THUNDER STORMS. 311 



hail, which was piled in winrows against every projection on the ground. 

 Quickly veering back again to the west, the rain came, mixed with hail, 

 driving before the blast. And then the storm raged with all its fury; flash 

 after flash of chain-lightning followed in quick succession, extending verti- 

 cally from the low, overhanging cloud to the ground, and striking at nearly 

 every discharge among the trees on the surrounding hills. The thunder 

 was incessant, and the crashing, increased by the reverberations from the 

 surrounding rocky cliffs, was so continuous that it could not be referred to 

 any particular flash. The wind shifted nearly all around the compass in 

 the direction of the motion of the hands of a watch. The storm passed by 

 in half an hour, the last rain coming from the southeast. The sun shone 

 brightly once more, while to the east, down the valley, the cloud could be 

 seen hiding every thing from view, but illuminated every moment by flashes 

 of lightning extending to the ground On examining several dishes which 

 had been left out in the rain, I found that in about twenty to thirty minutes 

 an inch of water had fallen. One of the miners came into camp shortly 

 afterward and reported that he had been caught out on the top of a neigh- 

 boring hill during the storm, and that two trees near him were struck by 

 lightning and thrown to the ground in fragments. The Indians are said to 

 desert the Hills in the summer on account of the lightning, and I can easily 

 understand that a band of superstitious Indians, after experiencing such a 

 storm, especially if any of their number were injured by lightning, would 

 forever forsake the locality. 



SECTION II. 

 WATER SUPPLY. 



To a settler in a new country no question is of greater importance 

 than the purity and abundance of the supply of water, and in this respect 

 the Black Hills are unequaled by any region in the "Great West." 



A glance at the map shows, by the innumerable branches of the creeks 

 and the intricate nature of the topography, that it is an extremely well- 

 watered country. Springs are found in almost every ravine. Nearly all 

 the small head-branches of the creeks are running brooks of pure water, 



