The June 11, 1869, issue of the Emporia News, commented: ANotwithstanding the announcement of Generals Sheridan and Custer a few weeks ago that the Indian war was ended, it is now raging on our northwestern border with renewed ferocity. It is a little strange that our border cannot be protected by the Government. . . . Governor Harvey is doing all in his power. He is comparatively helpless, as the Government will neither furnish him troops or permit him to raise regiments in Kansas. . . .@

The May 13, 1870, issue of Walnut Valley Times, reported on information received from the Northern Indian country by the Interior Department that Red Cloud and several of the hostile chiefs in Dakota had sent in word that they desired to come to Washington and have a conference upon the causes of difference, and the Secretary indicated his readiness to receive them.

Emporia News, June 17, 1870. The great Indian pow-wow at Washington does not seem to have been very harmonious, or very beneficial in its results. Red Cloud made several speeches. In this respect he is as prolific as some of our Kansas politicians. He told the government authorities a good many plain things. He said he didn=t want any more musty flour or Arotten terbacker.@ He says the government can=t play that on him any more. Neither does this chieftain want any more Aold soldiers= clothes colored black.@ He says the officers in the Indian country are all whiskey drinkers, and that the soldiers are all afoot, and the government is Athrowing away money for nothing.@ Secretary Cox did not succeed to any alarming extent in convincing him that the government would live up to its treaty stipulations, and he went back saying he would not take the paper with him, as it was Aold lies.@ He said he would not return angry, although it was evident, says a telegram, that the Indians were not well pleased with their visit. It is a matter of extreme doubt, in our estimation, whether the benefits of this pow-wow were worth $50,000, the sum Congress proposes to appropriate for Red Cloud=s traveling expenses, presents, etc.

Walnut Valley Times, September 12, 1873.

General Custer's official report of his recent skirmishes with the Indians up the Yellowstone is published, and exhibits a course of conduct highly creditable to him. He outwitted the Indians in their attempts at fighting in ambush, and in a square, open fight, put them to flight with considerable slaughter. It is evident that Custer is the right man in the right place, and it is hoped the Government will permit him to deal with the treacherous red-skins as he deems best, until they have been made to fear the power which feeds them.

Winfield Courier, February 20, 1874.

A special dispatch from Cheyenne W. T. of Feb. 14, says: "A Cheyenne runner has just arrived there from Red Cloud Agency, saying that Red Cloud was killed last Monday night by a party of Sioux of whom he had complained for not returning stolen stock. He reported that nearly all the Cheyennes and Sioux have left the agency and that 150 lodges are now within fifty miles of Fetterman and will come in or send to that post. He reports plenty of buffalo in the Big Horn country and thinks the Sioux will go there. Two companies of cavalry were ordered from here to Fort Laramie today."

Winfield Courier, April 17, 1874. A correspondent of the Cheyenne Leader states that the United States Indian Peace Commissioners have returned from interviews with the Chiefs, Spotted Tail and Red Cloud, without having accomplished anything. They refused to consent to the removal of the agencies, and Spotted Tail wants his words written down "this time" to the effect that he has been "pestered so much by these flies from the Great Father that he won't talk to them any more."

Winfield Courier, August 28, 1874.

Our last advices from General Custer's expedition furnish a new illustration of the hackneyed saying that where there is smoke there must be a fire, for they show that, in this instance, at least, popular rumor was right. It is well known that the sight of nuggets of gold in the possession of the Sioux Indians, and necklaces of gold scales, has often tempted our frontiersmen to penetrate, even by marriage and adoption, into the tribe of the Black Hill region, but that these attempts were always unsuccessful. The Black Hills are the sacred land of the Sioux, made so by tradition and by the rude law of the tribe. So earnest has been their seclusion on the part of the Indians that the absolute prohibition of the entrance to all white men was made the first condition of the Laramie Treaty, concluded in the year 1868. But the mysterious territory has now been explored, and the news of the mineral treasure there discovered will result in the speedy opening of this gold region. The people of BismarckCthe most advanced outpost of civilizationCare already preparing to make a rush for the new Eldorado, and these will only be the advance guard of an invasion resembling in magnitude that which amazed the world in the early days of California.

Winfield Courier, September 4, 1874.

About the 5th of this month, an expedition of five hundred pioneers is to start from Sioux City for the gold region of the Black Hills.

Winfield Courier, September 4, 1874.

New Gold Fields.

Gen. Custer's expedition after Indians in Dacotah Territory has developed the fact that untold mineral wealth exists in the Black Hills. The Black Hills lie about two hundred miles north of the Union Pacific railroad, and about three hundred and fifty miles northwest from Sioux City. Besides other minerals, gold is found in limitless quantities, in gulch and quartz. For years the existence of gold in that region has been known, but the country belongs to the Sioux Indians by treaty and no white man was allowed there. The whole country is ablaze with the news of the discoveries and several expeditions are preparing to take possession of the mines. Gen. Sheridan has issued an order forbidding people from going in there, but the probabilities are that the gold seekers will not heed this order.

Winfield Courier, September 18, 1874.

Gen. Custer's final official report to Gen. Terry recapitulates his former statements, and takes strong ground in favor of the immediate opening of the Black Hills for military reasons, endorses the part of gold discoveries, and suggests further operations next season. Nevertheless, professors Winchell and Donaldson asserted that Custer does not know of his own knowledge that any color of gold was found in the Black Hills.

Winfield Courier, March 11, 1875.

FROM THE BLACK HILLS!

MR. J. W. CURNS. Dear Sir: I am sitting in my cabin this night, and as a courier starts for Cheyenne on Monday, I thought I would write you a few lines and let you know what I am doing. A party of twenty-five men started from Sioux City on the 6th day of October, last, and reached this camp on the 23rd of December. We have built a camp and done some

prospecting, which has proved very satisfactory. We find gold in every hole we dig, which reaches as high as fifteen cents to the pan. We have commenced to mine where we think it will pay. We started a rocker and run it about one hour and cleaned up two dollars in fine gold. But it is so cold that we cannot do much just now, but it bids fair now for a fine winter and spring. If we get as good diggings as we are satisfied we have, we will make at least ten dollars to the man per day.

I think this is one of the richest gold fields ever struck in this or any other country, as there is fine quartz cropping out all over, and not only gold but some of the finest silver ledges in the United States. About twenty miles north of here, the hills are covered with beautiful pine timber. In the fine valleys our oxen and horses have grazed right along ever since we got here on what they pick.

I will say to all those wishing to come to this Eldorado, that there will be one of our party in Sioux City, on or about the first of March, and expects to return immediately, but if there is a company it will be far the best route by way of Cheyenne, as there is no established route. Yet by taking a map you can see the direction as well as I can give. It would please this whole party to see your party in here by the first of April.

Winfield Courier, March 11, 1875.

Feb. 1st.

FRIEND CURNS: As the messenger did not get started to Cheyenne this morning, but will start in the morning, I will write you what we did today. We ran one rocker; one man rocked while one dug dirt for two hours and one half and got four dollars. We can get ten dollars if we can work all day. I should like to see some Cowley folks here by the first of April, so I will not have to leave here, as I think we can better pay large profits to those who wish to fetch goods here, than to go out and get them ourselves. Please tell all that wish to come to not wait, as the first will get the cream.

Anyone who will fetch a stock of goods here by the first of May will make at least five hundred percent, above all cost, and by the first of April he can double that amount. You can write or come to Sioux City and find when the messenger will return; but if you or anyone who wishes to will come to Cheyenne and come in with a mule train, it will be far the shortest route, as it is only 198 miles from Harney's peak, which is ten miles north of us. To reach us you must travel a northeast course, which will fetch you direct to our camp.

There are several who wished me to write to them, but you can show this to all who want to know the good news. I will close by asking you to answer this at Sioux City, Iowa, in care of Charles Collins, Times office, where all letters will be called for. But don't wait to write, but come right along and bring all the news.

If the editor of the COURIER will find room enough in his columns, he will do a great favor by publishing this letter.

Further information may be had by calling on J. W. Curns.

Good bye for the present. J. J. WILLIAMS.

Winfield Courier, March 11, 1875.

THE BLACK HILLS FEVER.

The letter from J. J. Williams, which we publish in another column, has given the gold fever to several of our citizens. The writer is well known here, and his statements are relied upon. He left here last fall for the hills and in a post script to his letter promises to correspond regularly with Mr. Curns, as to affairs in that interesting locality. Mr. Williams has had considerable experience in Colorado as a miner and knows what he is talking about. The government and the Indians undoubtedly will make an attempt to keep the white man out of that country.

Winfield Courier, March 11, 1875. Capt. Hunt is making up a party for the Black Hills.

Winfield Courier, March 18, 1875. Mr. Wm. Bartlow proposes to start for the Black Hills with his steam saw mill about the first of April.

Winfield Courier, March 18, 1875.

The St. Louis Democrat contains an interview in which Gen. Sherman says, most emphatically, that the miners will be kept out of the Black Hills by the military.

Winfield Courier, March 18, 1875.

The Chicago Inter-Ocean publishes the list of enterprising adventurers who, in defiance of the Indians, the military, and the threatening winter, pushed into the Black Hills last fall. The name of J. J. Williams, Winfield, Kansas, appears in the list.

