History of Dakota Territory, volume I, Part 150

Author: Kingsbury, George Washington, 1837-; Smith, George Martin, 1847-1920
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : S.J. Clarke Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1198

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Instead of the subterranean thunder and fire reported by the earliest explorers of that region, we find in the journals of later travelers a description of the silent and mysterious ruins of the Bad Lands.

If this theory of the origin of the Mauvaise Terre proves true, it is safe to predict that petroleum springs or Rock Oil, will yet be found in the inexhaustible quantities at the eastern base of the Black Hills. Here, in the upheaval of this mountain range we shall undoubtedly meet with the oil-bearing rocks of the Devonian and Salurian systems which have been elevated through and above the surrounding coal field that borders immediately upon the base of the mountains. Eminent geologists inform us that the source of the petroleum oils are to be found in the bituminous, Devonian and Salurian limestones. The oil well- of the United States are for the most part sunk in the sandstone which forms the summit of the Devonian series.

The oil wells of Pennsylvania and Ohio are sunk in the Devonian sand stone which are supposed by Doctor Newbergh, to be only reservoirs in which the oil accumulates as it rises through fissures from a deeper source. Geology accounts for the existence of oil springs on the theory that the oil probably rises from the carniferous (Devonian ) limestones, and being lighter than the water which permeates at the same time the porous strata, it rises to the highest portion of the formation, where the petroleum of a considerable area accumulates, and slowly finds its way to the surface through vertical fissures. Professor Allen states that the coal bearing rocks may always be looked for in the vicinity of "hot springs." and that the crude petroleum as it issues in a natural state from oil springs, is a dark liquid of an exceedingly strong and disagreeable odor, and neark resembles the artificial tarry oil.

Captain Bonneville, in 1834, found one of these natural reservoirs of petroleum to the west of the Black Hills, which the Indians called the "Greu bir SInos"

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It was found at the foot of a sand bluff, where the oil exuded in a stream of the color and consistency of tar, with a strong offensive odor. The Indians used it as an ointment for the galled backs of their horses, and as a balsam for their own pains and aches.

In the same region also are situated the numerous hot springs described by Lewis and Clark, McClellan and others. A similar description was also given in 1811 of the burning mountain of anthracite coal on Powder River, and of the Stinking Springs on the Big Horn, discovered by one of Captain Lewis's hunters in 1806, who gave such an account of its gloomy terrors, its hidden fires, smoking pits, noxious steams, and the all pervading smell of brimstone, that it received the name of "Colter's Hell."

Doctor Hayden, the geologist, who accompanied Lieutenant Warren to the Black Hills, says :

Passing over the granite and azoic rocks, we find that the Potsdam sandstone, or the lowest member of the Silurian period, is quite well developed in the Black Hills. Thus at the junction of the metamorphosed azoic and Silurian rocks gold becomes accessible.

Specimens of gypsum, rock salt and iron pyrites were picked up by some of Harney's troopers when passing along the base of the hills on their journey from Fort Laramie to Old Fort Pierre in 1855.

THE BAD LANDS

Mr. Chas. H. Bates, of Yankton, who had been engaged in surveying the public lands of the territory since 1870, both east and west of the Missouri River, and for the past ten years as allotting agent for the Dakota Indians, in a letter written from an allotting camp in the Bad Lands of Southwestern Dakota, says :

The most noted "Bad Lands" in the United States are located between Pine Ridge Agency and the Black Hills. We are now working in the most rugged part of them, being camped about nine miles south of the noted Sheep Mountain. A good description of their origin, with fine photos, is given in "The Geography, Geology and Biology of South Central South Dakota," by E. C. Perisho. Gratis, from the "U," Vermillion, South Dakota. These Bad Lands start about twenty-five miles north of Pine Ridge Agency and extend all along the Big White River in the northern part of the reservation. Interior and Scenic are located in them. They follow down the south fork of Cheyenne River, and for several miles below the junction of the Belle Fourche. There is an extensive break between these bad lands and the bad lands of the Little Missouri River, in the northwestern part of the state, with considerable breaks of bad lands at the heads of the Moreau and Grand rivers, but the bad lands of the Little Missouri do not develop their grandeur until in North Dakota, and their immensity, both perpendicularly and horizontally, till north of the Northern Pacific Railroad, and from there to the month of the Little Missouri, near Fort Berthold. General Sully came up to the edge of these bad lands west of the Killdeer Mountains in 1864, and he described them as appearing like "Hell with the fires out and still smoking."

