Soon a house of some kind was constructed on nearly all the lots contained in the town site of 640 acres, the hopeful owners believing they had a San Francisco in embryo. Notwithstanding that danger from hostile Indians existed everywhere, even in the very suburbs of the town, prospectors pushed their enterprise in all directions, and soon the auriferous deposits of Spring and Rapid Creeks, to the northward, were covered with miners’ claims and embraced in mining districts. During the winter of 1875-6, Deadwood and Whitewood gulches were reached 70 miles north of Custer City, and were also claimed throughout their extent.
THE MINES.
One claim in the former, No. 1 below discovery, was offered in February of 1876, for a sack of flour and corresponding amount of bacon, and a few months later had produced gold to the amount of $250,000. The number of mines in the Hills on the first of July, 1876, was estimated at 6,500, about half of which were settled in and about Deadwood City. Crook City, 10 miles below Deadwood, at the mouth of Whitewood, contained about 500 inhabitants; Hill City, on Spring Creek, had 150 houses and less than a score of inhabitants; and the mountains were pretty generally filled with prospectors.
An old placer miner, upon his first view of French Creek, would shrug his shoulders and say, “This don’t suit me.” The creek has a low, sluggish flow, the fall being very slight, and the natural advantages for mining are very bad. But there are millions in the auriferous deposits of French Creek, and the gold is the purest ever found on the American continent, the mint returns showing it to be worth $24 an ounce. The deposits are so flat, and the water supply so limited, that these diggings are not likely to be a successful field for the labor of the poor man. They can only be handled by company organizations controlling considerable capital. Steam hydraulics have been suggested; they would undoubtedly be successful on the adjacent hills and some of the higher bars, could an adequate supply of water be obtained.
The French Creek deposits are very extensive, the main gulch being miles in length, and having some promising tributaries, and they will give employment to several thousand men, when fully opened.
The quartz interests about Custer City are important. Many gold-bearing ledges have been discovered, some of which are being developed as vigorously as the limited means of their owners will permit. The mica deposits are worthy of note. Blocks of pure mica are obtained, which will shelve off in unfractured plates of from six to twelve inches square; it is found in inexhaustible quantities, and is pronounced of good commercial quality, being worth from four to six dollars a pound in the markets. This may become an important source of wealth.
THE DEPOSITS.
The Spring Creek deposits are 18 miles north of Custer, on the road to Deadwood. In their topography and geological formation, they look much more favorable for gold than French Creek district, being nearer and more directly connected with the eruptive portions of the Hills. Rich deposits are found in Creek Hill gulch, and bar ground, and they are extensive enough to give thousands employment. But the Spring Creek deposits, like those of French, demand capital for their development.
The creek ground lies more advantageously to be worked than that about Custer, but it is so very deep that much money must be expended in preliminary work before pay can be realized, and water can only be brought over the hills and higher bars by means of a great deal of costly fluming. Capitalists are now directing their attention to Spring Creek district, and, no doubt, several millions will be realized from it within a few years. The Spring Creek quartz interests are also important. Many very promising veins have been located, and crossing Spring Creek there is a quartz belt which is said to be 1,000 feet wide and over 30 miles long. Here, as along French Creek, there is an abundance of the finest wood for timbering shafts, fuel, building, etc. The formations are granite and slate, with lime often capping through the primitive rocks.
RAPID CREEK.