty-six hours. Green River is 
 well supplied with good outfitting houses. 
 
 Evanston, at the extreme western end of "Wyoming, offers a 
 good route to all parties from the west, as indicated by the fol- 
 lowing : 
 
 Miles. 
 
 Evanston to Lander's Cut-off 20 
 
 Lander's Cut-off to Ham's Fork 25 
 
 Ham's Fork to Robinson's Crossing on Green River 18 
 
 Robinson's Crossing to Big Sandy 28 
 
 Big Sandy to Little Sandy 9 
 
 Little Sandy to Dry Sandy 14 
 
 Dry Sandy to Pacific Springs 10 
 
 Pacific Springs to South Pass 12 
 
 South Pass to Camp Stambaugh 6 
 
 Camp Stambaugh to McG-raw's Crossing on Beaver Creek 25 
 
 McGraw's Crossing to Cloud Peak 160 
 
 Total 327 
 
 15 
 
218 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 The Evanston Age asserts that " the road from Camp Stam- 
 baugh to Sioux Pass passes through a beautiful and fertile val- 
 ley where there are plenty of springs for water. In fact, the 
 whole route from Evanston to the Big Horn is an old traveled 
 road; plenty of grass, wood and water is found the entire dis- 
 tance, and passes through a country where the Indians never 
 trouble anyone. After leaving Camp Stambaugh the prospector 
 will find color in every pan of dirt he takes up, and when he ar- 
 rives at Sioux Pass he is only about fifty miles from old Fort 
 Eeno, and in the midst of the gold fields." 
 
 The distance from Deadwood to Cloud Peak via the Pumpkin 
 Butte trail is, as nearly as we can at present ascertain, 200 miles. 
 JSTo route east of the Black Hills and via that region is practi- 
 cable for the Big Horn travel, for the reason that all of them 
 pass over an unsettled and unprotected wilderness from 500 to 
 700 miles wide. From Virginia City, Montana, to Cloud Peak, 
 the distance is 365 miles, as follows : 
 
 Miles. 
 
 Virginia City to Bozeman 70 
 
 Bozeman to Yellowstone Ferry 51 
 
 Yellowstone Ferry to Clark's Fork 90 
 
 Clark's Fork to Big Horn River 63 
 
 Big Horn river to Cloud Peak 91 
 
 Total 365 
 
 The road is an excellent one the entire distance, and numer- 
 ous good camping places are found between the points above laid 
 down. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE BLACK HILLS. 
 
 THE Black Hills of "Wyoming and Dakota, a section of tim- 
 ber-covered hills, whose dark-blue appearance from a dis- 
 tance gives them their name, are situated between parallels 43^ 
 and 45 north latitude, and the 103d and 105th degrees of longi- 
 tude west from Greenwich. They are nearly encircled by the 
 north and south forks of the Cheyenne river, have an extent of 
 about one hundred miles north and south and sixty east and 
 west. The boundary line between Wyoming and Dakota runs 
 through them a little west of the center. 
 
 This section, lying like a green oasis in the midst of a vast, 
 open, level plain, has a climate peculiar to itself and totally at 
 variance with that of the country immediately surrounding it 
 While the surrounding plains but a few miles distant are parched 
 with drouth, this section is abundantly supplied with moisture at 
 all seasons. Clear, running streams traverse it in all directions, 
 affording an ample supply of water for mill, mining and domestic 
 purposes and every use which the wants of man require. 
 
 The principal streams are the Belle Fourche, with its tribu- 
 taries, Spearfish, Whitewood, Rapid, Bare Butte and smaller 
 streams on the north and east, and South Cheyenne, with Elk, 
 Box Elder, Spring, French, Castle and Beaver creeks flowing in 
 it on the south and west, with all the small streams feeding them, 
 furnishing a water supply that is unequaled, except, perhaps, in 
 the Big Horn country. Springs of clear, cold water are also 
 abundant. 
 
 The elevation is comparatively low, the valleys at the base of 
 the hills being only about 3,000 feet above sea level, and the high- 
 est peak only 7,000 feet. The gulches or valleys through which 
 the streams flow are at an elevation of from 3,000 to 4,500 feet, 
 with a fall of from twenty-four to forty-eight inches perpendicu- 
 lar to one hundred feet horizontal distance. 
 
220 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 Early History. — As there has been a great diversity of opin- 
 ion regarding the first discovery of gold in the Black Hills, it 
 may not be amiss to give some facts and reports, obtained by 
 diligent research and persistent inquiry, as to whom belongs 
 the honor of having been first to discover gold and mine for it 
 in this region. It is very evident that long before the present 
 excitement gold was found and taken from the streams of the 
 Black Hills. It is well known to many miners and prospectors 
 that there are indications of white men having visited the 
 Hills at some former period, but to whom these traces are due 
 they have been unable to determine. We intend to place such 
 new facts before our readers as we have been able to obtain, 
 believing they will be of general interest. 
 
 Mr. H. 1ST. Maguire, of Deadwood, who has been giving consid- 
 erable attention to this matter, makes the statement, which he 
 believes reliable, that, in the summer of 1852, a party of 300 men 
 left Council Bluffs, Iowa, to cross the plains and mountains in 
 search of the wealth said to lie in the streams of California. 
 They were led by Captain Douglas, of St. Joseph valley, Michi- 
 gan. After a long, weary march, they reached Fort Laramie, 
 where they rested several days, and while there a company of 
 thirty men left the main party to prospect in the mountains 
 north from that point, and agreed that, if they discovered gold, 
 they would overtake the main party at the Humboldt river and 
 report. Eight of them did overtake the party, as agreed, and 
 reported that they found gold upon two streams (which from the 
 description were undoubtedly Eapid and Spring creeks), but 
 that, owing to the amount of water and depth of the earth, they 
 were unable to reach bed rock. They then moved on to the 
 northern portion of the Hills, where they discovered gold in pay- 
 ing quantities, and sent the party of eight to overtake the main 
 body and induce them to return. This party reached the Hum- 
 boldt late in the season (November), and the Indians being 
 troublesome it was deemed unsafe to return, and all went on to 
 California. 
 
 The twenty-two who remained in the Hills were never heard 
 from, and, without doubt, perished. 
 
 Then we have the statement of Jeremiah Proteau, an employe 
 of the American Fur Company, who was stationed at Fort Lara- 
 mie from 1848 to 1854, giving an account of his experience in 
 
THE BLACK HILLS. 
 
 221 
 
 northern Wyoming and the Black Hills. The truth of his ac- 
 count is beyond question, as it has been corroborated by contem- 
 porary reports. He says : " I left the fur company at Fort Lara- 
 mie in 1854 and engaged with Sir George Gore as hunter and 
 teamster. James Bridger was employed as guide. We left Fort 
 
 PROTEAU S GOLD MINE. 
 
 Laramie early in the fall for the Yellowstone country, taking a 
 route which led us past the Black Hills on the southern and 
 eastern base, and reached the mouth of the Yellowstone late in 
 November. We then marched up the Yellowstone to Tongue 
 river, where we built a fort and remained for the winter, hunting 
 and trapping. 
 
 "The following April we started with ten carts and forty 
 
222 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 men, crossed the head of the Rosebud and went to the Big Horn 
 river, where we bnilt flat-boats and floated down the Big Horn 
 to the Yellowstone, and down that river to its month, where we 
 met Sir George, who had made the trip by land. From there we 
 came down the Missouri, and ascended that stream to its head, 
 and then struck across on to the Belle Fourche and down to Bare 
 Butte, and spent some time on the Swift or Rapid creek and Box 
 Elder in the Black Hills. 
 
 " One Sunday I went out to the falls of Swift or Rapid creek 
 with Lamourie. The falls were quite high and emptied into a 
 broad basin. As we were standing by the falls I noticed some 
 yellow-looking stuff in the water, and I said to Lamourie — 
 
 " ' By George, there's gold ! ' 
 
 " I took off my shirt and scooped up three double handfuls of 
 the yellow stuff, and put it in my shirt. Then Lamourie and I 
 went back to camp. Sir George noticed me as we reached camp, 
 and asked me what I had in my shirt. I said, ' Gold.' He then 
 looked at it a little while, when he said, ' no, Jerry, that's not 
 gold ; that's mica.' I was not very well posted about gold and 
 thought Sir George was. He took it and put it in two black 
 bottles, and placed them in his chest. The next day we marched 
 out of the Black Hills, and two or three days after Bridger told 
 me that Sir George told him it was gold. Sir George also told 
 Lamourie that if he would prospect on the head of Swift creek 
 he would find rich gold there. We left the Black Hills on ac- 
 count of the Indians, and when we got back to the Little Mis- 
 souri we were attacked by about five hundred Indians, who ran 
 off all our horses." 
 
 G. T. Lee, now a merchant, residing at Central City, in the 
 Black Hills, says : " In 1863 I left my home in Missouri with 
 twelve others, and started for Montana. We traveled to the 
 north of the Fort Laramie road and came to the Black Hills, 
 where we prospected for gold and found sufficient to induce us 
 to remain. In one locality two of the party, with myself, sawed 
 and hewed out some boards, and made three sluice boxes with 
 which we took out in three days $180 in dust. At this time a 
 fall of snow eighteen inches deep so alarmed us that we left for 
 Montana, intending to return as early as possible in the spring. 
 
 " We reached Montana in December, and succeeded so well that 
 we did not return. In 1876 I returned to the Hills, intending to 
 
THE BLACK HILLS. 223 
 
 locate where I had mined before, but have not as yet found the 
 spot; but I intend to make further search this summer, and 
 believe I will yet discover it." 
 
 The traces left by some of these early gold hunters have ex- 
 cited no little interest. In 1876 some miners prospecting on 
 Battle creek discovered an old shaft about ten feet deep, and 
 thinking it might be an easy place to reach bed-rock, they sank 
 it about ten feet deeper, where, at the depth of twenty feet from 
 the surface, they found an old shovel and a pick. The wooden 
 handles were decayed and the iron badly rusted. 
 
 On the same creek some parties unearthed a skull at a depth 
 of three feet, and near by found a pair of silver-bowed spectacles, 
 which looked as if they had lain there a long time. Near by are 
 a number of prospect holes, in some of which are trees grow- 
 ing, the largest about six inches in diameter; also an old oak tree 
 over two feet in diameter, which was chopped down so long ago 
 that the top is entirely decayed. Near Montana, on Whitewood 
 creek, some miners unearthed an old hammer and a small poll- 
 pick at a depth of fifteen feet, badly rusted. 
 
 An old hatchet was found below Deadwood, or Whitewood 
 creek, which shows evidence of having been buried for many 
 years. Between Rapid City and Galena there is an old trail, 
 along which are stumps which are so badly decayed that the 
 slightest blow upturns them, showing the ax marks where they 
 were chopped. The bodies of the trees have disappeared. 
 
 An oak tree stands in a gulch near French creek which has a 
 hole chopped in the side, plainly indicating the work of an ax. 
 The annular rings of growth overlaying the ax marks show that 
 it was cut over twenty years ago. 
 
 With these facts before him the reader can readily see how 
 fallacious is the popular belief that the Eldorado has been un- 
 known and unappreciated until the present. The first mining 
 — during the present excitement — was done on French creek, 
 near the stockade, by Gordon's party, in the winter of 1874-5, 
 though General Custer's party prospected during the summer of 
 1874, and found gold in French and Spring creeks. 
 
 The Mineral Wealth of the Black Hills — Consists of gold, 
 both placer and quartz ; silver in quartz, carbonates, sulphates 
 and argentiferous galena ores, and perhaps, in some locations, 
 gray copper ; copper in small quantities, and iron in the form of 
 
224 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 hematite, and block iron. Mica has been found in plates large 
 enough to be valuable. Large beds of gypsum are found in the 
 red beds surrounding the Hills. Coal has also been found in 
 large quantities. The mineral bearing belt proper extends about 
 sixty miles north and south, and from five to ten miles in breadth, 
 the richest deposits, as far as known, being in the vicinity of 
 Deadwood and Galena, though some good ore has been found 
 near Ouster. 
 