Winfield Courier, March 25, 1875. Front Page. The Secretary of War has addressed a communication to General Sherman, saying that all expeditions into that portion of the Indian Territory known as the Black Hills country must be prevented as long as the present treaty exists. Efforts are now being made for the extinguishment of the Indian title, and all proper means will be used to accomplish this. If, however, the steps which are to be taken towards the opening of this country to settlers are not successful, those persons at present within that territory without authority must be expelled.

Winfield Courier, April 8, 1875.

Armstrong Menor and son have gone to the Black Hills.

Winfield Courier, April 29, 1875. Front Page.

[Black Hills]

A dispatch from Fort Laramie, 16th, says that Captain Meyer's company, who were sent after the mining party, at Harney's Peak, has secured the whole of them, consisting of fifteen men, one woman, and a boy. They were expected to arrive at Fort Laramie on the 18th. There have been heavy snows in the Black Hills, and high waters everywhere.

Winfield Courier, April 29, 1875. A report from the St. Louis Democrat, April 21, 1875.

Commissioner Smith, in regard to the Black Hills and the probability of the extinguish-ment of the Indian title, said to a representative of the Omaha Herald:

Three delegations of Sioux are starting to Washington about this time, one of the Ogallallas, in charge of Agent Saville, of the Red Cloud Agency, another from the Brule Sioux, under charge of Agent Howard, of Spotted Tail Agency, and the third delegation is made up of chiefs from the Northern IndiansCthe Winneconjons, Sans Arcs and Unepapas, in charge of Agent Bingham, of the Grand River Agency.

They are going to Washington for the purpose of consultation, mainly upon the Black Hills question. Congress, however, made provisions for two new agencies to be established, into one of which the Northern Sioux are to be gathered, and the location of these agencies is another object of this visit.

After they have returned to their own country, it is expected a commission will be sent out from Washington, which will complete the negotiations in respect to the extinguishment of their title to the Black Hills, and also select a point in the reservation for the new agencies.

Regarding the making of a treaty, I do not think the chiefs will go on with sufficient authority to do that. Obtaining their consent to give up the Black Hills will be so difficult to accomplish that it will probably require considerable machinery to bring it about.

I think the object of their going to Washington is to secure in advance the cooperation of a considerable number of their prominent men when they conduct the negotiations with their tribes.

The Black Hills have been regarded as a kind of "sacred soil" and a common ground by all the Northern Indians. They have threatened hostility to any white man who should visit there at all. They have made it their common rendezvous whenever they contemplated any incursion or emergency. One of their strongest feelings is against any white man going to the

Black Hills, and, of course, to induce them to give up that objection and to relinquish their own right to go there will require a great deal of persuasion. Their love for the Hills is simply because it is in the center of their reservation, the various bands of the Sioux being located on three different sides. They value it also on account of its comparative inaccessibility.

Mr. Smith is of the opinion that, while there may be rich gold deposits in the hills; the reports thereof have been greatly exaggerated. As a hunting ground for the Indians, it is worthless, the game being almost exhausted, and as there is a strong desire on the part of the Government to open the country to the whites, it is probable matters will be settled with all possible expediency.

Winfield Courier, May 6, 1875.

The party of miners who were brought out of the Black Hills by the military passed through Omaha on their way east, and hundreds more are on their way.

Winfield Courier, June 17, 1875.

A. Menor has returned from the Black Hills. His party was turned back by the military after having their arms taken from them and their transportation burned.

Winfield Courier, June 24, 1875. T. A. Blanchard, Esq., has returned from the Black Hills to await the opening of that Territory.

Winfield Courier, July 1, 1875.

News from the Black Hills.

The scientific exploring party sent out by the government report the following.

Gold in large quantities and of good quality has been discovered in Custer's Gulch, on French Creek, and along this stream for a distance of upward of seven miles toward the source.

Since my latest advices sent to you at Chicago from the expedition of explorations, the plans of the scientific corps have been entirely changed, and Camp Jenney, on the east fork of Beaver Creek, has ceased to be the permanent point from which investigation radiates. We were to have been through the hills on Tuesday, June 9th, but were delayed.

Colonel Dodge, with three cavalry companies as a military escort, left Camp Jenney for the purpose of locating a permanent camp in some available place in the vicinity of Harney's Peak. The command marched almost due north along Beaver Creek, then northeast, when, at the end of the second day's march, Custer's trail was struck in the midst of snow and rain. That officer's line of march was pursued in a southeasterly direction along Castle Creek, where the first indications of gold were discovered.

The event induced Prof. Jenney, of the scientific corps, to remain in Castle Creek Valley for three days in order to prospect, a cavalry company being left with them. The place at which the geologists camped is located 1,400 feet east of the 104th meridian, and was named Camp Tuttle. With the remainder of the command, Colonel Dodge proceeded in a southeasterly direction until Custer's Peak was reached, and last Monday camp was reached on Custer's Gulch, and in close contiguity to the stockade built by the miners whom Captain Mix brought out of the hills this spring. On General Custer's cavalry camp ground prospects were speedily made, and a good color was panned out of gold that was a fine quality. This was done in the presence of your correspondent. The gold fever spread so rapidly that there was hardly one in the command who had not seen and panned out gold color from these placers or gulch mines. About Camp Harney for a distance of seven miles there are scattered along French Creek four different mining parties, numbering twenty-five men, that have taken up claims, from all of which good color has been panned. There are also several quartz lodes, which promise rich returns, but the greatest stress should be placed on the gulch gold diggings. When gold was discovered the scientists were at Camp Tuttle, and only arrived here yesterday afternoon. They were somewhat astonished at the discovery. It is intended to make this the permanent camp, where the command will remain until the return of the supply train from Laramie.

Winfield Courier, July 1, 1875.

Dispatches from the frontier state that large parties of Sioux, Cheyennes, and Arapahos started on the warpath lately. The objective points are thought to be the Pawnee, Ponca, Ute, and Shoshone agencies, which have been warned of the impending raids. It is believed by men well posted in savage ways that the Sioux and other hostile tribes are preparing for a gigantic Indian war, and that the government will have to decide which course it will pursueCprotect the peaceful tribes and the settlers, or leave them to their fate and keep miners out of the Black Hills. The troops are not strong enough to do both.

Winfield Courier, August 12, 1875. The miners are ordered out of the Black Hills in dead earnest this time by the Government. Two companies of cavalry and one of infantry are now en route, to carry into effect this order in case of opposition.

Winfield Courier, August 12, 1875. The Government has at last found a practical solution of the vexed Indian question. The President insists on placing the Sioux tribe, numbering some 40,000 in the Territory just south of Kansas, notwithstanding the manly protest of Governor Osborn. If this be done, then the Indian question is speedily settled. There are not troops enough in the United States to keep these rascally Sioux on their reservation. Friend Enoch can't keep a handfull of peaceable Kaws at home, then what is he to do with 40,000 wild, war like, scalp-lifting Sioux? These Indians take to theft and plunder as naturally as a duck takes to water, and in order to find something to steal they must come over into Kansas, or cross to Missouri, Arkansas, or Texas. In either case, their doom is sealed. The war of extermination begins, and does anyone doubt the result? Of course not. Seventy-five thousand people on the Kansas border alone, each man a regular half-dozen Buffalo Bill's when his goods, say nothing of his hair, is the prize, will soon put the last redskin on his way to the happy hunting grounds.

Winfield Courier, August 26, 1875. The Sioux Indians have unanimously resolved not to treat away the Black Hills country. Three or four thousand Indians are expected to attend a grand council at Red Cloud shortly. The miners in the Black Hills are most all leaving in obedience to military orders. They report rich mines.

Winfield Courier, December 9, 1875.

A railroad is to be built from Omaha towards the Black Hills next summer.

Winfield Courier, January 20, 1876. Andy Corcoran, who resides here, returned some weeks since from the vicinity of the Black Hills. He intends returning there in the spring. Last Tuesday he received a letter from an associate at Sydney, the nearest railroad station, informing him that a miner was just in from the Hills with over $1,000 in gold dust of his own digging. The miner returned with several loaded teams for the Hills. Seth Blanchard, a brother of T. A. Blanchard of this place, is in the Hills and has been all winter. He writes home each week or two, as opportunity offers for sending letters to the railroad. He says several hundred men are in the Hills and that paying gold is there. . . .

Winfield Courier, February 24, 1876.

KANSAS CITY, Feb. 21. A dispatch from the Kansas City Times special correspondent to the Black Hills, from Cheyenne, Wyoming, says: "A general concentration of troops is now being made at Ft. Fetterman, for an expedition, which will be commanded by General Crook, and will consist of eleven companies of cavalry; no wagons. All the available pack mules in the country are being gathered in and shod. The expedition is destined, either for the Big Horn region or for the removal of the Sioux, Cheyennes, and Arapahos from the Black Hills. All the cavalry at Ft. Laramie are under marching orders."

Arkansas City Traveler, March 8, 1876. There is a prospect of a lively time on the frontier in the course of a few weeks. The Associated Press Agent at Omaha says he has official authority for the statement that the Sioux, Cheyennes, and Arapahos have been and are yet making extensive preparations for an outbreak.

They have been purchasing large quantities of ammunition and arms wherever they could get them, going as far south as the Indian Territory for this purpose. Most of the warriors have left the agencies, and a descent on the frontier settlements may be looked for at any time. Advices from Washington are to the effect that the War Department is making arrangements to proceed against Sitting Bull, who is one of the troublesome chiefs.

