History of Dakota Territory, volume I, Part 156

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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PROFESSOR JENNEY'S SCIENTIFIC EXPEDITION

A second expedition to the hills under General Custer was organized in 1875 and rendezvoused at Fort Rice ; but the order assembling its forces was counter- manded, and Custer was given employment with his troops in the Yellowstone country, where the northern Indians, under Sitting Bull, continued their hostili- ties, based on their opposition to the extension of the North Pacific Railroad west of the Missouri.

Custer, at this time, was not in high favor with his superior officers. He had been writing letters to eastern newspapers that reflected somewhat upon the official management of affairs in the Indian country and at the military posts, and was said to have been responsible for exposing the disgraceful conduct of Secretary of War Belknap, in connection with army sutterships. Custer was inflexibly opposed to every form of intrigue or corruption in the service, and felt it his duty to make his discoveries public. His offense, if it was an offense, consisted in the method employed in bringing the matter before the public-the sentiment of his brother officers inclining to the opinion that he should live preferred his charges and complaint through the authorized military eltnels instead of through the columns of the public press.

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It was also claimed in connection, that Custer became somewhat incensed because his course had been unfavorably criticized and some official indignities added, and resolved to win his way into the hearts and confidence of his country- men at the first opportunity. The opportunity came when he mnet Sitting Bull on the Little Big Horn, June 25, 1876. But he was denied the achievement he may have ardently hoped for and the laurel crown that would have been his with a victory gained by his Spartan band over twenty times their number; and did not survive to receive the plaudits which their heroism and their melancholy fate invoked.

Another military expedition to the hills was not favored by the friendly Sioux in the southern portion of the territory, and the Government was doubly interested at this time in keeping peace with the people it was then engaged in treating with; the Government was also more interested in knowing more definitely the extent and richness of the gold deposits than in any matter that could be pro- moted by a display of military force, it having virtually determined upon securing a treaty of relinquishment of the hills country in case the extent of the mineral resources of the country would warrant extraordinary efforts and a liberal bonus to secure it.

There was furthermore an important collateral reason why the United States Government authorities desired to open up the Black Hills, provided gold should be discovered in paying quantities, and this reason was doubtless considered before Custer was sent into the region in 1874, and would have gone again in 1875, but for prudential reasons it was thought more advantageous, and would be more agreeable to the Indians, to send the 1875 expedition under the peaceful emblems of the Interior Department as a scientific expedition solely, which could accom- plish the same purpose that would be secured by the military.

The Government at this time was operating its finances on a paper basis ; the domestic business of the country was being transacted altogether with paper money ; the suspension of specie payments which took place during the Civil war was still in force, though the war had been over for ten years, and already there was much clamor and agitation for a resumption of specie payments. Montana had produced nearly twenty-five millions in gold since the war, and nearly all from its placer mines, and in case the Black Hills country should prove equally as extensive and rich in the precious metals, the product would be an important item in supplying the specie needed to restore and sustain specie payment resump- tion. This underlying purpose undoubtedly had much to do with the laxity in enforcing the edicts against trespassing emigrants and miners, who were the best of all mediums through which to discover the fact of the existence of the precious ore in paying quantities, and also the extent of the deposits.

The Government, while it desired to occupy the hills with its civilized people in case the gold deposits were sufficiently abundant to justify emergency mneas- ures, had before it the difficulties of coming to an agreement with the Indians, who had a vastly exaggerated opinion of its value because of its gold, therefore the official reports, or rather semi-official news, given out by the departments were at times slightly discouraging, and seldom as optimistic as the known facts would justify ; but were calculated to influence Spotted Tail and the influential Sioux leaders to be more moderate and considerate in their demands for the country, in case the Government concluded to buy it .*

Accordingly, a Black Hills geological, topographical and astronomical expedi- tion was organized under the direction of the Interior Department early in May, 1875, for the purpose of further explorations and investigations of the gold field country. Notwithstanding the favorable report of General Custer in 1874, there appeared to be some question as to the extent of the gold bearing field as well

* Specie payments followed the opening of the Black Hills in a little more than two years, at which time the Homestake was operating, and the Hills country was producing gold at the rate of half a million a month.