 The quartz deposits are mostly in decomposed quartzite and 
 slate, and though not generally extremely rich in gold, are so 
 easily worked in stamp mills that nearly all the rock will pay for 
 milling. The silver deposits have not been worked to any extent 
 as yet. In the vicinity of Bare Butte some mines have been 
 opened and very rich ore taken out, but as it requires smelting 
 to obtain the silver, and there are no smelting works in opera- 
 tion, the actual value of the mines is not yet thoroughly deter- 
 mined. 
 
 Gulch or placer mines are found on nearly all the streams in 
 the Hills, but the principal work has been on Deadwood and 
 Whitewood gulches, in the northern portion, and the smaller 
 gulches running into them. About $1,500,000 in dust were 
 taken out of there in 1876. The introduction of improved ma- 
 chinery, however, will make it profitable to work many other 
 gulches and "hill diggings." Not until the deep gravel deposits 
 on Spring, French, Eapid and lower Whitewood creeks are tho- 
 roughly developed, will inquirers realize the vast riches of the 
 region. Potato and Nigger gulches have furnished the bulk of 
 the coarse gold, several thousand dollars in nuggets having been 
 brought to Deadwood, the smallest piece of which would weigh 
 twenty-five cents, while some would weigh over $100. 
 
 On Rapid creek, near Rapid City, Messrs. Bough ton, Mcln- 
 tyre & Co. have a ditch and flume over three miles in length, 
 giving them a head of water along the bars of from twenty-five 
 feet to one hundred and fifty feet. They are working five bars 
 and expect to run from six to twenty hydraulics and employ from 
 one hundred to five hundred men. Their works have cost over 
 $10,000. Other companies are putting in works on Spring and 
 on Whitewood creeks. 
 
 A great many reports have been in circulation regarding the 
 amount of gold taken out of Deadwood ; some of them so extrav- 
 
THE BLACK HILLS. 225 
 
 agant that we have taken pains to learn the truth in regard to 
 them. It is found, from the best authority, that out of one and 
 a half claims on Deadwood creek, Wheeler and his two partners 
 took about $140,000, their expenses probably being $20,000, leav- 
 ing about $40,000 for each partner; the claims were then sold for 
 $3,000, and the parties now working them have taken out about 
 $30,000, and are still taking out good pay. These claims are the 
 richest that have been worked. Several others have yielded from 
 $25,000 to $50,000 each. 
 
 The quartz lodes which are now being worked extensively on 
 the Hills in the neighborhood of Deadwood gulch and Lead City 
 are destined to make that section the principal milling point. 
 There are at least twenty good mills either finished at present or 
 in course of erection. Pinney's mill, at Central City, was the 
 first stamp mill in the Hills, started the 1st of January, 1877. It 
 is working an excellent grade of ore from the Alpha and Omega 
 mines. Pearson's mill commenced work May 1, 1877, and crushes 
 fifteen tons per day to ten stamp. One run on ore from the Fair- 
 view mine — about 150 tons — gave 359^ ounces, worth over $7,000. 
 The Hidden Treasure mill was the first in the Hills to crush 
 quartz ; it was started in the fall of 1876 with a pulverizer, but 
 was changed to a twenty-stamp mill in May, 1877, and is taking 
 out large quantities of gold. 
 
 The mills at Lead City are also doing well. The cost of 
 mining the ore worked at these mills is about one dollar and a 
 half per ton, and it can be milled at an expense of four dollars. 
 The bulk of the quartz runs from eight to forty dollars per ton. 
 
 There are a large number of gold lodes which promise richly, 
 among which are the Father de Smet, Fairview, Hidden Treas- 
 ure, Deadwood, Aurora, Keats, Luella, Chief, Golden Star, Anchor, 
 Giant and American Flag. Among the promising silver lodes in 
 the vicinity of Galena are Eed Jacket, Florence, Treasure, Hart, 
 Eed Cloud, Sitting Bull, II Refugio, Mammoth, Lone Star, Cari- 
 bou, Monte Christe and Popoagie. Two smelters are in course of 
 erection and the value of these mines will soon be determined. 
 
 Among prominent sales of mining property thus far effected 
 are the following : The Golden Terry was sold for $50,000 ; the 
 Florence for $51,000; one-half of the Keats sold for $50,000; 
 Home Stake, $50,000; and the Dustan for $20,000. A number 
 of others have been sold at nearly as good figures. 
 
226 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 The milling of the gold ores in the Black Hills is a simple 
 and not very expensive process. The quartz being "fed" into 
 large iron boxes with small streams of water running through 
 them, where the constant dropping of heavy iron stamps reduces 
 the rock to powder, which is carried by the water through fine 
 screens and dropped upon copper plates coated with quicksilver, 
 which catches the particles of gold and holds them while the 
 rock and other metals are carried away by the water. When the 
 quicksilver has become loaded with gold, it becomes solid enough 
 to scrape from the plates, and is then placed in a piece of buck- 
 skin, where, by a strong pressure of the hands, the quicksilver is 
 forced through the pores of the buckskin and the gold is left 
 behind in a solid lump held together by a small quantity of 
 quicksilver which still remains. This is removed by heating in 
 a close retort until the quicksilver becomes vaporized and passes 
 through the tube of the retort into water, where it condenses 
 and is saved ; the gold being left in the retort is now ready for 
 market. 
 
 The process of saving the gold in gulch-mining is to throw 
 the sand and gravel into long boxes or sluices, through which a 
 constant stream of water is flowing, which washes away every- 
 thing but the gold and black sand, these being caught by cleats 
 nailed across the bottom of the sluice. Where the gold is fine, 
 quicksilver is placed in the sluices, and catches the gold as in 
 the quartz mills. 
 
 The amount of gold taken out in the Hills from April, 1877, 
 to July, 1877, is estimated at $1,500,000, and that a little larger 
 yield will be furnished by the gulches by the time work closes in 
 the fall, which, with that taken from the quartz by mills, will 
 make an aggregate of $4,000,000 for the summer's work. This 
 reaches market about as follows : 
 
 Dust and retorts consigned to Cheyenne banks $2,000,000 
 
 " shipped to Denver and the east by individuals .. . 1,000,000 
 " carried out of the Hills by northern routes 1,000.000 
 
 Total $4,000,000 
 
 To extract silver from the ore is a much more expensive pro- 
 cess, requiring furnaces to melt the rock and separate the metal, 
 which must then be separated from the baser metals by another 
 process. The smelting and refining works being very expensive, 
 
THE BLACK HILLS. 227 
 
 and the cost of running them much greater than in milling free 
 gold ores, requires the silver ores to be much richer than gold 
 ores to make them profitable. 
 
 It is estimated that not more than one-third of the present 
 population of the Hills are furnished employment in mining or 
 kindred industries, and that at least 10,000 people are out of 
 work. There are various reasons for this. The country was 
 pretty well overrun by experienced prospectors months before 
 the great stampede which has resulted in such a large population 
 of non-producers, and as the "poor man's mines" are com- 
 paratively limited in number they have been rapidly claimed. 
 Many people went to the Hills with a determination to engage 
 in mining and nothing else. Disappointed in their first plans, 
 they have often either given up in despair, a burden upon the 
 settlements, or else have gone home to curse the country. Of 
 the thousands who have flocked to the Hills a very large propor- 
 tion reached their destination without a dollar or the prospect of 
 getting a meal, and, of course, such had no way of engaging in 
 stock raising, farming or lumbering, even on the smallest scale. 
 But no stampede is without its lesson and advantage to almost 
 every participant, or without its ultimate grand benefit to new 
 sections of country. In the present case the gold hunting furore 
 has led to the peopling of a rich region, which otherwise would 
 have remained a howling wilderness for half a century. It is also 
 resulting in the settlement of the vast Big Horn and Yellowstone 
 regions, which, without the all-powerful incentive of gold, would 
 for ages have failed of redemption from savage sway. However 
 much individual participants may suffer in the start, their neces- 
 sities will drive them to exertions never dreamed of before, and 
 when, as members of our grand army of producers, they go hand 
 in hand with prosperity, they will thank the influence which 
 held them to a new land and forced them to a new life. 
 
 Mechanics and miners who do find employment get from 
 three to five, and in exceptional cases as much as six, dollars per 
 day. Board and lodging at the cheapest houses is from six to 
 eight dollars per week ; at good hotels from ten to fifteen dollars. 
 In the mode of living so commonly called "batching it," where 
 four or five men club together, buy their own provisions and do 
 their own cooking, one can subsist at a cost of anywhere from 
 three to six dollars per week. 
 
228 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 The writer does not desire to encourage a further migration 
 of mining prospectors to the region known as the Black Hills 
 proper. It will be noticed from the foregoing data that the 
 country already contains a preponderance of this worthy class. 
 But while turning the adventurous seeker of precious metals to 
 the hundreds of square miles of unprospected territory in the 
 Big Horn and Wind River ranges, attention is especially called 
 to those fields here offering rich reward for development. The 
 judicious investment of capital in the immense deposits of min- 
 eral already discovered and the faithful labor of the stock-grower 
 and farmer are invited on every hand, with almost absolute 
 surety of excellent returns. In no region of similar extent in 
 the new west are mineral deposits more abundant and valuable, 
 valleys more numerous and fertile, and pasture lands more ex- 
 tensive and luxuriant, than in the Black Hills. 
 
 Agriculture. — The fertile soil and abundant rain-fall of the 
 Hills and the luxuriant growth of vegetation is evidence that 
 agriculture can easily become one of the leading industries of 
 this region. Nowhere can wild grasses of even tender varieties 
 be found in greater abundance — a sure indication that cereals 
 will succeed. The rain-fall, averaging five days per week during 
 the growing season, insures against drouth, and the absence of 
 noxious weeds makes husbandry a pleasure. In the high parks 
 potatoes, cabbages, peas, turnips and other hardy vegetables will 
 yield abundant crops, while in the lower valleys the grains will 
 do better. Squashes, cucumbers and melons can be raised among 
 the foot-hills, and the hardier varieties of corn will succeed. 
 
 Mr. Ed. Wolfe, at Crook City, commenced farming in the 
 spring of 1876, and raised corn, potatoes, beans, peas, cucumbers, 
 parsnips and carrots, all of which yielded largely. The present 
 season he has planted ten acres in general crops, which are look- 
 ing well and promise an abundant harvest. There are about one 
 hundred acres of crops planted in the vicinity. Near Ouster 
 City crops of all kinds are looking well. Near Deadwood are a 
 number of gardens, which furnish a supply of the finest vege- 
 tables. M. Gr. Tonn has about forty acres in the more impor- 
 tant farm products, which are looking well. At Spearfish, in 
 the extreme northern part of the Hills, there are several fields of 
 grain of all kinds and small patches of garden vegetables, all 
 flourishing finely. These successes, so general in all parts of the 
 
THE BLACK HILLS. 229 
 
 region, and at all altitudes, dispel every shade of doubt concern- 
 ing the adaptability of soils and climate to agriculture. 
 
 A luxuriant growth of grass spreads over the whole region, 
 even upon the steep hill -sides. The valleys of French, Spring 
 and Rapid creeks are especially adapted to grazing, and between 
 Cold Spring ranche and Jenny's stockade many hundred tons of 
 hay can be cut the present season. The varieties of grass are 
 almost endless ; wild oats, wild rye, crowsfoot, chess and grama 
 grass cover the valleys and hill-sides, while along the lower" 
 streams blue stem and rushes make excellent food for stock. 
 Many thousand head of cattle and sheep can subsist in the Hills, 
 the timber patches furnishing shelter from winds and storms, 
 and the numerous streams and springs insuring them against 
 thirst. For fine stock the parks and valleys cannot be excelled, 
 sufficient hay can be cut in almost any locality to supply their 
 wants during storms, and that of the very best quality. The 
 cool, equable atmosphere and ice-cold water render this section 
 unrivaled for dairying, and the mining population insure a good 
 market for all dairy products. 
 
