DISPATCH TO THE COMMISSIONEB. 245 



A number of pans of the pay gravel were washed with a result of from 

 one to two grains troy of coarse gold, or 4 to 8 cents to the pan. The 

 average of the whole thickness of clay and gravel was nearly 4 cents to 

 the pan, while the pay streak would give returns considerably higher if 

 washed separately. A pit was sunk in the bank of the creek, and the pay 

 streak found equally rich. At a depth of 5 feet from the surface several 

 inches of garnet- gravel overlaid a yellow clay a foot in thickness, resting 

 on rotten slate and quartz bed-rock The average result on panning the 

 clay and gravel of this pit was about 4 cents to the pan. Subsequently I 

 saw the soldiers of the escort obtain from 10 to 15 cents to the pan from 

 the pay streak in this pit. After prospecting for several days in the vicinity 

 it became evident that my small force of miners unassisted could not in a 

 season properly examine the gravel deposits along this section of Spring 

 Creek, and after exploring Rapid Creek I returned to this locality July 14, 

 with Captain Burt's and Captain Munson's companies of the Ninth Infantry. 

 The fact that gold had been struck in paying quantities caused the first 

 stampede in the Hills, and nearly two hundred miners followed me from 

 French Creek, staked out claims, established a mining district, and rendered 

 me subsequently great assistance in prospecting the region. 



After a few days' work, comparing my results with those obtained by 

 the miners who had staked claims for several miles along the creek above 

 and below my camp, the following dispatch was, through the kindness of 

 Col. R. I. Dodge, commanding the escort, sent by special courier to Fort 

 Laramie and telegraphed to Washington: 



Camp on Spring Creek, Black Hills of Dakota, 



July 17, 1875. 

 To Hon. E. P. Smith, 



Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Washington, B. C. : 

 I have discovered geld in paying quantities in gravel bars on both Spring and 

 Eapid Creeks, from twenty to thirty miles northeast of Harney Peak. 



The deposits are the richest yet found in the Hills, and are very favorably situ- 

 ated. There is a good head of water in the streams, amply sufficient for working 

 purposes. 



The gold is derived from quartz ledges of enormous dimensions in a belt of clay- 

 slate and quartzite twenty miles in width, crossing the Hills in a northwesterly direc- 

 tion at this point. The clay from the bed of the stream near camp yields from 4 to 8 • 