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as its richness, and for the purpose of obtaining more definite information needed before consummating the proposed treaty, this expedition was found needful. Walter P. Jenney, of the Columbia School of Mines, Washington, was placed in charge as the mineralogist and geologist, assisted by an astronomer and topog- rapher. As the hills country, speaking generally, had been but imperfectly explored and mapped, it was said that a large portion of its auriferous arca was in Wyoming, and if such should prove to be the case they were already a part of the public domain and open to settlement.

The secretary of the interior, in an official communication to Professor Jenney, stated that the boundary line separating Dakota from Wyoming (the 104th meridian of longitude), was supposed to run near the center of the Black Hills country.

This expedition went into the hills under the protection of a military escort composed of six companies of cavalry and two companies of infantry, under command of Col. H. I. Dodge, starting from Fort Laramie, May 25th. Their first camp in the hills was made on Castle Creek, where they found a little gold, and where an astronomical observation was taken which favored the probability that the valuable gold-bearing earth was almost wholly in Dakota. French Creek was explored and gold found in limited quantities. Jenney's party and Colonel Dodge's forces established a permanent camp on French Creek called Camp Harney, and close by they discovered the stockade miners had built carlier in the season, but not then occupied, the miners having been removed from the country by Captain Mix. There were, however, about one hundred miners found in different near-by localities.

This expedition traversed a large portion of the southern and most accessible portion of the hills; and in view of the importance attached to the country by the Indians, made a special effort to locate anything and everything that had the appearance of occupation by the native owners or hy whites, and were able to find but one locality that indicated the presence of Indians. This was near the headwaters of Castle Creek, where a lodge-pole factory was found that bore traces of having been in use the year before.

Jenney's first reports were discouraging. He was diligent in investigation. sinking scores of prospect holes on various creeks-those where the miners had worked and in new ground, but found little at first to justify the sanguine reports that had been given out. It was charged at the time that he purposely under- estimated the deposits, desiring to meet the views of the Interior Department. whose desire just at that period was to discourage the unlawful immigration which was every week increasing and growing to be a difficult and most exasper ating problem.

Advices from Jenney's camp on Spring Creek, July 17th, to the commissioner of Indian affairs, were more encouraging. Ile says:

I have discovered gold in paying quantities in gravel bars on both Spring and Rapid creeks, from twenty to thirty miles northeast of Harney's Peak. The deposits are the richest yet found in the hills, and are very favorably situated. There is a good head of water m the streams, amply sufficient for working purposes. The goll is derived from quart ledses of enormous dimensions in a belt of clay, slate and quartzite, twenty miles in width. cressing the hills in a northwesterly direction. At this point the clay from the bed of the stream near camp yields from four to eight cents to the pan of course scale gold, and several pieces of about the value of a dollar have been found by the soldiers. I am engaged in prospecting the value and extent of the region; about two hundred miners have deserted French Crerk and followed me here. They are journeying into the hills from all directions, and offer nr every assistance in prospecting the country. No matter how valuable the mines may be,the future great wealth of the Black Hills will be its grass lands, farms and umber The te deep and fertile and the rainfall greater and more regular than any other region west if Allegheny Mountains.

He said that about three hundred miners were at work ou the creci he estimated that there were about eight hundred whites in the hills Spring dal Rapid Creek diggings were about thirty-five miles northeast of Herney's Peak

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French Creek was being deserted-a good many miners were leaving, discouraged with the poor prospects.