The March 9, 1876, issue of the Winfield Courier had a report from Seth Blanchard to his brother in Cowley County from ADead Wood Gulch, Black Hills,@ dated Jan. 16, 1876.

BRO. TOM: Your interesting letter, of December 5th, found its way to me, after many delays, a few days ago. Since I wrote last I have abandoned Castle Creek, and moved about fifty miles further north. We are now about eighty miles north of Custer City. I think this creek, and others in this vicinity, contain far richer diggings than have before been discovered in the Hills. Prospecting has not been very extensive here as yet, but enough has been done to convince miners that money can be made here, probably $10 or $15 per day, and some say as high as $50, with sluices, from two cents to fifty and seventy-five cents to the pan. Two parties are fixed for sluicing on a small scale on this creek, but owing to the cold weather can do but little. I am now engaged in putting up another cabin. Think I shall go into quarters here for the winter. Don't expect to take out much gold this winter, but will saw out lumber, dig ditches, etc., and be in readiness to go to work when spring opens. I think I might now venture to advise you to try the Hills in the spring, that is, if you are so situated that you can do so without any very great sacrifice, financially or otherwise. I am strongly of the opinion that you will stand a good chance to make two or three thousand here during the summer, and return in the fall if you wish. I wish you were here now, as men are pouring in by hundreds, but I guess if you leave home by the 1st of April, you will be in time. We are not posted as to what is being done at Washington in regard to the Hills, but are strong in the faith that we will not again be molested by the Government, but anticipate some troubles with the Indians in the spring. If you should decide to come, you had better come by railroad to Sidney, and from there you can easily get transportation to Custer City, or any point in the Hills. Supplies are already beginning to come in, and the probabilities are that by the 1st of May anything we need can be procured here at reasonable rates. Flour is worth $10 and $12 per hundred now, and other things in proportion.

I have had the pleasure of meeting J. J. Williams and W. W. Andrews, of Winfield. They are located in this Gulch.

The winter so far has been very mild, at least compared with Kansas winters. We are entirely exempt from those cold, chilling winds, as the country is a succession of hills, densely covered with pine timber, with the exception of an occasional patch of beautiful rolling prairie, from two to four miles across, which we call parks. Horses and cattle are doing well on the range. Pack ponies are indispensable here in the hills. While packing from Castle Creek to this place a few days ago, and while descending a very steep mountain, one of my ponies made a misstep and rolled something near a hundred yards down the mountain. Jim looked on in dismay to see his mate getting such a fearful fall. But, contrary to our expectations, on landing at the foot of the hill, she got up and quietly walked off. No serious injuries.

Tell Mary she can calm her fears, as far as my starving is concerned, for I not only have plenty of flour, fruit, coffee, tea, bacon, sugar, etc., to do me till the 1st of June, but also a good gun, and the country abounds in gameCdeer, elk, etc., so that instead of starving, our life in the Hills is one continual feastCalmost equal to a Harvest Feast at Bethel.

A. S. BLANCHARD.

Winfield Courier, March 9, 1876. T. A. Blanchard is going to the Black Hills.

Arkansas City Traveler, March 15, 1876. Front Page.

Springfield, Dakota, Feb. 24. Wagon trains of every description are constantly passing here, bound for the gold fields. The different parties as they pass have from two to twenty-five wagons each. One party camped in town last night, and one could see camp fires of three other trains on the prairie west of here. Another Springfield party will start at noon today, consisting of seven wagons and twenty men. In this party are some of the best businessmen of this town, and they have better teams and outfits generally than any who have yet left here. The party is jubilant, and will be in the Hills in a few days.

Arkansas City Traveler, March 15, 1876. DAVE LEWIS writes from the Black Hills that the IndiansCSiouxCattacked Custer City, killing one man and driving off all the stock.

Winfield Courier, March 16, 1876.

CUSTER CITY, BLACK HILLS, February 24th, 1876.

FRIENDS AT HOME: Being blessed with another chance to send out a letter, I will improve it. I left Dead Wood Gulch about a week ago, and arrived in the beautiful little city of Custer yesterday; and a lively little city it is, though only a few months ago it was a military camp, carefully dodged by the few miners then in the Hills. I have wandered around the town and surrounding country today, and for fine scenery and picturesque beauty, it certainly surpasses anything I ever saw, not excepting our dear old Winfield. The surrounding country is a succession of small parks, and groves of pines, with here and there a romantic looking cliff of granite, and altogether, closely resembling (in my imagination) the original Garden of Eden. While standing on an eminence overlooking the town, I counted 180 houses completed, and I should judge there is as many more under process of erection. A steam saw mill is at work near town, and those majestic pines are being rapidly converted into substantial houses. Lumber is selling at $60 per thousand.

On the route here we passed through Hill City, situated on Spring Creek, 18 miles north of this place. It has about one hundred houses, and is building up very fast, and it also has a saw mill.

A town is now being laid out on the northeast side of the Hills, near where Rapid Creek empties into the Cheyenne River, with the view of getting supplies from Bismarck or some other point up on the Missouri River, the route to strike the Hills at said town, on the Rapid.

There are, at the lowest calculation, two thousand men in the Hills, and the cry is, "still they come.@ In short, the country is being rapidly developed. Gold bearing quartz and silver ore has been discovered in several localities, which assays well. A stage line will be in operation soon, from Cheyenne to Custer City, via Red Cloud Agency.

We are not posted as to what Congress is doing toward the opening of the country, but we consider the Hills open to all intents and purposes.

I wrote to Tom some time ago, advising him to try the Hills. I gave the advice then reluctantly, and do now; but, at the same time, confidently believing he can make it successful. I am satisfied paying mines are here, and if you can spend the summer in the Hills without too great a sacrifice at home, why come ahead and come early.

As to the best way of coming, I can hardly say; but certainly it is not necessary to bring supplies, for even now they can be bought here at what I consider very reasonable rates, and by the time you get here will be much cheaper. I think it would be as well to come by rail to Sidney or Cheyenne, and there you can easily get transportation to Custer, and probably to any point in the Hills.

Would like if you could be here by the 1st of April or the middle at latest, as I have some claims which I have some doubts about being able to hold longer than that time. Unless a man stakes his own claim and applies in person for record, it is not respected. A mining claim is 300 feet of gulch. . . .

I have received several letters lately which are as yet unansweredCamong others, one from Speed and one from Burns. Give them my regards, and tell them I will answer as soon as possible, and that I shall be most happy to see them on Dead Wood. Would send you a specimen of Dead Wood gold, only I consider our means of sending out mail a little unsafe, so I will reserve it for my next.

Would like to write more, but my friends are ready to take their departure for Dead Wood, so I must close. Ben, if you and Tom come out, you had better not wait to hear from me again. Yours, etc. A. S. B.

The March 16, 1876, edition of the Courier reported news from Tisdale: AJim Moses is going to start to the Black Hills next week.@

Winfield Courier, March 16, 1876.

A gentleman who knows the facts furnishes us the following items about the route to the Black Hills: Harney's Peak is 182 miles from Sidney, Nebraska, the nearest railroad point. Six six-horse stages run from Sidney to Custer City, making the trip in thirty hours. From a late Sidney paper we take the following items and Sidney prices: Flour $2.50 to $5, and corn meal $2.75 to $3 per hundred; butter, 40 cents; eggs, 40 cents; sugar 122 to 15 cents; potatoes, $1.00.

Custer City is situated in a small, picturesque park, hemmed in by mountains, Harney's Peak rising on one side, and near by. The townsite covers 640 acres, and this area embraces the whole of the park. The entire site has been laid off into lots, 50 x 150 feet, the prices ranging from $25 to $500 each. The principle street is named after Gen. Crook and is 200 feet wide. The other streets have a width of 150 feet, and the alleys are 30 feet wide. Four hundred buildings have been erected in Custer.

One wedding has taken place in the Black Hills.

A colony of 400 Philadelphians will soon start for the Black Hills.

There are now 4,000 people in the Hills, and the number is increasing at a very rapid rate.

A Chinese laundry has been established in the Black Hills, by three of the much despised celestials.

J. S. McCall, a miner from Montana, was killed and scalped by members of Sitting Bull's band, while riding along through the Hills, two weeks ago.

Blake's party of Californians have struck very rich diggings on French Creek, 9 miles east of Jenney's stockade, and are washing out $3 to the pan.

A number of men are collecting at Louisville, Kentucky, to go to the Black Hills, and the indications are that a large crowd will soon be ready to leave.

Chicago and Philadelphia have each caught the Black Hills fever. A party of 300 in Chicago and a party of 400 in Philadelphia are outfitting now and will start early next month.

Arkansas City Traveler, March 22, 1876. Front Page.

KANSAS CITY, MO., March 8. A special correspondent from the Black Hills, tele-graphs from Custer City on the 4th inst., via Fort Laramie, Wyoming, March 8, that a large party of mounted Indians made a sudden attack upon Custer, about one o'clock on the 4th inst., and succeeded in driving off all the loose horses that were grazing in the suburbs of the city. The Indians at the same time attacked an emigrant train at Pleasant Valley, nine miles below here. Every able bodied white man has been enrolled, and a party of sixty have just started in pursuit of the Indians, who have gone toward Red Cloud Agency. Charles Holt of Sioux City, was killed. A warm time is expected with the Indians now.