 With all these advantages it can be but a few years till the 
 agricultural and stock-raising interests will far exceed the im- 
 portance of the mines. The mining excitement is but a step- 
 ping-stone here, as it has been in California and elsewhere. It 
 compels settlement, while agriculture and stock-raising are the 
 industries which bring about thorough development. 
 
 Forests. — There have been extravagant statements in regard 
 to the extensive forests of heavy timber in the Black Hills, which 
 lead people into the belief that the supply is almost inexhaustible. 
 In all the magnificent stretches of timber land the amount of 
 timber that will furnish merchantable lumber is comparatively 
 small. At least nine-tenths of the pine (which is all that will do 
 for sawing) is young and too small for lumber. G-ood judges 
 estimate that the total amount of merchantable saw timber in 
 the Hills will not exceed 50,000,000 feet. Of this, about 15,000,- 
 000 feet has been sawed and used, and it will require 10,000,000 
 more to finish the improvements in progress at present and in 
 contemplation, thus exhausting nearly one-half the supply that 
 is in the Hills. Now, allowing an equal amount of smaller tim- 
 ber that can be used for lumber, the amount is not enough to 
 justify the assertions which have been made, that there was 
 
230 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 enough to supply the whole prairie country lying south and east. 
 Those regions will be compelled to look toward the Powder river 
 and Big Horn ranges for their timber. Of smaller timber there 
 is an abundant supply, unless it is destroyed by fires; but with 
 the reckless waste which is generally found in newly settled coun- 
 tries, a few years will make good timber a scarce article in the 
 mining districts. Boughton & Beary, who are among the most 
 extensive manufacturers of building material, have been com- 
 pelled to move their mill from Dead wood to False Bottom, over 
 twelve miles, on account of this scarcity, and they say that in 
 less than a year they will have to move twenty or thirty miles to 
 find logs to saw, and other mills will be compelled to do likewise. 
 
 The principal varieties of timber in the Black Hills are Nor- 
 way pine, scattered over the whole extent of the Hills; black and 
 white spruce, found on the north hill-sides of a large area of the 
 country ; burr-oak, along the foot-hills of the eastern slope ; white 
 elm along the streams in the foot-hills; cotton wood and box- 
 elder along the streams; white birch, aspen, ash and mulberry 
 are found in some sections, but with the exception of a small 
 quantity of oak, the pine and spruce are all that are of any mer- 
 chantable value. 
 
 The oak, which in some sections attains a good size, is often 
 brittle and decayed, and unfit for anything but firewood. The 
 spruce is seldom larger than fifteen inches in diameter, the greater 
 portion being less than ten inches, and will be found valuable for 
 all purposes where strength and lightness are required, it being 
 very light and elastic when seasoned. The pine which is too 
 small for lumber is well adapted for piling, ties, timbering mines, 
 building small bridges, etc. Lumber of the different grades sells 
 at from $30 to $50 per thousand feet at Deadwood. 
 
 The wild fruits growing in the Black Hills are evidence that 
 this can be made the fruit country of the northwest. Large 
 quantities of red raspberries, gooseberries, currants, service ber- 
 ries, bear berries, strawberries, plums, cherries and grapes are 
 found in different sections of the Hills and along the streams. 
 Hazel nuts and hops are also found, the hops making a growth 
 that is scarcely equaled in the rich bottoms of the Mississippi 
 and Missouri. 
 
 The flora of the Hills is extensive ; many plants which are 
 carefully propagated in the eastern States grow here in profusion. 
 
THE BLACK HILLS. 231 
 
 Besides the flowers of the fruit-bearing plants, are roses, larkspur, 
 wild geranium, asters, phlox, several varieties of lilies, pinks, 
 and many others in wonderful abundance and of most brilliant 
 hues. 
 
 CITIES AND CAMPS. 
 
 Deadwood. — Deadwood, the present metropolis and grand ob- 
 jective point of all who journey to the Black Hills, is a noisy, 
 bustling city of six or seven thousand souls. It is located in a 
 narrow valley, at the junction of Deadwood and Whitewood 
 gulches, near the northern extremity of the Hills. It was organ- 
 ized temporarily in April, 1876, and laid off into twenty-two lots, 
 100 feet by 50 feet, and building commenced. As hundreds of 
 new comers crowded in, the gulch was laid out for a mile in 
 length, and every lot occupied. On September 11, 1876, an elec- 
 tion was held, and E. B. Farnum elected mayor; Sol. Star, Dr. 
 Carter, J. Miller, — Philbreck, K. Kurtz and Judge Whitehead, 
 councilmen ; Con. Stapleton, marshal; and J. A. Swift, clerk and 
 recorder. At the time of the location the county had not been 
 open to settlement by the whites, and Indian " scares " and depre- 
 dations were common. But the thirst for gold overcame all 
 difficulties, brought thousands to these wilds, and in less than 
 one year Deadwood grew from a few small log cabins to a city of 
 seven thousand people, with buildings and improvements that 
 are estimated to have cost a million dollars, and with business 
 almost incalculable. It supports three daily newspapers and 
 three weeklies; over two hundred shops and mercantile houses 
 have been opened, up to this writing (July 15, 1877), some of 
 them doing an enormous business: two large saw-mills are kept 
 running night and day to furnish lumber, which is taken as fast 
 as sawed and at once put into buildings. Three large banking 
 houses, over thirty hotels and eating houses, with over seventy 
 saloons and gambling houses are crowded with business, and 
 everything is at a fever heat. Gold dust being the principal 
 medium of exchange, everybody carried a sack or bottle to hold 
 their change, and every place of business keeps gold scales to 
 weigh out the change required. Everything has two prices, one 
 for gold and the other for greenbacks, the currency price being 
 ten per cent, less than gold prices. Two variety theatres are 
 crowded every night, and Sunday as a day of rest is unknown. 
 
232 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 These, of course, are flush times for Deadwood. The lower part 
 of the city, called Elizabethtown, in honor of Miss Elizabeth 
 Card, the first woman in the place, is devoted to manufacturing 
 and to the business of small tradesmen. It also embraces the 
 French settlement and Chinese quarters. A large saw-mill, a 
 planing-mill, brewery, and other manufacturing establishments 
 are in this part of the town. 
 
 Some idea of the amount of business transacted in Deadwood 
 can be formed from the following facts. The banking house of 
 Stebbins, Wood & Post was opened April 8, and in two months 
 had purchased $150,000 worth of gold dust and $50,000 worth of 
 retorted gold, their business amounting to $25,000 per day, and 
 some days as high as $75,000. They have one of Mosler's 6,000 
 pound time-lock safes, and the only bank vault in the Hills. 
 Craves & Curtis have sold over $50,000 worth of furniture, car- 
 pets, etc. Bent & Deetkin, druggists, do a business of $5,000 per 
 month. The sales of clothing during the past year foots up over 
 $75,000. Browning & Co., grocers, in less than thirty days sold 
 goods amounting to $7,703.21, and bought goods to the amount 
 of $15,364. Vandaniker & McHugh, proprietors of the IXL hotel, 
 fed, in one day, over 1,000 people. 
 
 Deadwood has two churches, several large halls, a good bath- 
 house, a fine system of water-works, and an efficient fire depart- 
 ment. There are at present 1,500 buildings of all classes upon 
 the ground. 
 
 The distances to various points in the Hills from Deadwood 
 are as follows : Cay City, 1-J- miles ; Central City, 2 ; Lead City, 
 3; Crook City, 8-J-; False Bottom, 9; Galena, 12; Spearfish, 15; 
 Eapid City, 40 ; Haywood, 55; Custer, 52; Greenley's Eanch, 
 10 ; Pine Grove, 20 ; Cold Springs, 30. 
 
 Gay City and Central City. — About two miles above Dead- 
 wood, on Deadwood creek, are the towns which claim to be the 
 richest in the Black Hills, Gay City and Central City. Located 
 as they are in a narrow gulch, with high hills on either side, they 
 make a closely built business street over two miles in length. 
 The mining (both quartz and gulch) gives employment to hun- 
 dreds of men, and the large sums taken out makes money 
 plentiful and wages very fair. 
 
 There are found the principal quartz mills, quartz mines and 
 placers at present worked in the Hills. There are five quartz 
 
THE BLACK HILLS. 233 
 
 mills already at work, with several new ones nearly ready to 
 commence operations, and the towns are insured a permanency 
 which few other "points can claim. The population numbers 
 about 3,000. 
 
 Crook City. — Crook City, located in a beautiful park on 
 Whitewood creek, eight and a half miles from Deadwood, was 
 named in honor of General George Crook, whose successful cam- 
 paigns against the hostile Sioux and Cheyennes have enabled the 
 settlers to hold their homes. It was located March 15, 1876, and 
 John Frazer elected recorder, and P. Grant, R. Low and C. Steele, 
 trustees, and by the 1st of May had a population of 200. Its 
 continued steady growth has increased it to a town of over 500 
 permanent residents. 
 
 Crook City is the natural outlet from Deadwood to the east 
 and south, has very extensive mining interests, and, being situated 
 in a fine agricultural region, must naturally become a prominent 
 trading point. 
 
 Its business is far above the average of the towns of like 
 size. There are twelve business houses which do an aggregate 
 business of $400,000 per year. H. A. Douglas & Co., formerly of 
 Perham, Minn., publish the Black Hills Tribune, the first issue 
 of which was dated June 9, 1876. 
 
 Two saw-mills furnish scarcely enough lumber to supply the 
 demand for building and mining purposes. There are three com- 
 modious hotels, the Headquarters, kept by Mr. Hazen, the Mer- 
 chants and the European. 
 
 A good public school, with facilities for divine worship, add 
 to the town's attractions for families. There are large quantities 
 of fossils and petrefactions found in the vicinity, and the most 
 extensive caves that have been discovered in the Hills are only a 
 few miles distant. 
 
 Rapid City, forty miles south of Deadwood, was located on 
 the 28th day of February, 1876, by a party from Spring Creek, 
 consisting of J. E. B reman, J. Allen, W. Marsten, and others. 
 It was named after the river which flows through it. It now has 
 a population of about six hundred, with one hundred and fifty 
 buildings completed, and a number in course of erection. Bren- 
 nan & Nicholson are building the largest hotel in the Hills, and 
 several large stores are also in progress. 
 
 Rapid river, which flows through the town, has a fall of sixty- 
 16 
 
234 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 five feet to the mile, and an abundant supply of water for all 
 purposes. The location being at the very verge of the plains will 
 probably make it necessary to irrigate for agriculture, but the 
 abundant supply of water in the river, and the amount of fall 
 will render this an easy task. The low altitude will probably 
 enable farmers to raise some crops which would not mature in 
 the Hills. The climate is much warmer than at points farther 
 up the river, and but little snow lays on the ground in winter. 
 
 Hayivard, the county seat of Ouster county, is situated on 
 Battle creek, about fifteen miles from Kapid, and about the same 
 distance from Custer; has three hundred inhabitants, three 
 hotels, ten business houses, and about twenty saloons. David 
 Young, of Youngstown, runs a local stage line from Rapid to 
 Custer through the town. 
 
 The transaction of county business and sessions of court give 
 the place considerable standing. The mines on Iron creek, 
 Foster's gulch, Rosebud and Battle creek are tributary, and lend 
 the town additional importance. 
 
 Custer, — The pioneer settlement in Black Hills, having the 
 finest location and grandest scenery, is Custer city, situated in a 
 broad, level valley on French creek, in the southern portion of 
 the Hills, it is surrounded by low, grassy hills dotted with pines, 
 with high peaks in the distance, forming a background to one of 
 the finest landscapes in the county. It was laid out in the early 
 part of July, 1875, and called Stonewall. But little was done in 
 the way of building until August, when it was reorganized, and 
 the name changed to Custer City. A plat of the town was then 
 made on birch bark, there being no paper in the camp. 
 