It was not an uncommon comment upon these authentic reports which were frequently appearing in the public prints, that the Government would now issue another edict declaring its "unalterable purpose" to keep the whites out of the hills but had done practically nothing to prevent the trespassers if they came up from the Union Pacific Railway, and this fact being generally known, the greater rush was naturally from that direction; but in view of the paramount importance of harmony at this time ( late in July and during August) when the confidently expected treaty was being negotiated at the various Indian agencies or with the great body of the Sioux, it became necessary to impress the Indians that the Government was determined to protect them in their rights and prop- erty, and to that end the military people now became active in enforcing the prohibitive edicts.

Professor Jenney appears to have been deeply impressed with a belief that the source of the placer deposits was to be found in rich quartz veins farther north, and governed his prospecting in that direction. He was followed by many experienced miners who had worked in other gold fields, and had one or more such miners engaged with him in this expedition, one of whom claimed that where "there were limestone ridges or belts on the east side of any coun- try, and on the west gypsum, there was, lying between these formations, gold in greater or less quantities." This was true in California, Montana and Arizona, and seemed from the limited investigation of Jenney's party to be again verified in the Black Hills. Rich diggings had already been reported from farther north toward Bear Butte, and already preparations were making for a movement of the expedition, with Colonel Dodge and his command, in that direction. Camp Har- ney, in Custer's Gulch on French Creek, was abandoned late in July, and the camp removed to a point on Rapid Creek near the place where Jenney had been prospecting.

He left Rapid Creek August 13th for the north to the vicinity of Bear Butte, where Camp Terry, the third permanent camp, was established on the south fork of Bear Creek. The gold prospects in this region were reported encourag- ing by the geological corps. Rich diggings, said to have been discovered sixty miles north of French Creek, were located in this district. The command moved west August 2Ist from Camp Terry to Camp Bradley, on Inyan Creek, situated near the base of Inyan Kara. Bear Lodge, thirty miles north of Laramie Peak, was said by the Indians to contain gold, to ascertain which Professor Jenney and the scientific corps, with Lieutenant Coale and a cavalry escort, left for that region to determine not only the existence of the precious metals, but whether Bear Lodge was a mountain or a mountain range. Professors Jenney and New- ton geologized Bear Butte, Crow Peak, Spear Fish Canyon or as it was called, Grand Canyon, and Red Water Valley, and reported immense deposits of car- boniferous limestones extending from east to west, but no mineral of any kind was discovered. Here the work of the expedition closed.

Jenney's official report, published on succeeding pages, will give an account of his investigations after abandoning Rapid Creek.

CROOK INDUCES MINERS TO WITHDRAW

A permanent military camp had been established in the hills in May, 1875, near Harney's Peak, by General Crook, and placed in command of Colonel Dodge, and in July the War Department issued orders anew that no one not authorized by the existing treaty, was to be admitted to the hills during the pendency of the making of a treaty which was then in progress. The military commanders were instructed to enforce the order. The emigration was at that time active from Union Pacific points which had not been so vigilantly patrolled as the routes leading out from the Missouri River.

HISTORY OF DAKOTA TERRITORY

No move appears to have been made to remove the miners or to interfere with their operations until General Crook, late in July, in a wise and temperate manner succeeded in getting the trespassing parties together, numbering many hundred, at Camp Crook, where he read to them his judiciously worded edict, requiring their removal. Ile gained his point and at the same time won the con- fidence and esteem of the large number who had in an unlawful manner made their way into the country. The willingness of the people to give cheerful obedience to the mandate of authority requiring them to abandon the country, would indicate that they were men of character, good citizens and law-abiding, and furnishes evidence that the Government would have met with no serious opposition from the trespassing class had there been an earnest and determined purpose to keep the country free from white invaders. But the policy of the Government does not indicate much more than a desire to make an apparent effort in this direction as a matter of good policy; and further that the Gov- ernment had determined to acquire the hills country and open it for white occupation.

