226 GEOLOGY OF THE BLACK HILLS. 



The miners, for convenience in making- laws to govern the recording 

 and locating- of claims, have divided the gold-field into different districts, 

 which division I shall follow as closely as possible in considering the value 

 and character of the gold deposits. 



SECTION II. 



THE FRENCH CEEEK DISTRICT. 



In the French Creek district is embraced all the area of granitic and 

 schistose rocks surrounding Harney Peak and forming the southern portion 

 of the Hills, bounded by Spring Creek on the north, and including the 

 placer gravels in the valleys of Wiwi Creek, Custer Gulch or French 

 Creek, Amphibious, Minnekata, and Red Canon Creeks, streams draining 

 this region and emptying into the south fork of the Cheyenne. 



Before discussing the value and extent of the gold deposits it is nec- 

 essary to describe briefly the topography and geological formation of this 

 district, which presents, in the immense development of granitic rocks, a 

 feature peculiar solely to this section of the Black Hills. 



The Harney Peak range, and the country included between it and 

 the foothills on the eastern slope, is an exceedingly rugged and mountain- 

 ous region, heavily wooded with pine and cut into innumerable deep 

 ravines by a net-work of small streams flowing in a general southeasterly 

 direction, but sinking before they reach the plains. These small creeks are 

 full of beaver dams, and the bottoms of the gorges are overgrown with a 

 perfect jungle of oak, elm, birch, elder, and grape-vines, making it almost 

 impossible to descend the valley of the stream, and comj^elling the explorer 

 in this wilderness to travel across the steep and broken rocky ridges, where, 

 except he be fortunate enough to climb some of the few commanding peaks, 

 he cannot see but a short distance in any direction, owing to the densely- 

 wooded and broken character of the region. It is useless to look for any 

 main divide which can be followed in traversing this mountainous section; 

 the whole area is broken into innumerable granite peaks and ridges without 

 any apparent system w^hatever, except thai the drainage is in a general 

 southeasterly direction toward the open plains. The effects of erosion are 