Arkansas City Traveler, March 22, 1876. Cheyenne, W. T., March 17. On the evening of the 15th Mr. Fielding came into Fort Fetterman from the camp at old Fort Reno, having left there on the night of the 13th. He brought letters, etc., from the men of the command. On the 7th General Crook left the main camp at Fort Reno, taking a pack train and fifteen days' rations for the cavalry and struck out after some Indians known to be north of that place, since which date nothing has been heard from him. On the way to Reno his command was attacked several times by Indians. One man was wounded but is alive yet. An infantry man is also wounded. There were no other casualties.

Arkansas City Traveler, March 22, 1876. Mr. Allison, from Committee on Indian Affairs, in Congress reported with amendments, a bill providing for an agreement with the Sioux nation in regard to a portion of their reservation. Ordered printed and placed on the calendar of the afternoon session. It covers the Black Hills. The object is to open them to settlers.

Arkansas City Traveler, March 29, 1876. Front Page.

Chicago, March 17. The following telegram was received at Gen. Sheridan's Headquar-ters, from Gen. Terry, commanding the Department of Dakota.

Mouth of Big Horn, March 6.

Arrived at Fort Peace March 4, and relieved the garrison. The Fort was evacuated today at noon. The original garrison consisted of forty-six men, of whom six were killed, and eight wounded. Thirteen had left and gone to settlements by night. I found in the Fort eighteen white men and one negro, and have brought them away; saw no Indians but found five lodges here of about sixty Sioux, who fled south. Think they were watching the Fort to pick up men venturing out. We start for home tomorrow. (Signed) BRISBIN, Commanding.

Arkansas City Traveler, March 29, 1876.

THE FIRST GUN IS FIRED.

[Special Telegram to the Inter-Ocean.]

Cheyenne, W. T., March 22. Captain George Crook of the Third Cavalry, has just arrived here from Old Fort Reno, General Crook's base of supplies. On the 20th a courier arrived at Fort Laramie with the first news from Crook since he left Reno. Crook had an engagement

with Sitting Bull on the 15th, near Fort Phil Kearney in which sixteen Indians were killed. General Crook lost two men. Sitting Bull ran off sixty of Crook's pack mules on the night of the 14th. Crook sends Captain Cook here to enlist 500 men to reinforce him. The Captain has already enlisted about 100 men, whom he picked up between here and Fort Laramie on their way to the hills. He has sent them to Crook, and is enlisting large numbers of Black Hillers here.

Arkansas City Traveler, March 29, 1876. Fort Laramie, W. T., March 22. A party from Custer City arrived here last night. They report that ten days ago a fight occurred between the miners and Indians on Deadwood Creek, about sixty-five miles north of Custer.

The Indians have been committing depredations on the creek and have stolen a good many horses. The miners organized a party and pursued and attacked them in camp. A fight ensued in which thirteen Indians and one white man were killed. The whites, following up their success, ran into so large a camp of Indians that they were obliged to fall back to their permanent camp on Deadwood. The above news came into Custer on the 15th, the day before this party left Custer. Further trouble is anticipated.

It is reported that several Black Hillers wandered off during the recent severe storms, got lost, and perished.

Arkansas City Traveler, March 29, 1876. Wm. Berkey, Joseph Rickels, Will. Berkey, Jr., John Purdy, and O. C. Skinner start for the Black Hills this morning.

W. H. Harrison has bought out Henry Work's barber shop, and will officiate in that capacity hereafter. Henry was seized with the Black Hills fever, hence the sale.

Arkansas City Traveler, March 29, 1876. Senator Withers, from the Committee on appropriations, reported the House bill to supply deficiency for feeding Sioux Indians. He moved to strike out of the bill the words 100,000 dollars and insert 150,000 dollars. The amendment was agreed to and the bill passed. A bill providing for an agreement with the Sioux Indians for a portion of their reservation was taken up.

Winfield Courier, March 30, 1876. A. J. REX left on foot with a huge carpet sack upon his back last Monday morning, bound for the Black Hills.

T. A. BLANCHARD, BEN. MURPHY, and JOE STANSBERRY started for the Black Hills last Monday morning. Seth. Blanchard's last letter to his folks here contained such fabulous reports that we refrained from publishing it. Tom says, however, that Henry Ireton and Seth are "fixed.@ Tom promises to write a letter to the COURIER immediately after his arrival, and weekly thereafter.

JOHN FUNK, of Rock Township, starts for the Black Hills this week. The majestic form of John Funk is familiar to every man in the Walnut Valley. Everybody knows "Funk," and nearly everybody likes him. His worst and only enemy he generally carries in his pocket. We have seen that enemy get the worst of John in many a fracasChave seen it send him home hatless and horseless at the dead hour of night; and as he plodded along through the mud, Shakesperian quotations and algebraic solutions flowed from him as naturally as electricity descends the zenith-pointed lightning rod. John is a natural-born orator and a rattlng good fellow, but he will never be President. We hope he will leave that "enemy" behind him, make a fortune in the Hills, and return within a year or two. . . .

Arkansas City Traveler, April 5, 1876. The boys count it 700 miles to the Black Hills. One man drove from the Hills to Wichita, it is said, in a light buggy, in sixteen days.

Arkansas City Traveler, April 5, 1876.

LEAVENWORTH has two steam boats plying between their city and the Black Hills. "Nellie Peck" and "C. R. Peck" are the names of the boats.

The Cowley County Democrat, Thursday, April 6, 1876, reported on a communication from Liberty Township dated March 25: ASome of our young men are victims to the Black Hills fever; some have started and others are getting ready to start, amongst whom we might mention the name of W. G. Scott. It is thought by some that Scott is contemplating a double blessedness instead.@

Arkansas City Traveler, April 12, 1876.

Gov. Osborn will on Tuesday next leave for the northwestern frontier of Kansas, where fears are expressed of an impending raid upon the settlers by Indians returning from the Black Hills country. The Governor will visit all the border counties and effectively organize the militia for a system of ready cooperative defense. It is a timely precaution, and Gov. Osborn's promptness and energy in preparing for the emergency is characteristic of his discharge of official duty. K. C. Journal of Commerce.

Arkansas City Traveler, April 19, 1876.

OLD Mr. Campbell started to the Black Hills this week.

Concordia is going to organize a company of militia.

Twenty-six car loads of emigrants passed through Iowa in one day for the Black Hills.

The Indians are on the warpath between Forts Fetterman and Reno, Dacotah Territory. Gen. Crook, from Fetterman, has started to give them battle.

Winfield Courier, April 20, 1876. RICE has gone to the Black Hills. BISBEE, the shoe-maker, has started for the Black Hills. UNCLE BILLY RODGERS and LEVI DOTY have gone to take a squint at the yellow dirt in the Black Hills country.

Arkansas City Traveler, April 26, 1876. The bill to open the Indian Territory meets with considerable favor in the House, but could not pass the Senate.

In reference to the Black Hills, Senator Morrill, of Maine, submitted a resolution directing the Secretary of the Interior to communicate to the Senate any information in relation to the situation and disturbances on the Sioux reservation; and whether the military forces have been interposed therein, and if so, if it was by the authority of the Department of the Interior, and the reason for such interposition, which was agreed to. Much time has been consumed on the question of transferring the Indians to the War Department, and it is believed the motion will finally prevail. It is said they could be maintained at an expense of one and one half million less than the present plan.

Arkansas City Traveler, April 26, 1876. Omaha, April 19. An official telegram to Gen. Crook from Fort Laramie yesterday, conveys that no Indians have left either Red Cloud or Spotted Tail agencies with their families. Some fighting with Crazy Horse on Powder River. A few men went out to bring in their own people and some of them have returned accompanied by northern Sioux. The Cheyennes at Red Cloud are alarmed and talk of going south. Indications are that the thrashing given Crazy Horse has affected the Oglala so favorably that they will likely keep quiet. Maj. Jordan is of the opinion that three hundred Oglala would go with the expedition against the northern Indians, if they were allowed to keep what they captured. The Northern Sioux have stolen their stock lately. The Indians at the agencies are remarkably docile. A few miners have been killed near Hill's lately.

Arkansas City Traveler, May 3, 1876.

Chicago, April 27. A dispatch was received by Gen. Sheridan from Gen. Crook: AThe Indians at Red Cloud are on the verge of starving, owing to neglect in forwarding supplies. Unless immediate steps are taken to supply them, they will all leave the reservation. Fears are entertained that in their present temper, they will make a raid on the whites.@

Arkansas City Traveler, May 10, 1876. Front Page.

SIDNEY, April 29, 1876.

Old Traveler: Here we are at last at the last railroad point. We have been expecting to leave the railroad at every point since leaving Plum Creek. Everything is lovely, "and the goose hangs high" in camp. Every day we meet Black Hillers on the return, and everyone "bested.@ One man will call you aside and tell you of the trials and difficulties of life in the HillsCtelling you not to go; while another will button-hole you, and with apparently as much sincerity tell you what he knows, and advise you to go on. It is needless to say we always take the latter advice, because it suits us. Indian stories are all the go here, but "we boys" have seen one or two "Injuns."