The smoke was caused from burning lignite beds, and some are still burning, or were when I was there twelve years ago. I have been generally over all this country and assure you a word picture can give you but a faint idea of it.

Evidently the bad lands of the Little Missouri were formed by the burning of lignite beds, followed by erosion by the elements, and the fossils are vegetable. I have stepped a petrified pine stump, standing in place, that was three big steps across, more than ten feet. I measured a lignite bed in the Little Missouri country that showed a perpendicular face of fifty-four feet solid lignite above the water in the creek, and no knowing how much deeper it was. The bad lands along the Big White and Cheyenne rivers appear to be formed entirely by the elements, and it is going on very noticeably. The fossils are mostly marine, and some animal. Judging from some of the fossil bones I am well pleased that the animal does not exist at the present day.

CAPTAIN DAVY'S EXPEDITION

Capt. P. B. Davy, of Blue Earth City, Minn., reached Yankton about the 25th of November. 1867. This gentleman was an experienced frontiersman and explorer, a very intelligent man and brimful of energy and enterprise. In the

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season of 1866, he had led an expedition, numbering 400 persons, from Fort Abercrombie, on the Red River of the North, across the Dakota and Montana plains, to the gold fields of Montana, which had been eminently successful, and he had just returned from that journey overland by a more southern route, for the purpose of discovering a shorter and better equipped route than the one he had traversed in 1866. Hle stated that he had found an excellent route all the way from the gold fields to Yankton, and he had determined to lead a party to the Black Hills during the season of 1868. With this purpose in view he had formed an organization with headquarters at Yankton. These statements and much more were made at a public meeting held in Yankton. M. K. Armstrong had joined the expedition and was made the secretary and general agent. Captain Davy spent the following winter at home and in traveling through Minnesota recruiting for his proposed enterprise having Yankton for his rendezvous and starting point.

Notwithstanding the interdiction by the military arm of the Government, of Byron Smith's expedition, Captain Davy felt secure in having the approbation of that department. The peace commission appointed to select a large reservation for the Sioux Indians, it was claimed, had finally agreed upon the country north of the Big Cheyenne River, leaving the Black Hills outside of that reserve. Everything promised well until about the latter part of April, 1808, when Governor Faulk received a communication from Colonel Stanley of Fort Sully and in command of the Dakota military district, which read as follows:

Headquarters Department of Dakota. In the Field, Omaha, Neb., April 30th, 1868.

BREVET MAJ .- GEN. D. S. STANLEY,

Colonel Twenty-second Infantry, Commanding District of Southeast Dakota. Fort Sully, D. T.

General: The brevet major general commanding has received information that an expedition for the exploration and settlement of the Black Hills is being organized at Yankton. The country which it is proposed to explore is unceded Indian territory, and such an expedition therefore if made will be made in violation of law. It is especially important at this time that this territory should be preserved inviolate, as it is the region selected by the Indian Peace Commission for a reservation for the Sioux and other North- ern tribes. The brevet major-general commanding, therefore, directs that you prevent the proposed expedition, using force if necessary. Should you find that troops will be needed. you will take them from any of the posts in your district at your discretion It will be desirable to notify at once the originators of the expedition, that they will not be permitted to carry their design into execution.