 The latter part of August, pursuant to an order of the gen- 
 eral government, the citizens were removed by troops to Fort 
 Laramie, leaving six of their company, by permission, at the 
 stockade to guard their interests. Late in the fall some of the 
 settlers returned, and other parties coming in, the town com- 
 menced growing rapidly, and the 1st of May following it con- 
 sisted of about eight hundred buildings, many of them being 
 built of lumber. At this time the town contained over two 
 thousand inhabitants, and all kinds of business enterprises were 
 represented. However, the rich discoveries reported from Dead- 
 wood and Whitewood gulches caused a stampede that nearly 
 depopulated the town, and from which it has never recovered. 
 
THE BLACK HILLS. 237 
 
 Its beautiful location and the large extent of mining country must 
 in time bring in a large permanent population, and the fine graz- 
 ing and agricultural lands insure its wealth and future prosperity. 
 
 S. M. Booth, proprietor of the leading hotel, and doing a 
 large mercantile business, estimates the amount of gold taken 
 out of the gulches near Custer at $30,000 per month, and increas- 
 ing very rapidly. The whole population is at present about five 
 hundred. The city boasts a printing office and thirty business 
 houses, all doing a good business. 
 
 Galena. — Galena is the principal town of the Bare Butte 
 silver mining region. It has a population of about 300, with 150 
 buildings. There are two assay offices, four stores, two saw-mills, 
 and a smelter in course of erection. A large number of discover- 
 ies of silver mines have been made in the vicinity. There are 
 fine areas of timber for fuel adjacent, and should the silver de- 
 posits prove as rich as they are now believed to be, Galena will 
 soon rank among the prominent Black Hills cities. 
 
 Spearfish. — Situated on Centennial prairie, in the fertile 
 Spearfish valley, about fifteen miles from Dead wood. The finest 
 stretches of farming and grazing lands in the Hills are found 
 here. Spearfish river affords the principal supply of fish for the 
 mining towns. 
 
 Society. — The natural consequence of the indiscriminate rush 
 of emigration from all parts of the Union into a region really 
 unknown and scarcely redeemed from its original barbarism 
 would seem to be social disorder of the worst kind. But instead 
 of this a genuine disposition to maintain the morality which true 
 manhood moulds has from the first been manifest. A broad gen- 
 erosity and a strict adherence to the equitable code of "miners' 
 rights" were features especially noticed in our visit in the fall 
 of 1876, and are scarcely less marked today. In the absence of 
 law or adequate protection, the miners met and adopted such 
 simple rules as gave the offender no chance for misunderstand- 
 ing. If a petty theft was exposed, the criminal was drummed 
 out of camp so quickly and unmercifully that a second example 
 was rarely needed. In nearly all the diggings an organization 
 was effected and the usual regulations adopted almost as quickly 
 as the claims were staked off. The privileges then arising were 
 considered settled and sacred rights, which were as universally 
 respected as are the local laws in any portion of our land. 
 
238 HAND-BOOK OP WYOMING. 
 
 To fully appreciate this condition of affairs, the reader must 
 remember that here was an utter wilderness, covering over 6,000 
 square miles, but two years ago the jealously guarded rendezvous 
 of the most powerful tribes of Indians on the continent, without 
 the slightest semblance of protection or regulation by the federal 
 government. In all our observations among the mines we have 
 yet to witness the first dispute or misunderstanding that was not 
 amicably settled. A walk through the gulches at any time might 
 reveal numerous prospect holes with the absent miner's pick and 
 shovel at the bottom. Asking about one of them the visitor 
 would probably be answered, " Oh, that belongs to Jim Jones. 
 Jim's gone over to Nigger Gulch, about twenty-five miles north 
 o' here. But that don't make any difference. Here's where he 
 makes his grub stake, and we all look out for his claim." Walk- 
 ing into a new camp after the arrival of a mail and asking 
 whether anything had arrived for yourself, the general result 
 would be : " Look in that cracker-box over there, its got all the 
 mail for the camp!" Sure enough, every Tom, Dick and Harry 
 would dive into that box among hundreds of letters, con them 
 all over and honestly pick out his own. It was freedom without 
 rapacity; justice without excessive restraint. It cannot be said 
 of these people that in their prosperity they are avaricious. We 
 would sooner risk the chance of universal hearty welcome and 
 unstinted hospitality in the rude huts of the miner than in a 
 similar number of prosperous homes anywhere in i:he States. 
 From the man who was cleaning up 8500 in glittering dust per 
 day to he who had made but his simple "grub stake" of flour 
 and bacon, we have met with the same unvarying kindness. 
 
 In the towns where all classes of society can be found, and 
 where it might be supposed that lawlessness would abound, there 
 is a wonderful degree of good-fellowship shown. The deeds of 
 violence which sensational writers pronounce the rule, are, on 
 the contrary, the rare exceptions. 
 
 The variety theatres, though crowded with all classes, are as 
 free from objectionable features as the average variety theatre of 
 the States. In Deadwood there are two churches and a Sabbath 
 school, well attended. Crook City also has regular preaching. 
 The Masonic fraternity have a lodge in Deadwood, established 
 the latter part of June, 1877, and occupy a hall in connection 
 with a lodge of Odd-fellows. 
 
THE BLACK HILLS. 239 
 
 Naturally Identified with Wyoming. — The interests of Wyo- 
 ming and the Black Hills region are so thoroughly alike and 
 harmonious that it is simply folly to talk of their being wholly 
 sundered by any such action as the creation of a separate Terri- 
 tory. But as interested parties are at work to destroy so much 
 of this natural identity as they can, it may be well to give 
 Wyoming's status in the case more publicity. Cheyenne and 
 Wyoming have, with work, money and influence, done more to 
 bring about the settlement and development of the Hills than 
 all adjacent States and Territories combined. Our public men 
 have secured legislation ; our capital and energy have built roads 
 and telegraph lines; have opened mines and constructed mills, 
 and have, from the first, furnished more swift and reliable means 
 of communication and more hearty support to all Black Hills 
 enterprises than all other commonwealths together. And why ? 
 Simply because our interests have been one, and our commercial 
 relations are as natural as the law of gravitation. 
 
 Separating the Black Hills from Dakota or Nebraska settle- 
 ments are hundreds of miles o% unsettled, and probably never to 
 be settled, territory. The chasm will at least not be bridged 
 until nearly all other lands in the west are taken, because it is 
 made up largely of treeless, waterless, alkali plains, and when the 
 newest settlements in those directions, generally 400 miles dis- 
 tant, are reached they have no interest, no law and no fellowship 
 in common with this region, for the reason that their pursuits 
 are confined wholly to agriculture or stock-raising, while these 
 are so largely in the development of mines. Their nearest capi- 
 tal, Yankton, is 480 miles distant. Wyoming settlements unite 
 with those of the Black Hills on the south ; her industries, her 
 enterprises and her needs are the same, and her capital city, 
 Cheyenne, is only 250 miles distant. Neither can the Black 
 Hills afford a separate territorial government. A summing up 
 of this matter by one of our prominent writers* is so pertinent 
 that we introduce it here : 
 
 "Let us suppose that you carve a new Territory out of the 
 southeast part of Montana, northeast part of Wyoming and the 
 southwest part of Dakota, what is gained in substantial advan- 
 tage ? Your young Territory becomes at once a bone of conten- 
 tion among the hungry and clamorous office-seekers of the east, 
 
 * Stephen W . Downey. 
 
240 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 who, failing to secure positions elsewhere, will struggle to be 
 saddled by the administration upon you. You are cut off at 
 once from all railway revenues. The prospects of statehood will 
 be distant and dubious. What right, what privilege, what secu- 
 rity or what encouragement would be subserved by such separate 
 organization, that would not be better subserved by union with 
 Wyoming ? The interests, demands and requirements of a large 
 and populous Territory, full of resources and fast approaching 
 admission as a State, receive respectful attention both from the 
 executive and legislative branches of the general government; 
 while those of the small and weak Territories are treated with 
 comparative indifference. That such should he the case is not 
 maintained ; that such is the case will scarcely be denied ; and 
 be it remembered that we must deal with things as they are, not 
 as they should be. 
 
 " The settlement of central and northern Wyoming by a min- 
 ing population, consequent upon the removal or repression of 
 hostile Indians, will increase the population of the Territory, if 
 left intact, so that admission as a State may be looked for at no 
 distant da} r . 
 
 " The southern part of Wyoming seeks, and will seek, by all 
 honorable means in her power, to preserve unsevered the Terri- 
 tory as now organized. By such preservation we believe the 
 highest interests of the whole region will be subserved. The 
 whole, as now organized, is destined, ultimately, to be a great 
 mineral and pastoral region, with sufficient agricultural belts, 
 probably, to supply the home market. These interests can be 
 better defended and fostered by united than by divided action. 
 All parts will be easily accessible by the Union Pacific railroad 
 and its projected branches. 
 
 "We extend a warm welcome to those that have recently 
 crossed our borders to engage in mining enterprise. Now, in 
 view of the common resources, interests, hopes and perils per- 
 vading the length and breadth of our Territory, we ask you to 
 join us, to be part of us and to make common cause with us in 
 warding off disruption. For the same or similar reasons we 
 invite those of you whose fortunes have led you to locate east of 
 our boundaries, to seek a separation from a Territory which, 
 apart from this vicinity, has nothing in common with you, and 
 to attach yourselves to a Territory which has everything in com- 
 
THE BLACK HILLS. 241 
 
 mon, and whose legislative policy, as Territory or State, will 
 constantly foster by all reasonable means the industry in which 
 you are engaged, because it is the industry by which, if at all, 
 must come the future w T ealth and greatness of our State. 
 
 "First, we have a unity of geographic, climatic and geologic 
 characteristics, binding us to the same labors, purposes and ends, 
 by a law of nature stronger than the law of political government, 
 forcing to legislation for the common interest regardless of party 
 predilections. 
 
 " Second, by union we have one strong Territory, able to com- 
 mand attention to our necessities and our rights, instead of two 
 weak and inefficient organizations. 
 
 "Third, by union the north shares with the south in the 
 benefits of $125,000 annually paid in taxes by the Union Pacific 
 Eailroad Company, which by a severance the north foregoes. 
 
 "Fourth, by union the extension of railway facilities will be 
 fostered, whereas by severance it will be retarded; and 
 
 "Fifth, by union we can look forward to a much nearer state- 
 hood, with the high privileges of independence which it brings. 
 
 " Having followed the course of empire thus far westward, let 
 us unitedly work out here the destiny of the second great State 
 sitting astride the crowning ridge of the' American continent." 
 
 Routes, Outfitting Points, etc. — After traversing two of the 
 principal routes to the Hills, and much of the region crossed by 
 two others, the writer unhesitatingly pronounces the Cheyenne 
 route incomparable; and, what is of little less importance, can 
 state emphatically that no city aspiring to such trade has half 
 the facilities for outfitting miners and settlers, or for forwarding 
 them and their freights, as Cheyenne. All the local papers regu- 
 larly publish tables of distances, with every minutia of camping- 
 places, eating stations, etc., and we need not indulge in such de- 
 tails. It need only be said that the Cheyenne route for the first 
 hundred miles north of the city passes through the best settled 
 portion of Wyoming, where for years our finest herds have 
 roamed and where now nearly every occupied homestead will 
 compare favorably for the value and style of its improvements 
 with those of any western State. The remaining one hundred 
 and fifty miles of road is. being rapidly redeemed from the ori- 
 ginal solitude by ranches located on every stream. 
 
 Our home stage line is simply perfect, and the telegraph, 
 
242 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 stretched along the entire route, is another advantage and facil- 
 ity offered only by the Cheyenne road. In the matter of freight- 
 ing no city can hope to compete with Cheyenne. There are over 
 twenty large and reliable firms, running two hundred wagons, 
 regularly engaged in this business, and a great number of smaller 
 freighters who aggregate as many wagons more. The entire 
 number give employment to over four hundred men, and can 
 easily move two million pounds of freight at one loading. 
 Freight rates to Dead wood are from three to five dollars per 
 hundred pounds, the price first named being the lowest for ox- 
 team freights, and the higher price being the average for fast 
 horses and mule trains. 
 
