1867.] 325 [Ilayden. 



erable stream, from thirty to fifty yards wide. In the spring the 

 river is much swollen, and the current exceedingly rapid, and the 

 timber, if cut and hauled to the banks of the river, might be floated 

 down into the Missouri with con.'^iderable safety and ease." 



When I wrote the above paragraph, I did not foresee that this 

 Western country would be so soon settled almost within sight of the 

 Black Hills. When I ascended the Missouri for the first time in 

 1853, Kansas was a wild Indian Territory and Government agents 

 driving from it all white men who n)ight be attempting to gain a 

 foothold there. Now Kansas is a State, Nebraska has just become 

 one, and Colorado is knocking loudly at the door, and must soon be 

 admitted. Then will follow in quick succession, Dakota, Montana, 

 and Idaho. Since 1853, I have explored with more or less minute- 

 ness, the Territories of Kansas, Nebraska, Dakota, Montana, Idaho, 

 and Colorado, and I need hardly say that I have watched with the 

 deepest interest every step in the progress of their advancement. 



Some objection njight arise in regard to the climate and the fertil- 

 ity of the soil in the vicinity of the Black Hills. I would reply that 

 on the 9th of March, 1855, 1 gathered flowers on the foot-hills of the 

 mountains, and the green grass was springing up everywhere, and 

 the antelopes were sunning themselves in flocks upon the hillsides. 

 Spring had fairly come. For a considerable distance either way from 

 the mountains, the soil is quite fertile, and would, in my opinion, be 

 adapted to the cultivation of any of the cereals which are raised in 

 our Western States. 



The next question that arises, pertains to the mineral resources of 

 the Black Hills. I will not speak of their geological structure in de- 

 tail at this time, but reserve that for a future period. The gold and 

 most of the valuable minerals along the eastern slope of the Rocky 

 Mountains, are found in the metamorphic, or as they are sometimes 

 called the azoic (destitute of organic life) rocks, that is crystalline, 

 limestones, slates, quartz beds, &c. These rocks occur around the 

 Black Hills with a thickness of one thousand to two thousand feet. 

 To what extent the precious metals will be found in these rocks I 

 will not attempt to foretell. My facilities for examinination were very- 

 poor, and only a superficial one could be made; but enough was de- 

 termined to show that gold and silver occurs in greater or less quan- 

 tities, and that all the other minerals occur in abundance. Gypsum 

 is found in beds from ten to fifty feet in thickness — beautiful snowy 

 gypsum. 



The nucleus of the Black Hills is formed by red feldspathic gran- 