I remain, General, very respectfully, your obedient servant, CHAS. 11. GRAVES, Aide-de-Camp

Official copy respectfully referred to his excellency, Governor Faulk, for huis information

The prohibitive edict from the military authorities was a great disappointment to Captain Davy and about three hundred men who had prepared to go with him. and who had been led to expect the favor of the military branch of the servios Davy, however, took his disappointment philosophically, and evidently was much more concerned for those he had induced to join his expedition, than for his own interest in the enterprise. He had enlisted over three hundred young men, some of whom had given up good positions to join him; others had made business arrangements for a year's absence, and all had purchased teams, arms, ammuni- tion, and suitable clothing, and some their provisions. These parties were very much disappointed, and gave very emphatic vent to their indignation But there was no appeal from the military authority, and the Black Hills expedition for 1868 was a closed chapter. A portion of Davy's men afterwards took passige hy steamboat for Montana. The citizens generally shared the indignation of miners, and felt that Dakota's interests were being sacrificed to enable the 1 Pacific Railroad Company to secure all the benefits accruing from one i to and settling the Northwest. The Union Pacific people had for something in suspected of hostility to the Missouri River route to Montana ; they were we

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wagon roads from their Wyoming towns to Montana and Idaho, and were ready to tap the Black Hills whenever the law would permit. Indignation, however, availed nothing. The prohibitive decree was not modified, and the Black Hills were not explored by Captain Davy, and no further attempt was made to launch an expedition in that direction, by Yankton people, until the interest in the subject was revived by the Custer expedition of 1874.

The edict forbidding the forward movement while temporarily delaying the exploring of the country, served to intensify popular interest in the matter, and aroused a sentiment throughout the nation favorable to the opening of the hills, and at the same time it set afloat innumerable reports regarding the mineral wealth of the country. A sample of these reports which was ingeniously made to fit the situation and give it a creditable coloring, is here related :

A Sioux Indian of the Oglala band was in the hills hunting eagles for their feathers, and afterwards took a large package of the feathers out to Fort Laramie where he traded them with the post trader for ammunition. While at Laramie he reported that on one of his hunting trips he shot a badger near his hole, and on going up found the ground covered with large nuggets of gold which the badger had dug out in making his nest. The Indian filled a small buckskin bag, used as a tobacco pouch, with the nuggets, and started out for Laramie, intending to trade it for some good horses. On his way out he met a small band of Brule Sioux and told them his gold story, which instead of surprising and pleasing them, threw them into a terrible rage. They stripped the Oglala of his gold and his clothes and gave him a severe beating; killed his horse, and told him they would certainly kill him if he told the story of finding the gold. The Indians said the whites would never be allowed to enter the country.

The military authorities, General Sheridan in command, gave out a statement late in August, 1874, that no person would be permitted to visit the Black Hills without permission of the secretary of the interior, who was in charge of all Indian agencies and reservations. The commanding general's statement appar- ently awakened a keener desire on the part of the public to visit the gold regions, and the interior department found its correspondence greatly increased by the numerous applications made for permission to visit the hills. Probably nine- tenths of the parties seeking a way to that country at the time were taking advantage of the short routes from the Missouri River in Dakota, of which there were at least four, all good practicable routes, with wood and water, by which the eastern slope of the hills could be reached within the distance of one hundred and fifty to two hundred miles. In fact, there were no other practicable routes, these in Dakota having been laid out by the Indian trails, trader's journeys, and scientific exploring expeditions, under authority of the Government, during the fifty years preceding. Along the Missouri River in Dakota being the region where these emigrants rendezvoused, the governor of the territory. Pennington, addressed the secretary of the interior on the subject, and received from that official a reply which stated the whole case, and wound up by virtually declaring that no one had authority to grant the permission asked for, and denying in advance all applications for permission. The official letter follows :

Department of the Interior, Washington, D. C., Sept. 8, 1874.