 The following comparative table of distances is compiled from 
 official reports of odometer measurements, where they could be 
 obtained. In other cases the statements of the best informed 
 and most reliable citizens of the Black Hills are made a basis for 
 estimates. It will be seen that Cheyenne is nearer Dead wood by 
 forty miles than any other point on the Union Pacific railroad, 
 and seventy-five miles nearer than Bismarck, the terminus of 
 the Northern Pacific : 
 
 Miles. 
 
 Cheyenne, Wyoming, to Deadwood 250 
 
 Sidney, Nebraska, to Deadwood 290 
 
 Kearney, Nebraska, to Deadwood 358 
 
 Bismarck, Dakota, to Deadwood , 325 
 
 Yankton, Dakota, to Deadwood 480 
 
 North Platte, Nebraska, to Deadwood 373 
 
 Fort Pierre, Dakota, to Deadwood 230 
 
 Grand Island, Nebraska, to Deadwood 450 
 
 Bozeman, Montana, to Deadwood '. 490 
 
 Cloud Peak, Big Horn Mountains, to Deadwood 200 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 REMINISCENCES AND MISCELLANEOUS HAPPENINGS. 
 
 WHAT would a book of this character be, in this runaway 
 age, without a chapter of Eeminiscences? Nothing in 
 the west, or east either, for that matter, is so young, or old, or 
 " middle-aged," that it doesn't date back to a period' when it 
 deserved immortalization in gossip. For instance, when the 
 Union Pacific railway company, in the very early history of 
 Cheyenne, offered a town lot to the first boy born there, Mr. 
 William Wise, without any particular parade or fuss, one bright 
 morning in December, 18G7, stepped around to the company's 
 headquarters, and informed them of the very recent birth and 
 immediate christening of " George Cheyenne Wise." To be more 
 particular about dates, that the boy may be enabled to get a good 
 title to his property, we will state that this happened on Decem- 
 ber 6, 1867. But many bouncing Wyoming boys immediately 
 followed, and the first little pioneer was soon lost sight of by the 
 general public. 
 
 November 13, 1867, the Union Pacific railroad track reached 
 Cheyenne, and we are told that music, enthusiasm and bunting 
 celebrated the event as was never such an event celebrated before 
 in a Eocky Mountain town. On Sunday, August 4, 1867, the 
 first sermon was preached to a Cheyenne congregation by a 
 Baptist minister, whose name deserves the publicity we are un- 
 able to give it. In September, 1867, Thomas E. McLeland, as 
 the first postmaster of Cheyenne, commenced his official duties 
 in a 10 by 15 shanty. He handled nearly 3,000 letters per day, 
 and received the gratifying salary of one dollar per month. The 
 first paper, the Leader, was issued by Mr. N. A. Baker, on the 
 19th of September, 1867. In the first few months of its publica- 
 tion it told of the arrival of the first theatrical company, " The 
 Julesburg Theatrical Troupe;" of the Wells, Fargo & Co.'s 
 coaches leaving for Denver three times per week, and the Union 
 
244 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 Pacific track approaching Cheyenne at the rate of two to four 
 miles per day ; also, of the completion of telegraphic connection 
 with Denver. The advent of a velocipede, on January 23, 1868, 
 among the cow-boys, " bull-whackers" and western riff-raff gen- 
 erally, was the occasion of no little talk and merriment. About 
 that time occurred a rather primitive wedding, and it was prim- 
 itively announced in this wise : " On the east half of the north- 
 west quarter of section twenty-two (22), township twenty-one 
 (21) north, of range eleven (11), east, in an open sleigh, and 
 under an open and unclouded canopy, by the Eev. J. F. Mason, 
 James B., only son of John Cox, of Colorado, and Ellen C, eldest 
 daughter of Major 0. Harrington, of Nebraska." 
 
 March 22, the arrival of W. C. Erwin from the Sweetwater 
 mines, with sixty-five pounds of gold dust, excited new interest 
 in those diggings, and not a few of the Cheyenne people went to 
 the scene of the rich strikes. Then, on that memorable day in 
 April, 1869, when appointments of officials were announced for 
 the new Territory of Wyoming, there was a wonderful flutter of 
 office-seeking hearts. There is a standing joke to the effect that 
 a large delegation of patriotic citizens who had long suffered in 
 Washington, that their beloved Territory might be honored by 
 their appointment, were compelled to walk home across the States 
 and plains, while the successful aspirants from other lands came 
 in the usually dignified and fitting manner, by rail. Cheyenne 
 boasted a school as early as the 9th of February, 1868, Mr. M. A. 
 Arnold and wife being the teachers. The first church building 
 was completed early in September, 1871, by the Methodist Epis- 
 copal society. Masonic and Odd-Fellows lodges were organized 
 in the early months of 1868. 
 
 Black Hills reminiscences, although dating back only three 
 years, are in a fair way to be lost sight of, unless soon placed in 
 enduring shape. The first building of any kind in the Hills was 
 that erected by Gordon's party on French creek, in the fall of 
 1874. It was really a stockade, eighty-six feet square and ten feet 
 high, with six cabins ranged around the inside. The party num- 
 bered twenty-six persons, and included Mrs. Talent and her in- 
 fant child, — the first white woman and child to enter the Black 
 Hills. Gordon's party mined near the stockade during that win- 
 ter. The first town was Custer City, laid out in July, 1875, and 
 the first frame building in the Hills was built at Custer, by 
 
REMINISCENCES, ETC. 245 
 
 J. W. Lytle, in February, 1876. The pioneer saw-mill com- 
 menced turning out lumber in. the vicinity of Ouster in January, 
 1876, and was started by Daniel Durett. Printing offices were 
 among the earliest enterprises, the first to reach the Hills being 
 that of Merrick & Laughlin, of Denver. Its entry was at Cus- 
 ter, in May, 1876, but it was moved to Deadwood during the 
 following month, where the Black Hills Weekly Pioneer was soon 
 flung to the breeze. They came to the conclusion that it was 
 not good to live alone in those northern wilds at a very early 
 date, for James Hines and Miss Mattie Douglas consummated 
 the first marriage in March, 1876, when mail and telegraph were 
 unknown, and folks had hardly thought of building anything 
 but log houses. Ethel Arnold was the first babe born in the 
 Hills, and was announced at Custer on May 25, 1876. Eev. H. 
 W. Smith, who preached the first sermons ever listened to by 
 Black Hills congregations at Deadwood and Custer, in the early 
 spring of 1876, was killed by Indians in ambush while he was 
 en route to Crook City one Sunday morning to fill an engage- 
 ment there. 
 
 Gold was taken out of Deadwood gulch for the first time 
 during the present stampede by a miner named ISTuckles, in Sep- 
 tember, 1875. To Mr. W. H. Hibbard, of Cheyenne, belongs the 
 honor of first extending the electric wire to Custer, Deadwood 
 and other Black Hills cities. His telegraph line was completed 
 to Custer October 19, 1876, and to Deadwood December 1st of 
 the same year. Crook City boasts a newspaper, the Tribune, 
 published first on June 9, 1876. Following the Pioneer, at 
 Deadwood, were the Times and Champion. The three last named 
 now publish large daily and weekly editions, where two years 
 ago the amiable savage was reading his title clear and swearing 
 that he would have $80,000,000 for the country or die in the last 
 ditch, — all of which disappeared in smoke. J. J. Williams built 
 the first log cabin on the present site of Deadwood in November, 
 1875, and his modest effort of twenty months ago is now over- 
 shadowed by fifteen hundred good frame houses. The "Bella 
 Union" variety theatre was first to give public entertainment of 
 that kind at Deadwood, and opened with a grand flourish of 
 trumpets and cool toilets early in the summer of 1876. But the 
 inimitable Jack Langrishe and his accomplished wife soon ap- 
 peared on the scene, with a good legitimate theatrical troupe, and 
 
246 HAND-BOOK OE WYOMING. 
 
 gave amusement-seekers a chaste and high-class character of en- 
 tertainments. When business grew dull Mr. Langrishe wielded 
 a graceful editorial pen on the Pioneer staff, or else worked his 
 gulch claims. From the latter he made good pay in the depth 
 of winter, when he was compelled to boil water to thaw out the 
 frozen ground. Black Hillers who thought they wanted a new 
 Territory called their first meeting on April 7, 1877. It was pro- 
 posed to call the Territory "Lincoln," and numerous meetings 
 were held, which resulted in the sending of delegate Myers to 
 Washington to push the matter there. But the storm has sub- 
 sided. 
 
 Post- trader Adair, at Cantonment Keno, on Powder river, 
 furnished an item for this chapter by building the first bridge 
 which ever spanned the turbid Powder, in February, 1877. Its 
 building was contracted to a young German miner, who was 
 wintering at the cantonment with the intention of going into 
 the Big Horn mountains in the spring. The contractor took 
 the job very low, but employed a dozen companions and paid 
 them very fair wages. When the bridge was half finished it had 
 cost more than the contractor was to receive, and in order to 
 make the matter square the employes voted enough of their 
 wages back to their employer to finish up the structure, and then 
 agreed to go ahead and complete it. This was finally done, but 
 a day or two afterward the stream exhibited its ugliness by piling 
 up a terrific ice gorge and sweeping the heavy logs downward to 
 the Yellowstone. Captain Pollock, in command at the canton- 
 ment, then built a beautiful and massive structure, 160 feet long, 
 near the ruins of the old one. But this, too, was destined to 
 early destruction, and in the month of May the floods swept it 
 down as though it was mere cob-web. Murphey's ranch, on Clear 
 Fork of Powder, established in July of the present year, is the 
 first trading post in the Big Horn region. It is located within 
 fifty miles of the scenes of several of the hardest-fought Indian 
 battles of the past few years, and we hope will cluster around it 
 fitting monuments to the skill of General Crook and other offi- 
 cers, and the bravery of our frontier troops. A good story has 
 been going the rounds at the expense of Perry Cheen, who is at 
 present, and has been for many years, interpreter at the Crow 
 Agency. During the visit of the Earl of Dunraven to Montana, 
 in 1874, he called at the Crow Agency, and after giving a sump- 
 
REMINISCENCES, ETC. 247 
 
 tuous "feast" and having a little "medicine talk" with the 
 chiefs, he commenced making inquiries in regard to the business 
 professions, etc., of the white men present, and, turning to Perry, 
 inquired of him his occupation. Mr. Cheen stretched himself 
 up to the full dignity of his profession and delivered himself 
 thusly : " I am interrupter to the Crow Indian-cy and dis-tri-buter 
 of the India-new-ities." 
 
 The story of the first steam-whistle on the Missouri river, as 
 told by a Kansas paper, is amusing, if it is old. Its introduction 
 dates back to 1844. At that time the settlers on the Missouri 
 river were in the habit of making regular yearly visits to St. 
 Louis to do their trading for themselves and friends. They were 
 not provided with daily intercourse with the outside world, and 
 many who lived back from the river seldom, if ever, saw a steam- 
 boat more than once a year. It happened that during the fall of 
 1844 the new steamboat Lexington started up the Missouri river 
 loaded down to the guards with freight. Among the passengers 
 were Theodore "Warner, Ben Holiday and a planter named George 
 Yocum. 
 
 The steamer Lexington was provided with a steam-whistle — 
 the first used on the Missouri river — and, as it happened, no one 
 knew about it except Warner, who was a wag and a lover of a 
 joke. The night after leaving St. Louis the passengers were col- 
 lected together, playing cards (for fun) in the cabin, when the 
 talk turned upon steamboat explosions, then very common. 
 
 " I feel perfectly safe on this boat," said Warner, as he dealt 
 the cards. 
 
 " Why ? " inquired Yocum, the planter. 
 
 " Why ? " echoed the rest of the company. 
 
 " I will tell you why," said the wag, carefully studying his 
 cards. " This boat is provided with a new patent safety-valve, 
 which notifies the passengers on board when it is about to blow 
 up. It is a concern which makes a most unearthly noise, and 
 when you hear it it is time to get back aft or jump overboard." 
 
