CURRENCY. 



DAKOTA. 



245 



1861 to 1875 to from about 40 to 80 million 

 dollars, which latter rate of production will 

 probably not decline in the near future. 2. The 

 cessation of the Indian demand for silver, of 

 which metal 270 million dollars were imported 

 in the 4 years from 1862 to 1866, in payment for 

 cotton an average of over 67 millions a year 

 and of which in the following 4 years 35 mill- 

 ions a year were received and expended in the 

 construction of public works, for which India 

 is to that amount in debt to England, and her 

 silver-receiving capacity is proportionately di- 

 minished, so that, in the last 4 years, the net 

 silver imports have been only 10 million dollars 

 per annum. 3. The demonetization of silver 

 in Germany, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, 

 and the limitation of its coinage in Holland and 

 the Latin Union, which acts were impelled by, 

 rather than originally caused, the rapid decline 

 in the value of this metal. England adopted 

 the single gold standard 60 years ago, and 

 confined the silver circulation to a limited vol- 

 ume of token currency, which is overvalued 

 6 per cent., and only tender for 40s. Eng- 

 lish gold coins are now received at their full 

 value in all parts of the world, and are the 

 recognized medium for the payment of bal- 

 ances in international trade. It was to secure 

 the advantages of this system, and to avoid the 

 evils of a circulating medium of falling and un- 

 certain value, that Germany adopted the single 

 gold standard, making the unit of account, 

 the 20-mark piece, 5d. less than the sovereign 

 and 3d. less than the 25-franc piece, in or- 

 der to insure its exchange with those coins, 

 while preserving it from destruction. The 

 other European countries are adopting, or seem 



disposed to adopt, the single gold standard. A 

 double standard is a fallacy, and never has ex- 

 isted in fact in any country. France had a silver 

 currency for 40 years after the establishment of 

 the legal ratio in 1803, and a gold currency 

 after that metal sank in worth in consequence 

 of the Californian and Australian discoveries. 

 Her recent action in restricting the coinage of 

 silver is in reality an acceptance of the single 

 gold standard. Mr. Bowen considered it equal- 

 ly impracticable to maintain a paper circula- 

 tion on an equal footing with a metallic cur- 

 rency, thus attempting to establish a triple 

 standard, or to preserve both metals in con- 

 current circulation. He advised the adoption 

 of a simple gold standard, changing the weight 

 of the coins, making them three-fifths of a grain 

 in the dollar lighter, the dollar to contain 22.6 

 grains of pure gold, thus making the half-eagle 

 almost exactly equal in value to the English 

 sovereign, and little variant from the French 

 and German units of value. This alteration, 

 besides the paramount advantage of facilitating 

 international commercial transactions, would 

 reduce the premium on the gold dollar from 5^ 

 to 3 per cent., and help toward specie resump- 

 tion. The quantity of the precious metals in 

 the country on January 1, 1877, was not less 

 than 220 millions, an amount sufficient to main- 

 tain specie payments. The silver-token coin- 

 age, he recommended, should be enlarged, pre- 

 serving the present standard of 345.6 grains 

 of pure silver, the same to be issued in ex- 

 change for one and two dollar notes, which 

 shall be canceled, and to be legal tender up to 

 $20, and receivable at the Treasury for all 

 Government dues except import-duties. 



D 



DAKOTA. With respect to the Black Hills, 

 a judicious correspondent, writing from Dead- 

 wood, under date of October 12th, finds the 

 situation much more favorable than he had 

 anticipated ; not so much from the amount of 

 gold actually taken out, as from the prepara- 

 tions for methodical work which have been 

 made for the development of the quartz mines, 

 which are now the prominent, and are, doubt- 

 less, to be the permanent, industry of this 

 region. It may be said, with confidence, that 

 the gulch mines, upon which everybody based 

 the riches of the Black Hills country up to thia 

 Bummer, have been nearly exhausted. Ouster 

 City, the first camp in this country, and at one 

 time quite a city, is almost deserted. The 

 gulches in that vicinity have not "panned 

 out" aa was expected. Castleton, on Castle 

 Creek, is meeting with the same fate. Rapid 

 City, on Rapid Creek, is still there ; but the 

 miners in the vicinity are not getting anything 

 better than " grub stakes." In fact, the in- 

 dustry, population, and trade of the Black 

 Hills country are nearly all centred about Dead- 



wood, Gayville, and Central City, within a 

 radius of 10 miles. The population within 

 this area is about 12,000, a good deal less than 

 in midsummer. It will remain about the same 

 through the winter. There are still many out- 

 lying camps in different directions, and, per- 

 haps, a population of 5,000 or 6,000 scattered 

 through them. The principal large towns are 

 Deadwood, Gayville, Central City, Lead City, 

 Lancaster City, Pennington, and Galena City. 

 The population of Deadwood is about 4,000 ; 

 Gayville, 1,200; Central City, 1,500; Lead 

 City, 1,000 ; Lancaster City, Pennington, and 

 Galena City, together about 2,000. 



The progress made in milling ores may be 

 seen from the following statistics : 



Making, in all, 20 stamp-mills, carrying 280 