From six men and one wagon, our crowd has grown to sixteen wagons and forty-eight men. We have had a very pleasant trip, with but two stormy days in all. It is 169 miles from this point to Custer City. Everything in the outfitting line is cheap here: flour, $2.90 for the best; bacon, 50 cents, etc. Our old friend Berkey has been elected Captain of this outfit. Joe Reckle shot himself through the hand, but is all O. K. now. In two weeks we will be in the Hills, there to try for ourselves if there is any gold.

The boys all bid me say they are "mighty worse," and bound for the Hills.

I am, truly, etc. CHARLIE.

Winfield Courier, May 11, 1876. The Indians are killing emigrants by the score and destroying trains and stealing horses and cattle in the Black Hills region.

Messrs. Kirby, Ireton, Weekly, and Weekly have returned from the Black Hills. They only got as far as Cheyenne. There transportation got to be a big thing. A walk from there to Custer City, two hundred and ninety miles, was not very inviting, especially when every canyon was liable to bristle with "bloody Injuns.@ While they were at Cheyenne, the remains of the Superintendent of the stage company line, between there and Custer City, was brought in. He was killed by the Indians. All the stock was ordered off the line. Hay is ten and corn fifteen cents per pound. Those who are in the Hills will likely stay there this summer. Their supplies will probably go in on other than the Cheyenne route. The boys report that the U. S. troops do not protect the routesCthat they have no orders to that effect, and if they had, there is not enough of them in that locality to do it. They are disgusted with the Hills and have returned, per advice of the COURIER, to dig wealth out of the coming golden wheat harvest. The actual experience and information they got on the trip is all they have to show for the $130, per capita, expended.

Arkansas City Traveler, May 17, 1876. HARRINGTON and Pat Curry, the boys who were with old Mr. Campbell from this county to the Black Hills, have returned. They thought the gold inducement would not justify the risk of losing their lives by Indians.

Arkansas City Traveler, May 24, 1876. The bridge over the North Platte River, between Sidney, Nebraska, and Custer City, was completed and opened for travel on the 13th. This throws open what is claimed to be the shortest road to the Black Hills.

Winfield Courier, May 25, 1876. E. H. BELCHER, writing from Cheyenne, on the 13th inst., to Mr. Bangs, of this city, says: "This place is nearly dead. I shall leave for Colorado in a few days. Men are leaving the Black Hills by the hundreds. A party of one hundred arrived here yesterday. The Indians are killing men and stealing stock daily. I would not be surprised if they should clean out Custer City before long. I think there will be good mines found when the Indians are quieted down, but we will have a h__l of a fight before we get them quiet. If you, or anyone else who has any idea of coming out here, are making a living where you are, you had better stay there. Wait until next year anyway."

Arkansas City Traveler, May 31, 1876.

The House Committee on Indian Affairs reviewed the Indian appropriation bill, and decided to report amendments increasing its amount by $600,000. It appears that Randall took the bill in hand and reduced it on his own responsibility about $1,500,000 below the estimates. He then submitted it to the committee as being substantially in accordance with the view of the Indian Bureau, and on this assurance it was passed. When the real facts became known, the committee gave the bill a closer inspection, with the result above stated.

Winfield Courier, June 1, 1876. It is thought by some that Mr. Menor, who left here for the Black Hills last fall, was one of the forty killed by the Indians lately. Nothing definite is known of him since the last of March.

JOHN FUNK has returned from the Black Hills a fatter, sadder, and wiser man. He pronounces the hills a failure. He will settle down to the slow but sure process of digging wealth out of Cowley County soil.

The many friends of Tom Blanchard, Joe Stansberry, and Ben Murphy will be gratified to know that they have arrived safely at Deadwood Gulch, 80 miles north of Custer City, and are taking out plenty of gold.

Arkansas City Traveler, June 7, 1876. Front Page. Omaha, Neb., May 29. A citizen of this place, just arrived from Custer City, says that on the 19th, that place was attacked by Indians, who burned the ammunition house, in the center of the city, which, in blowing up, destroyed several houses. His party, numbering 96 persons, left at daylight on the next morning, and cannot give the particulars. He buried John Shenck, of Yankton, who had been shot eight miles from Buffalo Gap, on the north side of the Platte, between Red Cloud and Sidney. He found the body of T. P. Hermann, of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, who had $7,500 in checks and $21 in greenbacks with him. The Indians left these, but stripped him of everything else and ran off his stock. He took the body to Sidney, and from there forwarded it home. The money was placed in the hands of Mr. Moore, a citizen of Sidney.

On the 17th, the Indians attacked a miner's cabin at midnight, at Rose Bud, between Custer and Dead Wood, and surprised and killed all the occupants, literally hacking them to pieces.

About four thousand people are in Custer in twelve hundred houses. Nothing can be done on account of the Indians. If a man goes a mile from camp alone, he loses his scalp.

Arkansas City Traveler, June 14, 1876. Front Page. Omaha, June 5. Three herders were killed by Indians 25 miles south of Sidney, in this State, on Saturday last.

A dispatch received at headquarters today, dated the 4th, states that a courier arrived from Red Cloud this morning, says Yellow Robe arrived at the agency six days ago from a hostile camp of 1,806 lodges, on the Rose, but they were about to leave for Powder River, below the point of Crazy Horse's fight. The Indians say they will fight, and have 3,000 warriors.

Arkansas City Traveler, June 14, 1876.

Denver, June 6. Eight companies of the Fifth cavalry, under command of Lieutenant Colonel Carr, passed through here today, en route to join General Crook's expedition.

Hunters from the headquarters of the Republican say that the Cheyennes and Arapahos are leaving in large numbers, bound north. It is supposed they are going to join the Sioux.

Winfield Courier, June 15, 1876. ANDY GORDON and F. M. FREELAND are reported to be on their way home from the Black Hills.

Arkansas City Traveler, June 21, 1876.

CASTLE CITY, WYOMING TERRITORY, May 22nd, 1876.

OLD TRAVELER: As today is my lay-off day, and times are dull without any company, I will write you a few notes in regard to the land of gold. On the 16th we arrived in Custer City, and found a thriving town, nearly all the houses being of logs. On the 17th we started for this place, and now we are located on Castle Creek, forty miles from Custer.

The weather is warm, and we all have good health. The miners' law allows 300 feet for a claim, but we have claimed only 100 feet each. We have prospected but very little, but found gold at every pan. Today we start a ditch for a sluice. This creek is quite large, and has a fall of 55 feet to the mile. There are now but two sluices on Castle Creek.

It will, in my opinion, take quite a time to develop this part, but when it does come, it will be all right. As in all new places, provisions are high. Flour is worth $15 to $20 per 100; bacon, 35 cents; potatoes, 15 to 20 cents per pound, and everything else in proportion.

Grass is good, and horses doing finely. Woolsey, Reckle, and Purdy have gone to Dead Wood; also Gard Kennedy and Jake Cregor, from Sumner County, and Ellert Hedrick, formerly of Winfield.

Gold taken from this gulch is worth twenty dollars per ounce, while that from Dead Wood brings fifteen to eighteen dollars only.

I would not advise anyone to come to the Hills with the expectation of finding gold on every bush, but I do say that I think there is a fair prospect. Send us a TRAVELER and we will be happy.

Truly, etc. CHARLIE.

Winfield Courier, June 22, 1876.

The friends of Jack Cottingham, of Timber Creek, will be glad to learn that he has arrived safely at Dead Wood Gulch, in north Black Hills. He reports provisions very high and gold tolerable plenty. From Mr. Lit. Cottingham we learn that all the Timber Creek boys have got through safe; also that Mr. Menor and wife, of this place, are safe at Dead Wood.

Arkansas City Traveler, June 28, 1876. Front Page.

CASTLE CITY, WYOMING TERRITORY, May 31, 1876.

MY FAMILY: I write, this beautiful Sunday morn, to inform you of our safe arrival in the gold hills. Joe is up again from the measles, which makes us all well, hoping this may find you the same. There is no humbug about there being gold here, but what we find is fine, and on what is termed bars; all old miners say if we can strike bed rock, we can make our fortune.

Castle Creek is nearly as large as Grouse, and runs swifter, having a fall of 55 feet to the mile. It is about 25 feet to the bed rock, and in order to go down we will have to get pumps sufficient to keep the water out. I am inclined to the belief that there is a fortune here, but it will take time and money to get it. We met 200 men going back, calling the whole thing a humbug, but the most were scared out at Indian reports. We have not seen any, only at and near Red Cloud Agency; they are in the Hills, but will attack only small parties. The most of the returning miners never turned a shovel of dirt, and a good many turned back before reaching Buffalo Gap. We saw the bones of one man, who had been killed in the Gap by Indians. He smelled so badly when first discovered that he could not be buried, so they piled rocks upon him. It was a hard sight; but such is life.

Will. has just come in with a fine specimen of quartz, which is rich and will some day make someone rich. If a man had money to live upon for one year, and set down on some of those places, his fortune would be made, but such is not the disposition of most men: they want to go forward, and those who follow will make the money. I would advise all to stay at home for awhile unless they come heeled with one year's provisions or money. Flour is worth $16 per hundred, bacon 35 cents per pound, corn meal 15 cents per pound, corn 13 cents per pound, etc.

One of the boys just killed a black tailed deer, which are plenty; also plenty of those black or brown bears, which are very large. I would like to give you a description of the HillsCit seems as though they were blown up by some terrible volcano, leaving deep gulches running in all directions, and having the finest streams of the coldest water. The mountains are covered with pitch pine and fir, with some poplar or quaking asp, which make the scenery the finest.