 Notwithstanding the fact that Warner told his story with 
 the most solemn and earnest countenance, some were skeptical. 
 Not so, however, with the planter. Next morning, when the 
 Lexington was steaming up the long, straight stretch of river 
 just below Washington, Missouri, the passengers were at break- 
 fast. The meal had been called and all were busily engaged in 
 
248 HAND-BOOK OF WYOMING. 
 
 doing justice to the kind of meals they were accustomed to serve 
 on steamboats in those days. Suddenly the whistle commenced 
 to blow — the first time on the trip. The passengers looked at 
 each other a moment, and horror and dismay spread itself over 
 their faces. The first man to realize the situation and act was 
 Yocum, the planter, who, with hair erect and blanched face, 
 jumped up, crying, as he pulled over one after another of the 
 passengers : 
 
 "Bun, run for your lives! the d — thing 's going to bust! 
 Follow me and let's save ourselves ! " 
 
 Of course there was a stampede for the rear of the boat, and 
 it was only by the exertions of some of the crew that the more 
 excited were restrained from jumping into the river. 
 
 But the best of all incidents and remembrances, and those 
 fraught with most direct import to the people of the great north- 
 west, are the records of the creation of our great trans-conti- 
 nental railway. Commencing in 1865, forty miles of track were 
 laid westward from the Missouri river. In 1866 the rails had 
 reached out three hundred miles into the wilderness of plains 
 which their influence is now so rapidly changing into a land of 
 beautiful homes. By January 1, 1868, five hundred and forty 
 miles had been completed and the backbone of the continent 
 surmounted, and by May 10, 1869, the oceans were united by 
 continuous bands of iron. In a little over three years this 
 mighty western continent was spanned, the foundation for half 
 a dozen grand States laid, and a region believed to be irredeem- 
 able turned into one vast mine of production reaching from one 
 end to the other. A force of from 20,000 to 25,000 men were 
 engaged on this gigantic project, and from 5,000 to 6,000 teams 
 were kept in constant employ during its progress. No summing- 
 up could be more fitting and striking than those already given 
 so much publicity by Hon. Henry T. Williams : " Think of the 
 wonderful results accomplished in a few years by the opening of 
 the Pacific railroad. In 1850 the Far West was unknown and un- 
 explored. In 1860 its total population was but 619,000, most of 
 whom were residents of the Pacific coast. In 1870 the popula- 
 tion had doubled. In 1876, seven years after the opening of the 
 Pacific railroad, see how wonderful the change. The population 
 of the far western States and Territories had again increased forty 
 per cent, and the Far West now includes this immense field reached 
 
REMINISCENCES, ETC. 
 
 249 
 
 only by this railroad. Population in 1875, 1,524,703 ; area of 
 square miles, 1,445,332 ; area of square acres, 1,332,744,755. The 
 entire capital now invested in railroad enterprises in this vast re- 
 gion now exceeds $750,000,000. Over three hundred towns and 
 stations have arisen on the great trans-continental route and its 
 branches. The annual receipts exceed $30,000,000 a year, and 
 the number of passengers, both through and local, exceeds 1,000,- 
 000. The tide of pleasure travel has turned westward, and 
 Europe clasps hands with China and Japan across our continent. 
 Thus have seven short years turned the travel of the world." 
 
 17 
 
GOOD TIMES! BETTER TIMES! THE BEST TIMES 
 
 FREE FOR ONE YEAR! 
 
 THE CINCINNATI WEEKLY TIMES. 
 
 The Times is in the Thirty-third year of its existence, with a National Character 
 and influence second to no other paper. Its patrons are of all parties in politics, all sects 
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 Its Editorials on all questions that affect the welfare of the people or the nation, are 
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 An Original Story, and a variety of Sketches and Essays from popular writers, are 
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 251 
 
FIRSTS NATIONAL BANK 
 
 
 n HfiBssHtirfcr; *B*tt*DH: n *s*d:*d* 
 
 FIRST ti®IONALBANK 
 
 A. R. CONVERSE, 
 
 President. 
 
 J. E. WILD, 
 
 Cashier. 
 
 FIRST 
 
 NATIONAL 
 
 BANK, 
 
 CHEYENNE 
 
 WYOMING, 
 
 j!g| Capital, $75,000 
 " Surplus, 50,000 
 
 TRANSACTS A 
 
 GBUEEAL 
 
 Banking Business 
 
 BUYS AND SELLS 
 
 GOLD DUST, COIN 
 
 AND 
 
 Exchange on all the 
 Principal Cities. 
 
 New York Correspondent, 
 
 CHEMICAL BANK. 
 
 iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiMiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiHiiii fiiiitii iiiiMiiii iiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiiimimiiiur 
 
 p Chicago Correspondent, 
 FIRST NAT. BANK. 
 
 JOSLIN & PARK, 
 
 3ivi:a,rL-uLfa,ct-CLriri.g: TeTxrelers 
 
 AND DEALERS IN 
 
 DIAMONDS, WATCHES, SILVER-WARE, CLOCKS, ETC. 
 
 FINE NATIVE COLD JEWELRY OF EVERY DESCRIPTION. 
 
 Orders by mail carefully and promptly attended to. 
 
 CHEYENNE, WYOMING, AND SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH. 
 
 252 
 
A. R. CONVERSE. F. E. WARREN. 
 
 Converse & Warren, 
 
 DEALERS IN 
 
 Furniture, Crockery, 
 
 PLATED WARE, GLASS WARE, 
 
 CARPETS, CURTAINS, WALL PAPER, 
 
 BURIAL CASES, COFFINS, ROBES, 
 
 AND 
 
 House Furnishing Goods 
 
 OF ALL KINDS. 
 
 LOWEST WHOLESALE PRICES GIVEN TO THE TRADE. 
 Orders by Mail or Telegraph will receive Prompt Attention. 
 
 SIXTEENTH STREET, 
 
 Cheyenne, Wyoming. 
 
 J*. J".A.Tr JOSLIlsT, 
 
 STAPLE AND FANCY 
 
 DRY GOODS, NOTIONS, ETC. ETC, 
 
 COMPLETE STOCK ALWAYS ON HAND. 
 Everything Sold at the Lowest Prices. 
 
 Sixteenth Street, - opposite First National Bank, 
 
 (One Door from Joslin & Park.) 
 
 CHEYENNE, WYOMING. 
 
 253 
 
Smith, Guiterman & Harrington, 
 
 DEALERS IUST 
 
 Jf tie j|wli* jfuk $*$*$* 
 
 Boots, Shoes, Hats, Caps, Eto. 
 
 No. 3 Carey's Block, Seventeenth Street, 
 CHEYENNE, WYOMING. 
 
 G. H. & J. S. COLLINS, 
 
 (ED. H. MERRILL, Manager,^ 
 MANUFACTURERS OF ALL KINDS OF 
 
 D 
 
 1^ ]Ip» i5* 
 
 mm 
 
 SADDLES, COLLARS, WHIPS, ETC. 
 
 Particular attention given to all outfits for 
 
 XlercLezs arid. Stocl^ ZLv^Eera... 
 
 CHEYENNE, WYOMING TER. 
 
 254: 
 
EDITOEIAL BRIEFS. 
 
 Sportsmen's Outfits. — Parties outfitting for the mines, or pre- 
 paring for a hunting and fishing tour in the mountains, are 
 reminded that Cheyenne boasts an armory in keeping with its 
 other extensive establishments. The Messrs. Freund Bros, have 
 an endless supply of breech-loading rifles, fishing-tackle, etc., 
 and the very best manufacturers are represented with goods and 
 prices which defy competition in the West. 
 
 TJie Cliicago, Burlington & Quincy.—Iii this time of im- 
 proved railroading facilities it is difficult to discriminate between 
 rival lines, but we are of the belief that the Chicago, Burlington 
 & Qnincy is simply perfection. Few of the routes leading to our 
 region pretend to compete with it. Take this old, reliable, 
 magnificently equipped and splendidly managed line from 
 Chicago to Omaha, and enjoy the benefits of palace hotel cars, 
 Pullman drawing-room and sleeping cars and first-class equip- 
 ment generally. 
 
 TJie Cheyenne Daily Sun. — One of the brightest, newsiest and 
 most reliable of all Western papers, is the Cheyenne Daily Sun, 
 as conducted by E. A. Slack, Esq. Its editorial corps comprises 
 thoroughly representative Western men ; its correspondents are 
 scattered in every city and camp, and its management spares no 
 pains or expense to furnish a journal really in advance of every 
 other interest. A weekly edition furnished the desideratum so 
 often asked by Eastern readers — a perfect resume of frontier news 
 and frontier interests, and is published at the low price of $2.50 
 per annum. 
 
 255 
 
E. H. LEIBEY. J. H. NICHOLS. 
 
 LEIBEY & NICHOLS. 
 
 WHOLESALE AND RETAIL DEALERS IN 
 
 ALSO AGENTS FOR THE 
 
 Missouri Tent & Awning Company 
 
 SIXTEENTH STREET, 
 
 0X3iE"3rEisr2srE, T7^5roiM:in>Ta-- 
 
 JS^Particular attention given to outfitting parties for the Black Hills. ~§^ 
 
 Eyer's Hotel and French Restaurant, 
 
 EDDY STREET, CHEYENNE, WYOMING. 
 
 §nmt[ t l|r£$If ®tpter$, nnh nil Jhtrttrb* fjimxm 
 
 This establishment has been thoroughly i*efitted, and is now ready to accommodate its old 
 
 patrons in first-class style. The Bar is always provided with the 
 
 best of Liquors and Cigars. 
 
 FREE 'BUS TO AND FROM ALL TRAINS. 
 
 id. id. id^:r,:e], 
 
 # 
 
 CHEYENNE, WYOMING. 
 
 Crayon, India Ink and Colored Work a Specialty. 
 
 256 
 
THOZMZ-^-S CREIGHTOIsr, 
 
 DEALER IN 
 
 Boots! Shoos, Rubber Goods I Miners' Wear. 
 
 All goods sold in my house are warranted, and will be repaired free of charge if 
 ripping "occurs. 
 
 CARR'S NEW BUILDING, FERGUSON ST., CHEYENNE, WYOMING. 
 
 ^SJSUD. JL,J±.l<TJDJi.TJ, 
 
 dealer in 
 
 FRESH MEATS, GAME, FISH H0 VEGETABLES, 
 
 SEVENTEENTH STREET, BETWEEN EDDY AND FERGUSON, 
 CHEYENNE, WYOMING. 
 
 B. HELLMAIT, 
 
 nvciEiE^CHi-^nNrT t^iloir,, 
 
 CLOTHIER, 
 
 Sixteenth Street, Cheyenne, Wyoming Territory. 
 
 TT^IVt. ZZ. HOIjIjIUAY, 
 
 Ij^l:r,^:m:i:e city ^ztsno cnzE-srzEiisriisnE, -wh-ozmihstg-., 
 
 DEALER IN 
 
 Lumber, Brick, and All Kinds of Building Material 
 
 Lime, Lath. Shingles, Doors, Sash. Blinds, Mouldings, Pickets, Glass, Tarred Felt, 
 Building Paper, Oil, Lead. Putty, and Rawlins' Metallic Paint. 
 
 AtSO, CARRIES A LARGE STOCK OF 
 
 LIGHT AND HEAVY WAGONS AND AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 
 
 DELMOITIGO HOTEL 
 
 ON THE EUROPEAN PLAN. 
 
 OPPOSITE FIRST NATIONAL BANK, SIXTEENTH STREET, CHEYENNE, WYOMING. 
 
 Good Rooms for Rent by the Day, Week or Month, 
 At Reasonable Rates, With or Without Board. 
 
 CASWELL, THE Boss. 
 
 POLE CREEK RANCH 
 
 FRED SCHWARTZ, PROPRIETOR. 
 
 This establishment is located eighteen miles from Cheyenne, 
 
 AND IS 
 
 A Eegular Eating Station on the Cheyenne and Black Hills Stage Koute. 
 
 MEALS AT ALL HOURS. 
 