Sir: I acknowledge receipt of your letter of the 27th ult., referring to the associations that are forming for the invasion of that part of the territory embracing the Black Hills, notwithstanding existing treaties with the Sioux Indians, and requesting such suggestions for the guidance and benefit of citizens of the territory as may be considered appropriate by the department; and in reply would say that the second article of the treaty between the United States and the different tribes of the Sioux Indians, concluded April 29th, 1868, agrees that the following district of country, to-wit, viz: "Commencing on the east bank of the Missouri River, where the 46th parallel of north latitude crosses the same, thence along low water mark down said river bank to a point opposite where the northern line of the State of Nebraska strikes the river ; thence west across said river and along the northern line of Nebraska, to the 104th degree of longitude west from Greenwich; thence north on said meridian to a point where the 46th parallel of north latitude intercepts the same; thence due cast along said parallel to the place of beginning; and in addition thereto all existing reservations on the east bank of said river, shall be and the same is set apart for the abso-

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lute and undisturbed use and occupation of the Indians herein named, and for such other friendly tribes or individual Indians, as from time to time they may be willing, with the consent of the United States, to admit amongst them; and that the United States now solemnly agrees that no persons, except those herein designated and authorized so to do. and except such officers, agents and employees of the Government as may be authorized to enter upon Indian reservations in the discharge of duties enjoined by law. shall ever be permitted to pass over, settle upon or reside in the territory described in this article, or in such territory as may be added to this reservation for the use of said Indians; and hence- forth they do and will relinquish all claims or rights in and to any portion of the L'nited States or territories, except such as is embraced within the limits aforesaid, and except as hereinafter provided."

The foregoing section prescribes who shall be allowed on this territory so set apart for Indians, and expressly states that none others shall be allowed to pass over, settle upon or reside therein. The only power to alter this provision is that which made the treaty, and then it must be done with the consent of the Indians.

What is known as the late exploring expedition of General Custer, was merely a mili - tary reconnaissance of the country for the purpose of ascertaining the best location, if in future it should become necessary to establish there a military post.

On the 22d of June last, in a letter to this department, the honorable secretary of war wrote on this subject as follows :

"It is well known to the department that, at various times, settlers in the adjacent country have contemplated an expedition to the Black Hills, and the department has uniformly dis- countenanced such movements; but it has now almost become a military necessity that accurate knowledge be possessed by the army as to this portion of our territory, and for that purpose only is the present expedition ( Custer's) undertaken."

The question of opening up this country to settlement rests with Congress, and until action has been taken by that body, this department has no discretion in the matter, but is required and will endeavor to prevent, any violation of any provisions of the treaty before mentioned. All applications to visit the Black Hills country will be denied.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

B. R. Cowax, Acting Secretary.

To Gov. J. L. PENNINGTON, Yankton, Dakota.

In 1874, with the view of discouraging the immediate opening of the hills "treaty or no treaty," as many urged, certain high officials gave out public state- ments that "nothing yet had been discovered in the Black Hills to warrant the excitement or the claim that gold had been discovered there in paying quantities ; that many of the gold stories afloat had been manufactured for selfish purposes ; and even in 1875, after Professor Jenney's scientific expedition had reached the hills and began its investigations, the professor's first reports, probably unofficial, were said to have been purposely clouded with skeptical notions about the existence of the yellow metal in paying quantities. But it was too late for the Government to gain anything by taking such a position, for it had in its possession the reports of its unbiased officers, establishing the existence of gold and other valuable resources in the hills country.

Lieutenant Mullen, U. S. A., who with a small expedition explored a portion of the hills country in 1853, reported that he found "gold in such abundance that he was afraid to tell his men for fear that they would desert him." Mullen had been in the California placer mines, and asserted that they were by no means equal to the Black Hills.

From a letter written by Lieut. G. K. Warren, whose explorations in the Northwest were among the most valuable, we quote. The letter was published in January, 1858:

The rocks that comprise the Black Hills have been upheaved during geological epochs long preceding the present, and were probably in existence, somewhat as we now see them when what is now the prairie was a vast expanse of water. The great obstacle to occupying these hills will be found in the hostility of the Dakota Indians. We were the first expl rer to penetrate this region and alarm them with the dread of approaching civilization in! they seriously threatened to kill us all for simply coming to look at it. They tell 11 the they (all the Dakotahs) had a grand council last summer and pledged to each other that no white man should come there any more; this was the last place left to them, an lit tor gave it up they must die, and they had better, they thought, die fighting like men would you do with me," the chief said. "if 1 came to your country and killed year cm and did as I pleased? You have no more right here than I have there " 1 till 140 ran 1 right was in the President, who had sent me. He replied that even the Pre ulent

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should not come. And they made it a condition for not molesting us, that we should make known their feelings to the whites, and to the Yanktons, who if they sold their land should not come there to live.

