234 



GEOLOGY OF THE BLACK HILLS. 



it could be thoroughly tested and the richness of the deposit proved to be 

 constant and regular. 



John W. Allen, of Cheyenne, an experienced miner, and one of the 

 best prospectors I ever knew, in a letter to the Chicago Inter-Ocean, gives 

 the results of this sluicing, in which he assisted the owners of the bar : 



Cheyenne, Wyoming Territory, 



August 30, 1875. 



To the Editor of the Inter- Ocean: 



* * # # # * # 



I waited last spring for the country to be thrown open by this Indian treaty now 

 pending, and, becoming impatient, I concluded to do as hundreds of others did, to start 

 into the Hills, and on the 12th of July landed in Custer Park, and being an expe- 

 rienced miner, I had doubts in regard to French Creek paying, because of there being 

 no fall to the creek and scarcely any water. But I found one set of sluice-boxes about 

 to be set up, and I went to work and helped to fix them, and then worked one day and 

 weighed the dust, and found that the ground paid $9 per day to the hand of fine dust, 

 although I am sure this creek will not average that all the way through the gulch. 



JOHN W. ALLEK 



John Roberson, an old California miner of the "days of '49," had 

 discovered very good prospects on an elevated bar near the stockade, 

 and, building a dam, conveyed the water from the creek in a small ditch to 

 the face of the drift. In the mean time the soldiers had become quite 

 excited over the discovery, and were hard at work with pans and rockers 

 washing the pay dirt from off bed-rock. For several days they were quite 

 successful. From 16 to 26 colors were obtained to the pan One soldier 

 found a piece of gold valued at 20 cents; another a small nugget weighing 

 about a pennyweight, worth 97 cents, and 24 buckets of gravel gave on 

 washing an average of 12 cents gold. On drifting in on the bar the pay 

 streak rose, and was found among the bowlders nearly 18 inches above the 

 bed-rock. The section of this gravel deposit was as follows: 



Soil 1 foot. 



Gravel and bowlders . 4 feet. 



Clayey compact gravel containing the gold 6 inches. 



Decomposed bed-rock and bowlders 1 foot. 



Micaceous schist forming bed-rock. 