 CHOICEST WINES, LIQUORS AND CIGARS AT THE BAR. 
 
 A fine two-story Hotel has just been completed, and the traveling 
 
 public can be assured of receiving the best of accommodations. 
 
 Stable room for IS head of stock. Hay 75 ets. per span, and grain 
 
 furnished at. reasonable rates. 
 
 257 
 
LEADING PAPER OF THE WEST 
 
 THE DAILY AND WEEKLY 
 
 Rocky Mountain News 
 
 Pioneer of Colorado and the Eocky Mountain Country. 
 
 ESTABLISHED 1859. 
 
 Job Printing, Binding and Blank Book Manufacturing 
 
 .A. SPECIALTY. 
 
 TERMS IN ADVANCE- \ ■ Dail y^ 36 co ^ umng ^ $ 10 °° P er y eai % or & 1 °0 P er month. 
 
 "'Weekly, 48 " 2 00 " 1 25 for 6 months. 
 
 Specimen Copies Free. 
 Address NEWS PRINTING COMPANY, 
 
 DENVER, COLORADO. 
 
 JOB PRINTING. 
 
 The RACINE JOURNAL Steam Booh and Job Office 
 is prepared to execute any and all orders for Job Print- 
 ing, Pamphlets, Mercantile Work, College Printing, 
 Legal Printing, Blanh Boohs, etc. etc. Our facilities 
 are first-class in every respect— fast steam presses, latest 
 styles of type, accomplished workmen, and other neces- 
 saries for a first-class job office. 
 
 We ivill be pleased to furnish estimates at request. 
 
 Address, 
 
 Journal Job Office, 
 
 zr,-a.oi:£t:e3, ■^tis. 
 
 F. 1ST. Starbuck, Proprietor. 
 
 258 
 
H. H. aELPHENSTINE. R. B. DURBIN. 
 
 HELPHENSTINE & DURBIN, 
 
 Calif brnia, ZL/£ea,t l^Estrl^et., 
 
 Sixteenth St,, bet. Hill and Ferguson, CHEYENNE, WYOMING. 
 
 Dealers in FRESH and SALT MEATS, FISH, GAME, SAUSAGES, VEGETABLES, Etc. 
 
 ze=c- :k^.^s, 
 
 CHEYENNE, "W "3T O IM: I UST G- , 
 DEALER IN 
 
 Shuttler Wagons, Champion Mowing Machines, 
 
 AND ALL KINDS OF 
 
 AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 
 
 Blacksmithing and Repairing Promptly Done, and All Work Warranted. 
 
 W. D. PEASE. J. S. TAYLOR. 
 
 Pease & Taylor, 
 
 Wholesale and Retail Dealers in 
 
 Groceries and Provisions, 
 
 Green and Dried Emits, Vegetables, Eanch Butter, 
 TEAS, SUGARS, SPICES, CANNED GOODS, Etc. 
 
 Special Attention paid to Outfitting Parties for the Big Horn and Black Hills 
 
 Region. 
 
 CHEYENNE, WYOMING. 
 
 EXCELLENT T^ZBLIE EIIfcTIE ILIQTTOIELS. 
 
 TOKIIbT XjIZbTZEH'S 
 IRZEST^TTIR^ZLSTT ^IL>riD IB^-IR,, 
 
 Sixteenth Street, - between Ferguson and Eddy, 
 CHEYENNE, WYOMING. 
 
 3>TE^^Xj03ST Sz> HECHT, 
 
 THOMES STREET, CHEYElTlsrE, ■WYOIMIIItsra-, 
 SOLE AGENTS FOR 
 
 The Studebaker Wagon and the New Buckeye Mower, 
 
 Strongest. Neatest, and Best Light Mower Made. 
 Repairing and Blacksmithing Promptly Done by First Class Workmen. 
 
 is. :b- hcozrisie sz ao- 
 
 DEALER IN 
 
 Pine and Hardwood Lute, Doors, Sash, lonldinp, Etc. 
 
 CHEYENNE. WYOMING. 
 
 259 
 
C. M. STEBBINS, S. N. WOOD, G. I. STEBBINS. 
 
 New York. Deadwood. Denver. 
 
 W. R. STEBBINS, M. E. POST, 
 
 Cheyenne, Cheyenne. 
 
 (Late Asst. Cash. Col. Nat. Bank, Denver.) 
 
 Stebbins, Wood & Post 
 
 Bankers 
 
 Deadwood, - Dakota, 
 
 DO A GENERAL BANKING BUSINESS 
 
 Buy and Sell Gold Dust, Coin and Bullion, 
 
 MAKE ADVANCES ON BULLION AND ORES FOR SHIPMENT ON 
 ACCOUNT OF PRODUCERS. 
 
 Drafts on All Parts of the United States and Europe for Sale. 
 
 Telegraph Transfers on All Parts of the United States. 
 
 SPECIAL ATTENTION GIVEN TO COLLECTIONS. 
 
 260 
 
GRAVES & CURTIS, 
 
 WHOLESALE AND RETAIL DEALERS IN 
 
 Furniture, Crockery 
 
 Glassware, Chandeliers, Window G-lass, 
 
 CARPETS AND BEDDING, 
 
 METALLIC BURIAL CASES. 
 
 n^aan Street, - DDead-^woocL, Dakota,. 
 
 BENT & DEETKIN, 
 
 WHOLESALE AND RETAIL DEALERS IN 
 
 Toilet Articles, Books, Stationery and Pocket Cutlery, 
 DEADWOOD, DAKOTA TER. 
 
 J. B. VAJSTDANIKER. "J" ■■^■■ppa nm P. McHTJGH. 
 
 HOTEL AND RESTAURANT 
 
 The Largest and Finest Hotel in the Black Hills, 
 
 LOCATED ONE BLOCK FROM STAGE OFFICE. 
 
 The Tables always supplied with the Best the Market Affords. 
 C. M. CLARK, Chief Clerk. VANDANTKER & McHTJGH, Props. 
 
 261 
 
BLACS: HILLS STAGE IfcOAID. 
 
 Hat Creek Ranch, 
 
 BY JACK BOWMAN. 
 
 st^o-ie station 
 
 TABLE SUPPLIED WITH THE BEST OF EVERYTHING. 
 
 Good Corral, Hay, Grain, and Stabling. 
 
 C. W. N. RUGGLES. T. H. SWAZIE. 
 
 American Hotel, 
 
 DEAD'WOOD 3 - - BLACK HILLS, 
 
 FIRST-CLASS HOUSE. 
 
 C. W. RUGGLES, (formerly of R. R. House at Wallace on K. P. R. R.j 
 
 T. H. SWAZIE, (formerly of Chicago,) 
 
 PROPRIETORS. 
 
 A. D. BEVAN, M.D. D. K. DICKINSON, M.D. 
 
 BEVAN & DICKINSON, 
 ijhgsirians mul j^nrgeon^, 
 
 Office, over Brown & Thuni's Bank, 
 
 Dr. L. G. Fuller, 
 Bemttot, 
 
 Filling, Extracting and Inserting 
 Artificial Teeth. 
 
 Broken Plates Mended. All Work First Claw. 
 DEADWOOD, D. T. DEADWOOD, D. T. 
 
 J. M. YOUNG & A. B. CHAPLINE, ! R °:! INSO * * R ° SS < 
 
 Wholesale and Retail Dealers %n 
 
 Jlihrneyi at £aw, GROCERIES 
 
 AND GENERAL MERCHANDISE 
 
 ALSO, 
 
 Real Estate and Money Brokers, 
 
 Office, over Brown &. ThunVs Bank, 
 
 DEADWOOD, D. T. DEADWOOD, D. T. 
 
 Cheyenne Weekly Sun 
 
 THE BEST OF ALL FRONTIER PAPERS. 
 
 $2.50 - per Annum. 
 
 Address E. A. SLACK, 
 
 Cheyenne. Wyoming. 
 
 262 
 
3^nc3ST^-^E^^I^-A- Sz CO. 
 
 WHOLESALE DEALERS IN 
 
 Wines, Liquors and Cigars, 
 
 Fine Imported Goods and Kentucky Whiskies a Specialty. 
 AGENTS FOR PHILIP BEST'S MILWAUKEE BEER. 
 
 English and Scotch Ales, Dublin and London Porter. Champagnes, 
 Etc. Etc. 
 
 .A-XjIi GOODS -W-A.:R,:R,.A.2TTED ^S BEPBESENTED. 
 
 Seventeenth St., - Cheyenne, W. T. 
 
 INTER-OCEAN HOTEL, 
 
 B. L. Ford, 
 
 CHEYENNE, WYOMING. 
 
 Proprietor. 
 
 This House is new, with large and well ventilated rooms, all elegantly furnished. 
 Electric Bells connecting all rooms with the office. All trains stop from thirty minutes to 
 four hours, and everybody takes meals at the Inter-Ocean. Free 'Bus to all trains. 
 
 CHUGWATEK HOTEL. 
 
 JOHN PHILLIPS, Proprietor. 
 
 Situated on the Mail and Stage Route from CHEYENNE to FOBT LARAMIE and the 
 BLACK HILLS, fifty-two miles from Cheyenne. 
 
 REGULAR EATING STATION FOR STAGE PASSENGERS, 
 
 AND AFFORDS 
 
 THE BEST OF BOARD and GOOD COMFORTABLE ROOMS. 
 
 The Bar supplied with the choicest Wines, Liquors and Cigars. 
 A good Bam connected with the premises with Stalls for Fifty Head of Stock. 
 
 263 
 
TO ODE^-FSaOM 
 
 Chicago* Beadwood 
 
 OMAHA or YANKTON, 
 
 OE, VIA 
 
 if-oirt zfoiieiesiesie or :bis:m:.^:r:k:, 
 
 Chicago & North -Western 
 
 Is by all odds the best line for all persons to take going to or coming from the BLACK 
 HILLS. It owns the SHORTEST and BEST EOUTES, and can offer choice over all 
 other routes. 
 
 All Railroad and Ticket Agents can sell you Through Tickets by this route. 
 
 Insist that your Tickets between Chicago and Council Bluffs read over the CHICAGO 
 & NORTHWESTERN RAILWAY, and refuse all others. 
 
 Pullman Hotel Cars are run on this line. 
 
 No other road runs Pullman or any other kind of Hotel Cars between Chicago and 
 Council Bluffs. 
 
 The trains are made up of elegant new PULLMAN PALACE HOTEL and SLEEPING 
 COACHES, luxurious, well lighted and well ventilated DAY COACHES, and pleasant 
 lounging and Smoking Cars. The Cars are all equipped with celebrated Miller Safety 
 Platform and Patent Cuffers and Couplings, Westinghouse Safety Air Brakes, and every 
 other appliance that has been devised for the safety of Passenger Trains. In a word, this 
 
 Great Through Line 
 
 has the Best and Smoothest Track, and the most elegant and comfortable equipment of 
 any road in the West, and has no competitor in the country. 
 
 Remember you ask for your Tickets via the CHICAGO & NORTH-WESTERN 
 RAILWAY, and take no other. 
 
 MARVIN HUGHITT, W. H. STENNETT, 
 
 General Manager. Gen'l Passenger Ag't. 
 
 264 
 
GEO! G: MASTEN, 
 
 WHOLESALE DEALER ITS 
 
 Wines, Liquors and Cigars 
 
 AGENT FOR ST. LOUIS BOTTLED BEER. 
 
 Cor. Sixteenth and Ferguson Streets, 
 CHEYENNE, WYOMING. 
 
 DAILY, $10. THE WEEKLY, $2. 
 
 Denver Tribune : 
 
 DEVOTED TO THE MINING, AGRICULTURAL AND POLIT- 
 ICAL INTERESTS OF COLORADO. 
 
 HAS THE LARGEST CIRCULATION OF ANY PAPER IN THE STATE. 
 
 Parties desiring to emigrate to the Centennial State will find in its eolumns 
 all desired information as to soil, climate and resources. 
 
 HERMAN BECKURTS, Proprietor, 
 
 DENVER, COLORADO, 
 18 265 
 
Kansas Pacific Railway. 
 