General Crook's proclamation to the trespassers follows :

Whereas, The President of the United States has directed that no miners or other un- authorized citizens shall be allowed to remain in the Indian reservation of the Black Hills. or in the united territory of the west, until some new treaty arrangements have been made with the Indians; and

Whereas, By the same authority the undersigned is directed to occupy said reservation and territory with troops, and to remove all miners or other unauthorized people who may be now or may hereafter come to this country in violation of the treaty obligation ;

Therefore, The undersigned hereby requires every miner or unauthorized citizen to leave the territory known as the Black Ilills, the Powder River, and the Big Horn country by or before the 15th day of August, next.

He hopes that the good sense and law-abiding disposition of the miners will prompt them to obey this order without compelling a resort to force. It is suggested that the miners now in the hills assemble at the military post about to be established at Camp Harney, near the stockade on French Creek, on or about the 10th day of August ; that they then and there hold a meeting and take such steps as may seem best to them by organization and the draft- ing of proper resolutions to secure to each, when the country shall have been opened, ile benefit of his discovery and the labor he has already expended.

GEORGE CROOK.

Brig. Gen. U. S. A., Comd. Dept. of the Platte

Camp Crook, Dakota Territory, July 29, 1875.

The miners manifested a willingness to comply with the proclamation and forthwith held meetings in their various districts, at which, by resolution, they agreed to accept the conditions; and further resolved to protect the claims already taken for the use of the men now holding them for forty days after the hills shall be lawfully opened.

FOUNDING LUSTER CITY

A mass meeting was held at a point called Custer City, on French C'reck. on the 10th of August. 1875. which was attended by too miners, who had been ordered to vacate the hills under the late proclamation of General Crook, and were getting their property and affairs in as good shape as possible, in order that it might be preserved for them when they returned after the hills were lawfully opened. General Crook was present with his troops and assisted the miner- with his counsel in the work before them. The miners expressed the makes subsequently by resolution, returning thanks to the military authorities for their courtesy and moderation in executing their disagreeable duty, Prior to then presumed temporary abandonment of their camp, the miners organize l :1 passed the resolutions following :

Resolved, That we, the miners of the Black Hills, do establish a lowr to Custer City, on French Creek, in Custer's Park, about three miles af vet same to be owned by the miners of the Black Hills that a committet diriger

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elected to make laws, etc .; that we have one president, one marshal, one town clerk, one treasurer, to be elected as directors by the voters of said town; the salary of each to be agreed upon by the town directors, the said officers to be elected on the roth day of August, 1875. and their term to expire July 1, 1876. That the building now erected by the miners be occupied as the city hall to do business in, and to be under the control of the town directors. The clerk shall be in duty bound to remain until the IIth of August, 1875, to make record for each and every miner's town lot, and shall be held responsible for said record. That at the present he shall make no charge for the same.

Resolved, That the lots be distributed among the miners in space of 50 feet front, by 150 feet deep, to be drawn for at the general meeting on August 10, 1875.

Resolved. That each owner of a lot shall have four house logs on said lot on or before the first of May, 1876, and that $50 worth of improvements be made on said lot on or before June 1, 1876. Neglect of the same will leave the lot at the disposal of the city authorities.

Resolved, That all streets running cast and west, commencing at the city hall, as No. 2, or Third Street, be known by numbers ; and the avenues, commencing at Crook Avenue, City Hall corner, be known as Crook, Custer, Harney, Dodge and Pennington avenues.

A committee consisting of Messrs. Osborn, Gay and Swearingen directed the drawing of town lots in the afternoon. Officers of the town were elected, and a committee of six persons was selected to remain in the country, with the con- sent of General Crook, and protect the property of the miners. until the country should be legally opened. This was done with the consent of General Crook, who promised to apply to General Sheridan for permission to have the same carried out.

The next day the miners started out of the country, going to Laramie.

