Fifteen miles north of Spring Creek, following the Deadwood road from Custer, we reach Rapid Creek, just half way between Deadwood City and Custer, and in the very center of the Black Hills gold region. It is one of the most beautiful of the mountain streams, its water being as clear as crystal and delightfully cool in the hottest weather. It has an average width of about twelve feet, an average depth of fifteen inches, and is the only stream in the eastern part of the Hills which flows continuously the year through. It was on this stream, as credibly reported, that the Indians found and presented to Father De Smet many years ago a gold nugget worth several dollars, the Father being camped there with the Indians at the time. Here we have what the old miner would call “the regular old-fashioned gold wash.” In the pebbly bed of Rapid a great deal of water-worn quartz is found, and the contiguous hills, gulches, and bars prospect richly, as a rule. It is generally believed that Rapid Creek will prove the most productive portion of the Black Hills. When the necessary fluming shall have been made to cover this rich, high ground with water, so that a system of hydraulics can be carried, the yield must be enormous.
The Rapid diggings are many miles in extent, and will give employment, when fully developed, to many miners. Some very promising gold-bearing quartz veins have been discovered in Rapid Creek district, and silver discoveries have lately been reported from there.
I am indebted for much of my information concerning the Black Hills to Mr. H. N. Maguire, who has made a careful examination of the country. He is very enthusiastic about its future prospects, and in summing up the resources of the region, he says:
“I may be over-sanguine, but I believe all those vast regions drained by the southern tributaries of the Yellowstone, or the major portion of them, comprise the richest mineral fields on the continent—gold, silver, copper, iron, and coal; and perhaps platinum, quicksilver, and other metals. They have all the other natural elements of imperial wealth and expansion: good soil, illimitable pasturage, health-giving climate, and a temperature delightful in summer, and very endurable in winter. Now that the Indians are about whipped into submission, I have no doubt emigration will pour thither in unprecedented numbers, soon resulting in an unbroken chain of industries, from the corn fields of Dakota to the stock ranges of the Yellowstone. The farmer and miner will sustain each other, while both will need and will be able to generously remunerate the artisan and tradesman. Honest industry in every field can not fail to be crowned with success.”
When perusing the estimates of the gold-yield of the Black Hills, we come to the conclusion that the total yield has been, for the year 1876, about $2,000,000.
YIELD OF GOLD-PRODUCING COUNTRIES.
Let us compare this with the yield of the other gold-producing countries:
| California produced in 1848 (estimated), | $3,826,230 |
| In 1849 (returns manifested), | 4,921,250 |
| In 1850 (returns manifested), | 27,676,346 |
These are the first three years of the California gold fever. It is difficult, at this late date, to calculate the exact amount of gold kept in the hands of miners, as specimens, and as a circulating medium, during the first year (1848), but suppose we place the amount at $173,770 (which is a liberal estimate), we have then $4,000,000 as the yield of gold in 1848. Taking into account all the amounts which usually escape the official returns, and also the amounts buried by the miners until their return to the states, the most liberal estimates of these, added to the official returns, can hardly place the yield of gold from this state in 1848 over $10,000,000.
Nevada produced from her placer mines from 1849, the year of the discovery, to 1859, when they ceased working them, both years inclusive, only $400,000. This was produced, however, mostly by Chinese miners, of whom there were only about 200 in the mines. It will be remembered, also, that the placers of Nevada were never very remunerative, and that they decreased in the amount of yield as we approach the final year, 1859.