SECTION VII-WYOMING TERRITORY.

CHAPTER LI.

THE SWEETWATER DISTRICT.

Although the mines of this district attracted considerable attention as early as 1868, it was impossible to collect out of the mass of contradicting reports anything like reliable information before the completion of the Union Pacific railroad was an established fact. Since that event, however, took place, safer and more direct communication with a region so near to the national highway between the East and West has enabled me to communicate the following detailed description of the mineral resources of this important section of the new Territory of Wyoming, as far as they are known at present.

SITUATION AND APPROACH.

The Sweetwater mines are situate in Carter County, Wyoming Territory, in about latitude 4210 north, and longitude 109° west of Greenwich, some fifty miles in a direct line north of Point of Rocks Station, on Bitter Creek, Union Pacific railroad, and about twelve miles north of the South Pass on the old California overland route. They are reached via the town of Bryan, Union Pacific railroad, Green River Ferry, Big Sandy Creek, Little Sandy Creek, the Pacific Springs, and South Pass City, one of the principal mining towns of the district. The distance between Bryan and South Pass City is one hundred miles. Mr. Benham has established a daily line of coaches between these two points, who carry passengers through in twelve hours for twenty dollars. This line carries also Wells, Fargo & Co.'s Express. Another more direct route leaves Point of Rocks Station in a northern direction and reaches South Pass City by way of Black Rocks and Sweetwater Station, on the overland road. The distance amounts to about seventy miles. Mr. Laramie runs a daily line of coaches on this route and carries passengers for ten dollars.

The distance from Sacramento, California, to Bryan is 914 miles; from Omaha to Bryan, 860; and from Point of Rocks to Bryan, 53 miles. Freight is carried from Bryan to South Pass City, at the rate of from one and three-quarters to two cents per pound, and from Chicago at from four and a half to six cents.

The three principal mining towns are South Pass City, Atlantic City, and Hamilton. The two latter are situate respectively four and eight miles northeast from the former, and in communication with it by coaches running twice a day.

From the above it appears that the district is of easy access from the eastern as well as the western States. The completion of the Union Pacific railroad has done wonders in this once so remote part of the country. It has caused the organization of the new Territory of Wyoming; it has opened the extensive coal-fields at Carbon, Black Buttes,

Point of Rocks, Bitter Creek, Evanston, and elsewhere, and given a new impetus to the development of the vast and really valuable mineral resources of the Sweetwater district, which before were almost out of reach on account of the remoteness of the locality and the danger from Indians. It is much to be regretted, however, that the line of railroad does not follow the California overland road through South Pass. The heavy grade and the severe winter snows of the Black Hills, as well as the terrible Bitter Creek desert, might have been avoided by such a course.

All the old hunters and mountaineers, who have had long experience in this region, agree that a grand mistake was made in locating the railroad where it now is. They assert that a far better route and a very gradual and easy ascent of the mountains could have been gained by passing up the North Platte to the mouth of Sweetwater, up this stream to South Pass proper, thence to the Big Sandy and down to Green River; that, following this route, the road would have passed through a country rich in mineral and agricultural resources; that it could have been built at much less expense, and that no snows would have impeded transportation in the winter.

GENERAL OROGRAPHICAL AND HYDROGRAPHICAL FEATURES.

About thirty miles northwest of South Pass City, the main range of the Rocky Mountains, here called Sweetwater and Wind River Mountains, rises with its snow-covered peaks high above the surrounding prairies and highlands. It is seen at a great distance and breaks the monotony of the scenery very agreeably. Its general characteristics vary in no way from those of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado and New Mexico. In a southeastern direction, however, toward South Pass and the Black Hills, this high range breaks off rather suddenly, and mountainous highlands with low, undulating hills form its continuation. The hills rise generally not more than five hundred feet above the streams and gulches, which, intersecting the country in all directions, descend very gradually. Some of the creeks flow north into Beaver Creek, a tributary to the Wind River, which by the Big Horn and Yellowstone sends its waters to the Missouri; others running easterly into the Sweetwater are tributaries of the North Platte; still others, flowing in a southwestern direction into Green River and thence into the Colorado, reach the Pacific Ocean. To illustrate the hydrographical features of this region by a very striking case, I might mention the occurrence of two springs near South Pass, about twelve miles south of South Pass City; they are close together, but one of them sends its waters to the Pacific, the other to the Atlantic Ocean.

Spring Gulch, on which the town of Hamilton is situated, empties like Yankee and Meadow Gulches into Beaver Creek. Strawberry Creek, Rock Creek, and Willow Creek flow into the Sweetwater. On the two latter Atlantic City and South Pass City are located. Cariso Gulch and Big and Little Hermit Gulches empty into Willow Gulch.

The Sweetwater River.-This stream heads in a beautiful little lake on the western slope of the Sweetwater Mountains, about forty miles northwest of South Pass City. It runs about one hundred and fifty miles in an easterly direction and finally empties into the North Platte. The headwaters of Big and Little Sandy Creeks, which flow into the Green River, are close to those of the Sweetwater.

All along the course of the latter stream are large tracts of land well adapted to agriculture, and gold is found from the little lake to the

Platte River in the sand and gravel of the banks and the stream. The decayed remnants of sluice-boxes, which are found on the upper Sweetwater, suggest that long before the late rush to these regions, miners have worked here for gold. I shall revert to this point hereafter in the historical account of this district.