I have had but one letter from you, dated April 22. It costs twenty-five cents to get a letter from Cheyenne here, so when you write, write good long letters. We will probably look around before going to work. Gold is here, all over, and of the finest kind; sells for $21 per ounce.

We are going to work this morning, and will give you all particulars in a few days. Some of our men got ten cents at one pan yesterday. I was up in the mountain yesterday, and got so cold I had to come down. Plenty of snow and ice in the mountains. It is about such weather here as it is in March there, and the gooseberries are just leafing out. Direct letters to Custer City. W. M. BERKEY.

Arkansas City Traveler, June 28, 1876. CHEYENNE, June 23. As intimated in the last dispatch, Gen. Crook's command left camp on the morning of the 16th instant, with four days' rations. They struck the right hand branch of the Yellowstone, into Montana, following down this creek. The next morning, when about five miles down, the Snake and Crow scouts brought in word from the front that the Sioux were in force in the hills; and by half past eight o'clock the command was in position, and an extensive firing was inaugurated along the north of the creek; the enemy, who had begun the attack, showing thereby their confidence in their ability to whip the command, retiring as the soldiers and allies advanced. The Sioux were all well mounted, well armed, and at times were prodigal in the use of ammunition. The fight lasted four hours when the enemy retired out of sight at every point.

All the wounded will likely recover. One Snake scout was killed, and three wounded; and four Crows were wounded. The dead bodies of thirteen Sioux were found on the field, and it is certain that a number more were killed, with the usual proportion of wounded. Gen. Crook's horse was shot under him.

The fight occurred fifty miles from the wagon and pack trains, and owing to the want of rations, and in order that the wounded might be cared for, it was necessary to return. The officers and soldiers all displayed marked gallantry. The nature of the ground making infantry advantageous, Gen. Crook has ordered five companies to join him at once. The cavalry in the meantime is continuing operations on the plains and in the hills should no definite information of the villages be obtained. There is one month's supply of rations in the

camp. The Crows have returned home, but the Snakes will remain. The rich game in the country on the Big Horn affords an ample commissary department for the Sioux.

Arkansas City Traveler, June 28, 1876. Routes to the Black Hills are not inquired after just now. The short cut out of the Hills is what the boys are looking for.

Winfield Courier, June 29, 1876. Andy Gordon is in with Max Shoeb now. He never looks up nor "talks back" when you mention Black Hills to him.

Winfield Courier, July 6, 1876. BEN. MURPHY, who went to the Black Hills with T. A. Blanchard and others, in the spring, returned from Deadwood to this place a few days since. Poor health caused him to return. He presented us with rich gold quartz.

TOM, or T. A. BLANCHARD, sends a letter to the COURIER: AAll the discovered mines at Deadwood are taken; all the paying dirt is occupied; provisions are very highCflour $25 per hundred; persons who are making a living in Cowley had better remain there.@

Arkansas City Traveler, Wednesday, July 12, 1876.

The Indian Battle on the Little Horn River.

Salt Lake, Utah, July 6. Advices from Bosler, Montana, July 3, at 7 p.m., states that Mr. Taylor, bearer of dispatches from the Little Horn to Fort Ellis, arrived this evening, and reports a battle was fought on the twenty fifth ult., thirty or forty miles below the Little Horn.

Custer attacked an Indian village containing from 2,500 to 4,000 warriors on one side, and Colonel Reno was to attack it on the other. Three companies were placed on a hill, as a reserve. Custer and 15 officers and every man of five companies were killed. Reno retreated under the protection of the reserve. The whole number killed was 315. Gen. Gibbon joined Reno and the Indians left. The battleground looked like a slaughter pen, as it really was, being in a narrow ravine. The dead were much mutilated.

The situation looks serious. Gen. Terry arrived at Gibbon's camp on a steamboat and crossed his command over and accompanied it to Custer, who knew it was coming before the fight occurred. Lieut. Crittenden was among the killed.

The special correspondent of the Helena, Montana, Herald, writing from Stillwater, Montana, July 2, says: Custer found a camp of about 2,000 lodges on the Little Horn, and immediately attacked it. Custer took five companies and charged the thickest portion of the camp. Nothing is known of the operation of this detachment, only as traced by the dead. Major Reno commanded the other seven companies, and attacked the lower portion of the camp. The Indians poured in a murderous fire from all directions, beside the greater portion fought on horseback. Custer, his two brothers, nephew, and brother-in-law, were all killed, and not one of his detachment escaped. Two hundred and seven men were buried in one place, and the killed were estimated at 300, with only thirty-one wounded. The Indians surrounded Reno's command and held them one day in the hills, cut off from water, until Gibbons' command came in sight, when they broke camp in the night and left. The Seventh fought like tigers and were overcome by mere brute force. The Indian loss cannot be estimated, as they bore off and sacked most of their killed. The remnant of the Seventh Cavalry and Gibbons' command are turning to the mouth of Little Horn, where a steamboat lies. The Indians got all the arms of the killed soldiers. There were seventeen commissioned officers killed. The whole Custer family died at the head of their column. The exact loss cannot be known, as both adjutants and sergeants majors were killed. The Indian camp was from three to four miles long, and was twenty miles up the Little Horn from its mouth. The Indians actually pulled the men off their horses in some instances."

Arkansas City Traveler, July 12, 1876. Chicago, July 6. Dispatches confirming Custer's fight on the Little Horn River, have been received at Gen. Sheridan's headquarters.

St. Louis, July 6. A telegram from Gen. Ruggles, at St. Paul, to Captain Green Hale, commanding the cavalry at the arsenal here, gives the following as the names of the officers killed in the fight between the Sioux and Gen. Custer's command: General Custer, Colonel Custer, Colonel Keogh, Colonel Yates, Colonel Cook, Lieutenant Smith, Lieutenant McIntosh, Lieutenant Hodgson, Lieutenant Reilley, Lieutenant Porter, and Lieutenant Sturgis. Lieutenant Horrington is missing.

Arkansas City Traveler, July 12, 1876.

OLD MR. CAMPBELL has returned from the Black Hills. He says the great trouble is that most people expend all their money in getting there, and then have none to work on.

Arkansas City Traveler, July 12, 1876. The Washington correspondent of the New York Tribune, speaking of the bill to transfer the Indian Bureau to the war department, says: AThere was quite a heated passage between Senator Ingalls, who is the chief advocate of the transfer, and Mr. Morrill, of Maine, who, at the time he spoke, had not been confirmed as Secretary of the Treasury. Mr. Ingalls insisted that the War Department is not a slaughter house and the officers are not all butchers; that the continued tirade against the bad faith of the Anglo-Saxon with the Indians is unjustifiable, and that the American continent is not designed for the exclusive use of a few millions of savages. The Black Hills war, he said, is exclusively brought about by a peace policy, and the Indian never had been and never would be civilized; when he becomes so, he is no longer an Indian. Mr. Ingalls said that sentiment is a simple thing for those who have no Indians in their States.@

Winfield Courier, July 13, 1876.

Thanks to W. W. ANDREWS for a copy of the Dead Wood (Black Hills) Reporter.

Arkansas City Traveler, July 19, 1876.

Omaha, Neb., July 13. Recent dispatches from the Red Cloud and Spotted Tail agencies state that the affairs are very uncertain. Owing to the recent news of Custer's defeat, the Interior Department are issuing nothing but corn and flour, having failed on beef entirely.

Scouting parties have been withdrawn from the Agency at the bridge on the Sidney route. There is still one company of troops at the bridge.

It is not probable that the Indians will make trouble at the agencies, as they are their only refuge in case they are overpowered.

Arkansas City Traveler, July 19, 1876.

[From the Chicago Tribune.]

The present Sioux war, precipitated by Sitting Bull and his large and formidable gang of roving and desperate savages, ought to be the last Indian war the Government will be called on to prosecute. There is one way, and only one way, to make it so. It is to drive the Indians now occupying the northern Territories into a common reservation in the Indian Territory, and to exterminate all the savages who refuse to go. The temporizing policy may as well be abandoned once for all.

The overflow of people from Europe and the Eastern States has already begun to spread over Colorado, Wyoming, Dakota, and Montana. Already Kansas and Nebraska are pretty well settled, and after passing the 100th degree of longitude, a far larger area per family is necessary for the support of those who locate on the western plains, on account of the barrenness of the country and the scarcity of rain. The attractions of the minerals and the opportunities for stock raising in the Territories will increase the emigration there steadily and rapidly. It would be folly to resist it, and cruel to subject the emigrants to an unequal frontier struggle with roving bands of hostile Indians. These Territories can only be made safely inhabitable by ridding them of the savages, and the interest of civilization demand that this shall be done.

Fortunately, this policy may be carried out without doing the Indians any injustice; on the contrary, it will be the most humane to them, and will provide for their future more permanently than any other. The Indian Territory, lying between Kansas and Texas, and just west of Arkansas, has a larger area than the State of Illinois, and is ample for the accommodation and support of all the aboriginal population of America, which does not number more than 300,000 persons. The climate is warm and well suited to the outdoor life which the Indian pursues. Having them all together, they can be better and more cheaply supported; the Territory can be thoroughly guarded and the excursions of wild Indians quickly checked; the climate, soil, and associations will make the Indians incline more rapidly to agricultural pursuits; and all the civilizing influences of education and religion can be brought to bear upon them in a degree not possible while they are scattered about in small tribes and at large distance.