 SHORTEST JJYD MOST DIRECT ROUTE 
 
 BETWEEN 
 
 COLORADO AND THE EAST. 
 
 114 
 26 
 
 MILES THE SHORTEST LINE FROM 
 DENVER TO KANSAS CITY. 
 
 HOURS QUICKER THAN AM OTHER ROUTE FROM 
 DENVER TO KANSAS CITY AND POINTS EAST. 
 
 THE ONLY LINE running through trains, with Pullman Palace Cars attached, 
 "between Denver and Kansas City, making close connections in Union Depot, Kansas City, 
 with through trains for the East, North and South. 
 
 Baggage Checked Through to Destination. 
 
 The Great Through Freight Line. 
 
 Unrivaled facilities offered for direct and prompt dispatch of freight. 
 
 ITS "FAST FREIGHT EXPRESS" CONNECTS CLOSELY WITH ALL WESTERN 
 
 CONNECTIONS. 
 
 THROUGH BILLS OF LADING 
 
 Given from Seaboard and intermediate points to 
 
 DENVER, CHEYENNE, COLORADO SPRINGS, PUEBLO, CANON CITY, 
 LA VETA AND EL MORO. 
 
 The Popular Eoute to New Mexico, Arizona and San Juan. 
 
 The only route west of the Mississippi River equipped with the 
 CELEBRATED WESTINGHOUSE IMPROVED AUTOMATIC AIR BRAKES. 
 
 fW On all East-bound shipments we offer special inducements. The favorite ore, 
 wool and hide line. Through hills of lading issued and every advantage offered. 
 
 Mark and Consign " Care Kansas Pacific Railway." 
 
 D. E. CORNELL, JOHN MUIR, 
 
 Gen'l Passenger Agent, Kansas City. Gen'l Freight Agent, Kansas City. 
 
 T. F. OAKES, 
 Gen'l Superintendent, Kansas City. 
 
 266 
 
SHORTEST, BEST AND ONLY 
 
 STAGE LINE TO THE 
 
 WIND RIVER AND BIGf HORN REGIONS 
 
 FROM THE UNION PACIFIC RAILWAY. 
 
 COACHES OF THE 
 
 SWEETWATER DAILY STAGE LINE 
 
 Make Direct Connections with Union Pacific Trains at 
 Green River City for 
 
 PACIFIC SPRINGS, SOUTH PASS CITY, ATLANTIC CITY, 
 
 CAMP STAMBAUGH, MINERS' DELIGHT, 
 
 LANDER CITY AND CAMP BROWN, 
 
 Oa,rr37i33.gf "CTnited. States Distils staa.d. E^qpress. 
 
 This Line also offers to Tourists the nearest practicable 
 Route to the 
 
 YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK 
 
 The Park is only 300 miles from Green River City, and. Coaches 
 on the SWEETWATER LINE run over half the Route, making the 
 distance to be traveled by coach or private conveyance 200 miles 
 shorter than by any other. 
 
 A. E. BRADBURY, S. S. HUNTLEY, 
 
 Siipt., Green River, W. T. General Manager. 
 
 267 
 
A. POLACK, 
 
 O Hi o t s: I IE IR, , 
 
 Next to Post Office, 
 
 CHEYENNE, WYOMING. 
 
 L. MURRIN; 
 
 WHOLESALE DEALEK IN 
 
 Wines, Liquors and Cigars, 
 
 ST. LOUIS AND MILWAUKEE BEER. 
 
 AGENT FOR THE 
 
 Denver Brewing Company's Lager Beer. 
 
 SEVENTEENTH STREET, 
 CHEYENNE, WYOMING. 
 
 E. L. PEASE. J. L. ATKINSON. 
 
 THE EVANSTON LUMBERING COMPANY, 
 
 MANUFACTURERS AND DEALERS IN 
 
 Lumber, Lath, Siding, Shingles, Doors, 
 
 CHAECOAL, ETC 
 
 EVANSTON, WYOMING. 
 
 268 
 
SHORTEST. SAFEST. BEST. 
 
 THE OLD RELIABLE 
 
 CHEYENNE AND BUCK MLS STAGE LINE. 
 
 Sis: Horse Concord Ooaclies 
 
 LEAVING DAILY FOR 
 
 Deadwood, Custer, Battle Creek, 
 
 RAPID CITY, GOLDEN, GAYVILLE, 
 
 AND ALL OTHER MINING CAMPS IN THE HILLS. 
 
 Close Connections with Union Pacific Trains at Cheyenne, 
 
 This Line carries the United States Mails and Express 
 Matter, and passes over the Shortest, Best Settled and 
 Best Protected Route. 
 
 First-class Eating Stations and attentive Division Agents 
 add to render the Pioneer Line unequaled for Safety, 
 Comfort and Speed. 
 
 J. T. GILMER. M. T. PATRICK. 
 
 M. SALISBURY. L. VOORHEES. 
 
THE QUICKEST ROUTE 
 
 TO THE 
 
 BLACK HILLS 
 
 IS VIA THE 
 
 Union Pacific Railroad 
 
 AND 
 
 CHEYENNE OR SIDNEY. 
 
 If you are going direct to Deadwood, via rail and stage, the Union Pacific routes, via 
 CHEYENNE or SIDNEY, are the quickest, safest and cheapest. If you desire to make 
 your owu arrangements for transportation after leaving the railroad, Cheyenne or Sidney 
 are still your best points of departure, since they are conceded by all to be the 
 
 BEST OUTFITTING POINTS 
 
 on any route. The many merchants who have located at these points with large stocks 
 of goods in all lines, make the price of supplies as reasonable as in Eastern cities. These 
 points, being located within easy reach of the 
 
 CELEBRATED GRAZING DISTRICTS OF WYOMING 
 
 afford special facilities for the purchase of horses, mules and oxen. It may be relied 
 upon that to outfit at either of these points will be attended with less cost than at any 
 other points advertised as outfitting posts. 
 
 EATES ALWAYS AS LOW AS THE LOWEST. 
 
 1st Class. 
 
 2d Class. 
 
 3d Clasi 
 
 $39 25 
 
 $33 00 
 
 $28 00 
 
 49 25 
 
 38 00 
 
 28 00 
 
 39 25 
 
 33 00 
 
 28 00 
 
 49 25 
 
 38 CO 
 
 28 00 
 
 Special Notice to Gold Seekers. 
 
 In addition to the advantages of quick time and short and comfortable stage journeys 
 via the UNION PACIFIC ROUTE, the following LOW KATES of fare and arrangements 
 for ticketing have been made for your accommodation: 
 
 Chicasro to Cu«-ter City, ... - 
 
 Chicago to Deadwood, .... - 
 
 St. Louis to Ouster City, - - - 
 
 St. Louis to Deadwood, - 
 
 One hundred and fifty pounds baggage free by rail, and twenty-five to one hundred 
 pounds free overland, according to route and class. 
 
 As the through rates from Omaha to Deadwood, Custer City, and all other points in 
 the Black Hills, are considerably less than the local rates by rail and stage, money will 
 be saved by purchasing through tickets. 
 
 Holders of tickets to Sidney, Cheyenne, etc., can exchange them for through tickets 
 to any point in the Black Hills at the Omaha depot. 
 
 S^°* All Black Hills tickets sold by connecting roads over the Union Pacific must be 
 exchanged at the U. P. depot before passengers take the train. 
 
 Special arrangements made for large parties. 
 
 270 
 
THE 
 
 CHICAGO TRIBUNE 
 
 Great Advertising Medium 
 
 OF THE NORTHWEST, 
 
 AND THE 
 
 Leading Republican Newspaper 
 
 IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 It is a large eight-page paper, containing Jf8 
 
 columns, and is published every day 
 
 in the year. 
 
 TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION. 
 
 Daily Edition, postage paid, ... $12 00 per year. 
 
 Tri- Weekly Edition, postage paid, - - - 6 00 " 
 
 Weekly Edition, postage paid, - - - 1 25 " 
 
 Sunday Edition (16 pages), postage paid, - - 2 50 " 
 
 Rates for Advertising sent to any address on application. 
 Address 
 
 TRIBUNE CO. 
 
 EASTERN OFFICE, 
 
 Boom 29, Tribune Building, CHICAGO. 
 
 nsr. -sr. citt. 
 
 271 
 
FRUIT AND PRODUCE 
 
 FORWARDING - COMMISSION 
 
 SHIP FREIGHT CARE OF 
 
 TD. 3D. 3333333^E333=S cSc CO.. 
 
 CHEYENNE, "WYOMING. 
 
 MUTUAL EXCHANGE BANK 
 
 EVANSTON, WYOMINC. 
 
 DO A GENERAL BANKING BUSINESS. 
 
 CHEYENNE SUN, 
 
 DAILY AND WEEKLY, 
 
 The Best Newspaper in the North-west. 
 
 FINE JOB PRINTING A SPECIALTY, 
 f 
 
 Daily, $10 00 per year. ) Address IE. A^. SLACK, 
 
 Weekly, 2 50 " ) CHEYENNE, WYOMING. 
 
 TERRY & HUNTER, 
 
 FEED, SALE AND LIVERY STABLE 
 
 16th Street, near McDaniel's Theatre. 
 
 An extra large Barn for special use of Patrons. 
 
 WE HAVE A FINE HEAKSE THAT WE RUN FREE. 
 
 Metallic and Wood Burial Cases, Robes, etc. 
 
 272 
 
Home Brewery 
 
 L. KABIS, Proprietor. 
 
 Cheyenne, Wyoming. 
 
 JS/EcClt cLrid Hops in Stoc7i 
 
 AND FOR SALE AT LOWEST MARKET RATES. 
 
 ^.LL OI^IDIE^S IFIROIMI^TILiTZ" FILLED. 
 
 Wyoming and Black Hills Patronage 
 especially solicited. 
 
 Publisher's Kemarks. — A representative of this work, 
 haying visited the Home Brewery in the suburbs of Cheyenne, 
 can testify to the completeness of the institution. The Brew- 
 ery proper is 34x50 feet and 21 feet high. Other improve- 
 ments consist in part of two ice-houses with a capacity of 500 
 tons, three patent iron floor cellars, aggregating a surface of 
 20x105 feet, business house and warerooms 32x50 feet; the 
 whole making the most complete establishment of the kind in 
 Wyoming, with a capacity of 7,000 barrels of choice beer per 
 annum. 
 
 All the latest improvements have been introduced in the 
 Home Brewery. 
 
TWELVE SPECIAL REASONS 
 
 WHY THE 
 
 Union Pacific Routes 
 
 TO THE 
 
 BLACK HILLS 
 
 ARE THE BEST. 
 
 1. The points of departure from the railroad are more quickly reached, 
 
 and with fewer changes of cars, than by any other route. 
 
 2. The Stage Lines running from these points are equipped with more 
 
 comfortable coaches and better stock than any other lines. 
 
 3. These are the only routes along which Telegraph Lines have been 
 
 constructed to the Hills. 
 
 4. These are the routes by which the U. S. Mails are carried. 
 
 5. These are the routes used by the Government in the transportation of 
 
 supplies for that country. 
 
 6. These are the only routes which are open the whole year. 
 
 7. These routes are the only ones upon which all streams are bridged and 
 
 along which Stage Stations and Supply Depots have been estab- 
 lished. . 
 
 8. The universal use of these routes by business men, who make frequent 
 
 trips to and from the Hills, testifies to their superiority over all 
 others. 
 
 9. Hunters, miners, old plainsmen, and all who are well acquainted 
 
 with that country, agree as to their advantages over all other 
 routes. 
 
 10. Outfits may be procured cheaper at Omaha, Cheyenne or Sidney than 
 
 at any other starting point for the Gold Fields. 
 
 11. They are the quickest, safest and most comfortable routes. 
 
 12. The rates of fare will always be as low by the Union Pacific routes as 
 
 by any other, and taking into consideration speed and comfort, 
 they are by far the cheapest. 
 
 - 
 
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