The stockade erected by the miners was within 100 yards of the cavalry camp of General Custer when he was in the gulch in 1874. The stockade was 80 feet square. constructed of heavy timber, 14 feet high from the base of the trench in which the logs were set. and II feet in height in the clear. The timber with which the wall was built was cut by the miners during the previous winter and the temperature became so frigid at times that the mercury congealed, mean- ing that it was 40° below zero. Strict precautions were taken by the miners to prevent freezing. During the work of its erection the miners occupied a number of tents in a finely sheltered ravine. The logs were hauled or "skidded" over the snow. There were four or five bastions connected with the stockade, each five feet square. The miners must have been impressed with imminent danger from the Indians. The timbers composing the wall were sharpened and the logs pinned together, thus forming a defensive bulwark that could easily have been defended against a thousand Indians armed only with rifles. It would have required cannon balls to have made an opening in the walls. Within the structure were a number of well built log cabins. strong and well adapted to camp life in the hills country. The only way of ingress was through a strong gate of six-inch logs. After the miners were taken out, a band of Indians, presumably, gained entrance to the stockade and cabins, and carried off a number of wagons and a quantity of cabin furniture. The structure stood within thirty feet of French Creek, where the dirt "yielded pay in every pan."

FIRST MINING DISTRICT

The first mining district formed in the Black Hills was organized by a con- pany of Dakotans operating on French Creek, on the 29th of May, 1875. It was called the Cheyenne Mining District. Mr. Z. Swearingen, of Yankton, was president of the miner's meeting that organized the district, which was described as follows :

Beginning at a point on French Creek known as the stockade, running west to the headwaters of said French Creek, thence north to the summit of the hill, thence east along the said summit to a point north of the stockade, and thence south to the stockade, including all the streams, springs, and waters within said description.

Each citizen of the United States was given the right to hold a placer claim of twenty acres square. No holder of a claim was allowed to empty his sluices

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or tailings, or deposit strippings upon any land or claim held by another person, without written permission of such holder. Every miner to have the right to make a drain ditch through the land opening his own for the purpose of drain- age, provided he does not cause damage to such adjoming claim or claims.

Every miner shall have the right to hold 1,500 feet of a claim on quartz lodges, with all the dips, depths, spurs, angles or accretion- and 150 feet of surface land on each side of the crevice of said claim.

Eight persons forming a company may hold 100 acres for mining purposes only. Claims must be recorded within ten days from day of discovery. Every claim shall be represented every thirty days from the ist of May to the 15th of November of each year. The recorder was allowed Si for recording the certificate. Z. Swearingen was elected president of the district, and Wilham HI. Costell, recorder.

B. IL. JENNEY'S OFFICIAL REPORT

Professor Jenney's official report of his Black Hills survey in 1875, was submitted to the secretary of the interior November rith, as follows:

In compliance with your request for preliminary statements respecting the mineral and agricultural resources of the Black 1fills in Dakota and the work done under my direction during the past summer in exploring and mapping that portion of the territory, I live the honor to make the following report in brief : In accordance with instructions received ir m you under date of March 27th, I fitted out the expedition at Cheyenne, Wyoming, and pro- ceeded to Fort Laramie, where I was joined by an escort of six companies of cavalry and two companies of infantry, under command of Col. R. I. Dodge. My party consisted i llenry Newton, assistant geologist; V. F. McGillicuddy, topographer ; Capt. H. P. futile, astronomer; and W. H. Root, head miner, assisted by a number of prospectors, laborers, and practical miners.

The expedition left Fort Laramie May 25th, and reached the southern base of the Black Ilills on June 3d, after a march of about one hundred and thirty-five miles, and camped i pon the east fork of Beaver Creek, when the work of exploring the hills was immediately entered upon and continued unceasingly until the return of the expedition to Fort Laramie, October 23d. nearly five months.

The Black Ilills of Dakota are located between the two forks of the Cheyenne River. and occupying an area included between the 103d and the 105th mericians a longitude, and the forty-third and forty-fifth parallels of latitude; they extend about one Lun red mile in a northerly direction, with a breadth of from forty to sixty miles The 10th m sidan. which is the boundary between Wyoming and Dakota, passes through th central peru ni the hills, leaving the greater area in the Territory of Dakota.

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History of Dakota Territory, volume I, Part 156

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