This is the plan upon which the war against the Sioux should be prosecuted. Having conquered them into submission, all the other Indian tribes of these Northern Territories will peacefully submit to the change, glad of the assurance of protection against the outlaw Indians which it will carry with it. As to Sitting Bull and his followers, there is no excuse for the development of the slightest sentimentalism. His present force consists of all the hostile bands that have been harassing the whites and the peaceful Indians in that country for the last twelve or fifteen years. They have been marauding, plundering, and murdering ever since the Spirit Lake massacre in Iowa and the Sioux massacre in Minnesota. They have made war on the commerce of the Upper Missouri for years. They have frequently attacked the Crows, Shoshones, and other friendly tribes. They have absorbed the appropriations of millions to use as resources for further fighting.

The present war, indeed, has grown out of the confession of the Peace Commission that they are powerless to do anything more with the Sioux, and is prosecuted at the special request of the Indian Department. Had he not been vigorously attacked now, Sitting Bull would probably have induced the entire Sioux Nation to join him, and this might easily have led to a general Indian war. Such a result can be surely avoided by the policy of concentrating or "corralling" all the Indians of these several Territories into the Indian Territory, giving them separate and adequate reservations, and exterminating those who will not acquiesce. The peaceable treaty Indians will probably rejoice at the change, as it will give them for the first time something like certain protection against the savage Indians. If this policy be adopted, the necessary regiments should be filled up to their full strength, and such a force thrown against the hostile tribes as will bring them into quick submission.

Arkansas City Traveler, July 19, 1876. W. B. Skinner received a letter from his son, dated Sidney, Dakota Territory, July 4, in which he expressed his determination to start for Colorado as soon as possible, as times were none of the best there. Mr. Felton received a letter from Joe Rickels last Thursday evening, we think, stating that Mr. Berkey and his son, Will, started for home the day he wrote; that he and Uncle Richard Woolsey had traded their wagons, teams, and everything for a claim, and were working a lead paying from three to ten cents per pan; that Uncle Richard's sight has improved wonderfully from the time he first saw "pay dirt;" that he was erecting a shop, and both were determined to "see her through." These letters, however, were written before the late Indian fights, and it is possible they may change their minds.

Arkansas City Traveler, July 26, 1876. The nomadic Berkey and son, Will, returned from the Black Hills last Sunday, with their "scalp locks" still hanging to them.

Winfield Courier, Thursday, July 27, 1876. Front Page.

Custer.

He was a very severe disciplinarian, and it was only by the most supernatural daring in the face of the enemy that he was able to maintain a place in the esteem of his men. A story is told which will illustrate this, and which we have not seen in print. We have it from soldiers of the Twenty-third Ohio, who were out on picket, and saw it. It was when RosserC("this new Savior of the Valley," Sheridan called him)Cfollowed the rear guard of the Army of Shenandoah so pertinaciously down the valley, after the advance in 1864. Sheridan was finally irritated at Rosser's impudence, as he kept pounding away at our pickets with his cavalry, in front of Starsburg, and finally ordered Custer's division out, to drive him back. They passed through our picket lines, Sheridan and his staff along, to see the thing start off right. Rosser's cavalry was drawn up within plain sight of our lines. Custer formed his cavalry for the charge, and then rode out towards Rosser, slowly, all alone. Custer was a very striking figure, with his long yellow hair floating over his shoulders, his red necktie, his dashing Huzzar jacket, and wide-brimmed, bandit-looking hat thrown backward upon his head. He rode slowly out, entire clear of his command, toward Rosser, many yards to the front, then halted and lifted his hat, and made a royal cavalier salute to Rosser, dropping his hat to the horse's side. He then rode slowly back, placed himself at the head of his command, and ordered the charge. The charge was so sudden and impetuous that Rosser was swept before it like the wind, and he was followed at a run to Rood's Hill, miles distant, without ever having a chance to reform, and with only one piece of his artillery left. Sheridan used to say, laughing, that one piece of artillery went over Rood's Hill so fast that only one wheel touched the ground.

Another story concerning Custer=s childhood was related by C. M. Scott, editor of the Arkansas City Traveler, August 30, 1876, after he visited the Centennial and other localities back east, including his home town of Cadiz, Ohio.

CUSTER LIVED HERE.

Among the old burnt clay hills, there is a cherished memory of the past, respected by great and small, where the lamented General Custer spent his early life. We listened with great interest to the stories of Gen. Custer's boyhood, told by an eyewitness and familiar acquaintance of the family, who said the General and his brother used to ride into the town of New Rumley barefooted, on a bareback horse; and recalled the time when the Principal of the Hopedale Normal School ordered Custer from a fence post he was sitting on. Custer replied: "Professor, the day may come when I may be in authority, and you not, and I shall remember you." Time rolled on, Custer was appointed a cadet at West Point, war broke out, and the Professor one day found himself a Captain under command of General Custer, who asked him if he remembered the circumstance of years ago. The Professor did, and resigned his commission.

Winfield Courier, July 27, 1876. Thanks to T. A. Blanchard for a copy of the Deadwood Pioneer, from which we learn that one claim washed out $2,500 in one day.

Arkansas City Traveler, August 2, 1876. In our humble opinion, there is but one measure the enforcement of which would result in the speedy settlement of the difficulty with those Sioux Indians up north. Phil. Sheridan may be ordered there with his paltry 3,000 troops; Governor Osborn may take a dozen trips to the northern frontier; company upon company may be ordered from Fort Leavenworth and other military posts; Crook and Terry may scour the country until Gabriel blows his B flatCbut so long as the Kansas Militia, Cowley County Division remains inactive, just so long will murder and bloodshed be of daily occurrence. Call 'em out, Governor, and end this foolishness.

Arkansas City Traveler, August 2, 1876. CONSIDERABLE EXCITEMENT was created on our streets last Friday evening by the announcement that Uncle Dick Woolsey, late of this place, had struck a lead in the Black Hills country. The authority for the rumor was a special to the Inter-Ocean dated Bismarck, Dakota Territory, July 25, saying that assays were made of the quartz from the Woolsey lode, eight miles from Deadwood, yielding from $2,500 to $5,059 to the ton. Everyone was rejoiced to hear of Uncle Richard's success, until informed by Berkey (who has "ben thar") that it was another Woolsey, supposed to be a distant relative of our uncle. "'Twas ever thus in childhood's hour."

Arkansas City Traveler, August 16, 1876. WASHINGTON, August 11, 1876.

The following is General Sheridan's letter to General Sherman, transmitted by the President to Congress, today, with his message, asking for more cavalry or volunteers.

CHICAGO, August 5, 1876.

Gen. W. T. Sherman. I have not yet been able to reinforce the garrison at Red Cloud, at Spotted Tail, or at Standing Rock, strong enough to count Indians or to arrest and disarm those coming in. I beg you to see the Military Committee of the House, and to urge upon it the necessity of increasing the cavalry regiments to one hundred men more to each company.

Gen. Crook's total strength is 1,774; Terry's 1,873. To give this force to them, I have stripped every post from the line of Montana to Texas. We want more mounted men.

We have not exceeded the law in enlisting Indian scouts; in fact, we have not as many as the law allows. The whole number in this division is only 114. The Indians with Gen. Crook are not enlisted, or even paid. They are not worth paying. They are only with him to gratify their desire for a fight and their thirst for revenge on the Sioux.

[Signed] P. H. SHERIDAN, Lieutenant General.

Arkansas City Traveler, August 16, 1876.

The enlisted men who survived the fight on the Little Horn have petitioned the President to promote Major Reno to be Lieut. Col., vice Custer, and Capt. Benteen to be Major vice Reno. They say these officers saved the lives of every man of the Seventh Cavalry now living who participated in the battle. This disposes of the stories about Reno.

Winfield Courier, September 7, 1876. JOSEPH STANSBERRY left the Black Hills three weeks ago and arrived home last Tuesday-a-week. He brought some gold home with him, and is looking very well. He reports the Cowley County boys mostly doing well.

Winfield Courier, September 7, 1876.

Major John D. Miles, agent of the Cheyenne and Arapahos, came up from the Territory last Monday accompanied by his daughters. The Major lately wrote a very succinct and graphic account of Custer's last battle, which article was accompanied by an accurate plan of the battle and published in the Lawrence Journal. The Major informed us that he got the account from some of his own Indians, who were upon the ground. Nearly three hundred returned in one body, about two hundred in another, and three in another. What puzzles us is how these Indians, belonging to Major Miles' agency in the Indian Territory, found out that the United States troops were after their brothers nine hundred miles away to the north. We believe the Major's Indians disclaim taking any part in the Custer fight, but of course they did. Wichita Eagle.

Arkansas City Traveler, September 20, 1876. The terms of the proposed new Indian treaty were read to the savages at the Red Cloud Agency by the United States commissioners on Thursday last. Addresses were made by Bishop Whipple and Col. A. G. Boone, and after rations for a feast were issued the council closed.

Arkansas City Traveler, September 27, 1876. The sudden fall of water in Yellowstone River stops navigation and now supplies for troops at the new post must be hauled in wagons from Fort Buford, thus showing that even nature now aids the Sioux.

Arkansas City Traveler, October 4, 1876.