The secretary of the interior, in his annual report for 1868-69, after a general review of the natural advantages and resources of Dakota, says: "The Black Hills, situated in the southwest part, contain gold, silver, copper and coal. Large forests of pine also exist in this locality adapted to building purposes."

This in a Government document, officially given out five years before the Custer expedition, indicates that the existence of gold in the Black Hills was not-then a subject of doubt at Washington.

Yankton was the nearest town to the hills of any importance, and the best and shortest routes lay from that city. A number of old frontiersmen made their residence there, men who were personally familiar with the best natural routes west of the Missouri, leading to the mountain region. These routes were three or four in number-the Niobrara route; the White River ; the Bad River via Old Fort Pierre, and the Big Cheyenne, the latter surveyed by Commissioner Brook- ings in 1865, for which the Government treated for the following year, agreeing to pay the sum of $25,000 for the road. It is probable that some of the earliest private exploring parties or prospectors who invaded the hills were from Mon- tana, where gold was discovered on the Salmon River as early as 1859, and was soon peopled by an enterprising and adventurous class of prospectors from Cali- fornia. There was little evidence of any considerable body of miners having visited the hills prior to the two or three years before they were formally pur- chased of the Indians and thrown open.

The agitation of gold in the Black Hills had reached to nearly every portion of the United States, and it was apparent as early as 1872 that a public sentiment was forming throughout the country so widespread and determined that the Government would find it necessary in the interest of peace, to arrange a treaty with the Indian owners for cession of that country. The time had come when the proclamations of civil and military officials were in danger of being disre- garded. Expeditions were forming as far east as Massachusetts, of such numeri- cal strength that their leaders felt rather like inviting, instead of avoiding a con- flict with the Indians, and the sentiment was outspoken that Government troops would never go so far as to use their weapons upon American citizens who were engaged in exploring and developing the valuable mineral resources of the country-resources that the Indians could not develop, and were valueless in their hands. So acute had the situation become in April, 1872, that Major Gen- eral Hancock, then commanding the Department of Dakota, issued an important communication to the people of Dakota and the Northwest, which was designed to allay the growing popular feeling by a statement of the situation, and also to engender doubts regarding the existence of paying gold deposits. The gen- eral's letter follows: (Since the expedition formed in the '6os, the Sherman- Laramie treaty of 1868 had been made.)

Headquarters Department of Dakota, St. Paul, Minn., March 26th, 1872.

Letters are being received at these headquarters from various parts of the United States, making inquiries in regard to the reputed gold discoveries in the section of country west of the Missouri River known as the Black Hills of Dakota, and asking if expeditions, presumed to be now in process of organization, will be permitted to penetrate that region. The section of country referred to is set apart as an Indian reservation, by treaty with the Sioux, and the faith of the Government is understood to be pledged to protect it from the encroachments of, or occupation by, the whites. Accordingly any parties or expeditions which may organize for the purpose of visiting or "prospecting" the region in question, will be engaging in an unlawful enterprise, the consummation of which it will be my duty, under the law and my instructions, to prevent, by the use, if necessary, of the troops at my disposal. In this connection I may mention that I am just in receipt of an official letter from General Stanley, in command, subordinate to me, on the Missouri River, in which lie refers incidentally to the Black Hills gold reports, in which he says no gold had been found there.

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History of Dakota Territory, volume I, Part 150

Author: Kingsbury, George Washington, 1837-; Smith, George Martin, 1847-1920 Publication date: 1915 Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : S.J. Clarke Publishing Company Number of Pages: 1198

Author: Kingsbury, George Washington, 1837-; Smith, George Martin, 1847-1920
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : S.J. Clarke Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1198