Central and Northern Wyom
ing—Big Horn Country, and
the BlacFHills >■
To the majority of our citizens
that portion of Wyoming Territory
watered by the Big Horn, Tongue,
Powder and Cheyenne rivers is as
yet, comparatively speaking, a terra ■
incognita. Little is known of its
climate, soil, mineral resources, etc.,
compared to other portions of the 1
Territory, except from the reports of 1
Jesuits, a few Indian trappers of the >
“ Jim Bridger” style, and the ob- i
servations of an occasional army of- '
fleer who has threaded a pathway 1
in his report to the government, <
which is chiefly interesting as show- 1
inga wonderful adaptation to follow :
the most crooked and serpentine ’
courses imaginable. The reports of '
those military wanderers are made
up of atmospheric prognostics, daily i
distances rambled over, and “wood, i
water and grass” accompaniments. <
Notwithstanding the meager in- 1
formation contained in a majority of
these “reports” in relation to the 1
mineral wealth, the pastoral advan- •
tage, fertility of soil and salubrity of <
climate of central and northern s
Wyoming, enough is known to war- *
rant us in asserting that in all these (
qualities it is unsurpassed by any ‘
portion of America. *
The existence of the precious met- f
als, both in placer and quartz mines, (
is positively known in the famous ’
Black Hills, encircled by the forks ’
of the Cheyenne river. Old resi
dents of Fort Laramie well romeni- i
her the time when the Indians who ]
inhabit that section, were in the <
habit of bringing in specimens of i
gold, and trafficking the same away 1
to traders. The half-breeds and ‘
trappers on the Upper Missouri are
also conversant with the exhibition i
and sale of gold by those same In- ’
dians to the fur traders, from time '
to time, until within the past ten or <
twelve years. They are also famil
iar with the traditions among the I
Indians relative to the existence of
rich gold mines in that portion of :
our young Territory, the exact lo- <
cality being often surmised by those '
greedy for gain, but Carefully con- i
coaled by the gentle savage. 