The Green River has its source in Lake Matheson-so called in honor of its discoverer. This beautiful sheet of water is situate about one hundred and twenty-five miles northwest of South Pass City, on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains. The Green River traverses, on its way southward, fertile valleys and prairies containing an immense extent of arable land. Extensive gold-bearing gravel deposits were discovered a few years ago by a party of hunters, and the facilities for hydraulic mining are such that it is confidently believed these deposits can be worked very profitably. The country about the head of Little Sandy, one of the tributaries of Green River, is thickly timbered. Lumber will square here as much as 30 inches. Galena has been found near the same stream.

Its

The Wind River.—The source of this river is on the eastern slope of the Wind River Mountains; the valley of the same name lies about thirty miles northeast of the principal mining districts on the Sweetwater. It is conceded by competent judges to be one of the largest and most beautiful valleys between the Missouri and the Pacific Ocean. average width is about eight miles; its length is variously estimated at from one hundred and fifty to two hundred miles. Wind River empties into the Big Horn, which is a tributary to the Yellowstone and Missouri. The banks of the river and those of the numerous smaller streams feeding it are thickly covered with a growth of large cottonwood trees; the mountain sides adjacent to the valleys abound in the finest pine and fir forests. The soil of the valley is a dark loam, capable of producing all the crops raised on a Missouri River bottom farm. The climate in winter

is very mild; snow never falls to a depth exceeding six or eight inches. This, as well as the abundance of game found in the valley, has induced many of our old hunters and several Indian tribes to winter here year after year. No finer grazing country can be found in the United States. About fifty ranges are taken up by white men for agricultural purposes, and the fruits of their industry will find ready sale at the mining camps for years.

Coal and petroleum are said to have been found in several parts of the valley; in its upper end a very strong spring of hot sulphur water has been discovered.

HISTORY OF THE SWEETWATER MINES.

The earlier history of these mines is comparatively unknown. An interesting account is given in an article in the "Sweetwater Mines" o March 24, 1869, a short abstract of which may be appropriate here, as illustrating the many hardships and disappointments to which our early western pioneers have been so often subjected.

Gold in the Sweetwater district was first discovered in 1842 by a Georgian, who came here with the American Fur Company for the recovery of his health. After remaining a year he started for home, intending to organize a company and bring them here to work the mines. He never reached his home, however, and was supposed to have been killed by Indians. Thirteen years elapsed, when a party of forty men arrived here. They prospected the whole length of the Sweetwater, found gold everywhere in the river as well as in all its tributaries, and turned the main stream from its channel for 400 yards. A small shaft,

eight feet deep, from which they took from two to ten cents worth of gold per pan, was sunk and worked for some time. Winter approaching, they abandoned their enterprise to winter at Fort Laramie, where they intended to provision themselves for a year and get a supply of necessary tools in the spring. This done they started, but when on their way two days they were overtaken by United States dragoons, and brought back to the fort; the leader was sent to prison for some imaginary offense, and the property of the company was confiscated. In 1858 the leader returned to this region, but did no mining until the summer of 1860, when he and eight others commenced mining on Strawberry Creek. Their rotten sluices, rockers, and toms remain there to the present day. During 1861 mining was abandoned, because men could make more money putting up hay, delivering telegraph poles, &c., for the Overland Stage Company. In the fall of 1861, however, fifty-two men had collected at South Pass City ready to commence mining in the early spring of 1862. Their locations were selected, and prospects were promising, when, like a thunderbolt, the Shoshone Indians broke down on them, robbed them of everything and drove them off. This put a stop to mining operations until the fall of 1866, when a party, led by the same man who guided all the former expeditions, came down from Virginia City, Montana. They wintered on the Sweetwater, and June 8, 1867, the Cariso lode was discovered by H. S. Reedall. Á mining district was organized and called Shoshone district. Mining laws were agreed upon and regulations entered into by the pioneers.

Reedall and his party commenced working the Cariso lode, when they were attacked by Indians, who killed three of them and drove off the remainder. The survivors returned to the mines July 28, and remained over winter. They succeeded in extracting from the croppings of the lode, which they crued in a hand-mortar, $1,600 in gold. Seven thousand

which they crashed out of the detritus in the gulch below the

dollars more they

vein. The news of this success spread rapidly and was greatly exaggerated. A great rush commenced from the neighboring Territories, but the majority of the adventurers, not finding the facts to bear out the reports, left very soon. Only about five hundred remained and went to work. Their labor was well rewarded, and gradually more population was attracted, so that in July, 1869, 2,000 people had settled here. They were doing well and apparently satisfied with the results already reached, and their future prospects. Although all those persons came to the district poor they had three mills with twenty-six stamps running, and several arrastras were in operation.

Among the fifteen hundred lodes discovered a great number are necessarily worthless; but many have proved to be sufficiently rich for profitable working, and capital is beginning to be invested. Twelve mills, with one hundred and sixty-one stamps, will soon be running, and on the whole the future of the district looks bright and cheerful. The gold occurs principally free in veins of quartz. Many of these have been opened and worked by shafts and surface pits, but the extent of country prospected and explored so far is so small that a much greater number may be confidently expected to exist. The placer-workings, too, are as yet of a comparatively limited extent, and the area of untouched ground which might be profitably worked by hydraulics is very large.

GEOLOGICAL SKETCH.

The geological formation of the country around South Pass City, Atlantic City, and Hamilton is very uniform. The country rock con