Red Cloud Agency, Nebraska, via Sidney, Nebraska, September 22. This evening the commission consummated the treaty with the Sioux, Cheyennes, and Arapahos at this agency, the Indians agreeing to the proposition made them on the 7th inst., without change of a single word, which proposition has already been published in full.

The following named Indians were selected by their people to sign for the Ogallalas after the treaty had been read over, and interpreted, before signing.

Red Cloud, Young Man Afraid of his Horse, Red Dog, Little Wound, American Horse,

Three Bears, Fire Hunter, Quick Bear, Red Leaf, Fire Eyes, White Cow, Good Bull, Sorrel Horse, Weasel Bear, Two Dance, Big Foot, Bad Wound, High Bear, Slow Bull.

The Cheyennes and Arapahos will not sign until tomorrow, after which the Committee starts at once for Spotted Tail Agency to consummate a treaty there.

To the surprise of the Commission, after they had affixed their signatures of the treaty, the Indians hung back and speeches were made by a number of them before they would touch the pen and make their marks.

Red Cloud said: "I am afraid of the President, and you men who have come here to see me are chief men and men of influence; you have come here with the words of the Great Father, therefore, because I am his friend, I have said yes to what he has said to me. I suppose that makes you happy. I don't like it that we have a soldier here to give us food. It makes our children's hearts go back and forth. I want Major Howard for my agent. I want you to send word to Washington so he may come here very soon. If my young men come back and say the country is bad, it will not be possible for me to go there. As for the Missouri River country, I think if my people should move there to live, they would all be destroyed. There is a great many bad men there and bad whiskey, therefore I don't want to go. There is a great many of my relatives who have no money, and if they are employed to go to the Indian Territory to look at the country, I hope they will be paid out of the money of the Great Father that you have with you."

Young-Man-Afraid-of his Horse said: "This is the country where I was born. I have never made any man's heart feel bad. I have thought that the Great Spirit intended that I should live here and raise my children. I had wished that the Great Father should take care of me and that I should live here with my children and these white people who have married among us. I gave notice that it would take me a long while to learn the labor, and I expect the President will feed me for a hundred years, perhaps a good deal longer. You never heard of me behaving badly."

With this he took a pen in hand, and as he made his mark, he said: "This is to signify that the Great Father has fed and clothed me for a hundred years and given me wagons and cattle."

Fire Hunter came up holding a blanket over his eyes, signed blind-folded, and returned to his place in silence.

Big Foot, who had been engaged in agriculture for several years, said: "I am a farmer. I wanted a hundred wagons, but I have not seen them, yet I am the man that is going down to see that country."

Crow, with a good voice, refused to sign the treaty, and walked away with quite a show of indignation.

All the others who had been selected and were present, offered to put their cross on the paper, a copy of which was given them at their request.

Arkansas City Traveler, October 4, 1876. The treaty with the Indians at Red Cloud has been signed by most of the head chiefs, some refusing to sign however. Those who signed, did so, conditionallyCthat if the Indian Territory was suitable to their taste, they would go; if not, they would hold the country they have.

The Sioux treaty requires the Indians to be removed to the Indian Territory, and the Black Hills to be sold to the whites. They will be followed by a sufficient body of soldiers, who will have to be stationed along the Kansas line.

Winfield Courier, October 5, 1876. The Peace Commissioners have succeeded in corraling a number of the hostile Sioux long enough to tell them of the wondrous fertility of the soil and the happy hunting grounds to be found in the "South country.@ Prominent chiefs, who have been most noted in the recent fights, agreed to send a delegation of young men to the Territory to look at it, but if they reported the country as bad, they would not move. They still claim the Hills as theirs, and that the soldiers and gold hunters have no rights there. They insist on having a talk with the Great Father before they make a move in any direction.

The Cherokee and other civilized Indians are greatly excited over the proposed removal of the Sioux into the Territory. They say that they have never given the Government consent to thus have their treaty stipulations violated, and they propose to solemnly protest against such action. It's their funeral.

Winfield Courier, October 19, 1876.

THAT SIOUX QUESTION.

It is proposed to remove that portion of the Sioux Indians, under the leadership of Red Cloud and Spotted Tail, two semi-civilized chiefs, to the Indian Territory. These two tribes comprise, all told, not to exceed 10,000 people.

The Indian Peace Commissioners have promised them protection, should they conclude to leave their present territory and remove to a more congenial clime. Some of their young men are now looking at the country with a view of reporting on the feasibility of the change. This is all there is in it, the furore and hub-bub of a few patent newspapers, to the contrary notwithstanding. These men always howl at any change the Government seeks to make, and proceed at once to curse the "administration.@ Two years ago they prophesied an Indian war on our frontier, they depicted the sufferings of the settlers along the border, "when the blood-thirsty savage should reek vengeance on women and children, burn and destroy property, and turn our county into a barren desert.@ Each picture drawn was followed by anathemas of the administration. Their cries of alarm sounded along the entire line of the State. The people were in arms, militia companies were raised, armed, equipped, and rushed to the "defenseless border.@ It was "a time that tried men's souls.@ Watch-fires burned from the Verdigris to the 100th Meridian. The noble militia proved equal to the expectation of their friends. They made a rush through the Nation and in one short day capturedCthirty one Kickapoo squaws. The war was ended, peace was declared, and since which time these "patent" newspapers have been quiet on the Indian question.

The Sioux, sought to be transferred to our border, are as civilized as the Kickapoos, Osages, or Pawnees, that now live south of us. They are wards of the Government, and they will be fed, clothed, and treated as such, just the same as the Indians before mentioned. The Government has at its disposal an area of land, embracing over three and a half millions of acres, which it obtained through treaty from the Creek Nation in 1866.

This land originally comprised the west half of their domain, and is without doubt the finest body of land in the Territory. It is about 100 miles to the south of us here. If there is not room enough for the "blood-thirsty Sioux" on this area, the commission have, at their disposal, ten million acres lying between the 98 degrees and 100 degrees of west longitude, next to Texas, and extending up Red River into the Wasatch range. This latter body of land alone would give to each member of Red Cloud's and Spotted Tail's tribes a nice little tract of 1,000 acres.

Should the entire Sioux tribe; estimated at 40,000, be induced to give up their gold, their hunting grounds, and renowned Black Hills, and take up their permanent abode here, there would still be room enough, as each individual member would have to spread himself over 250 acres of surveyed land to occupy it all.

The talk about their removal being "a blow to the commercial interests of the Southwest" is all "bosh.@ It would be the best possible thing that could occur for Cowley and Sumner, the two leading grain producing counties of the State. We would have 40,000 consumers at our very door, not one of which would be a producer.

Does anyone presume to say that this would not be a benefit to our county? Forty thousand Indians will consume, in one year, 480,000 bushels of wheat alone, saying nothing about the corn, beef, and other supplies necessary to keep up the agents and agencies. Does anyone presume to say that this would not be a benefit to our border counties, should they have the privilege of furnishing these supplies to the Government? Bring on your IndiansCbring 10,000, 40,000, or 100,000, and fill the entire western part of the Territory with them. Convert Cowley County's border into "outfitting posts" and her interior into a Government granary; build railroads from the posts to the agency and from there to the Gulf, and we will realize a day of prosperity never known before.

Civilize the "blood-thirsty Sioux" by daily contact with U. S. soldiers and other elements of western civilization. Let the Government take care of its wards in a manner it may deem best; the "border" is able and willing to take care of itself. Their approximation to us will not drive one man from the county, and it may be the means of bringing in a great many dollars.

Arkansas City Traveler, October 25, 1876.

Our readers have noticed that a treaty (?) has been made by the United States Government with the Sioux Indians, by which they are to be removed to the Indian Territory, to the south of us. There is one provision, and that is the "Young men" are to go there and see if they like it. We have tried for some days to get time to say a word on this subject, but

politics have crowded most everything else out. * * * It is only a question of time when the Indian Territory will be organized into a State Government. It must be done. The grain of

Kansas must have competing ports, not competing lines, in order to get cheaper transportation. When the country is settled, and not till then, will there be built up a port at Galveston to compete with the ports on the Atlantic seaboard. It is but half the distance there that it is to New York. But this is a subject that we shall refer to in the future. Topeka Commonwealth.

Arkansas City Traveler, November 1, 1876. The Lawrence Journal reports 100 Sioux at Omaha, en route to the Indian Territory, where the tribe will doubtless locate. These 100 spyers out of the land will be in attendance on the Indian Fair, at Muskogee, where it is hoped they will gather some useful information. Dr. Nicholson, superintendent of Indian affairs, is with the United States Commissioners at Omaha. Indian Journal.

Winfield Courier, November 2, 1876. We omitted to mention that our old friends, Tom and Seth Blanchard, two boys that were here when this county was made, have returned from a trip to the Black Hills. They struck "pay dirt" as soon as they arrived there, and have been handling it ever since. They will go back to their claims in the spring and run them another summer. To hear the boys talk about "bed-rock," "drifting," "pay-gravel" and the like, makes us forget that they used to be county officers of this county.

Arkansas City Traveler, November 8, 1876. Gen. Crook captured 480 lodges of the Red Cloud and Red Leaf bands, and made Spotted Tail chief of the Sioux in place of Red Cloud.

Winfield Courier, November 9, 1876. Editorial Page.

The delegation of "blood-thirsty" Sioux Indians, mentioned in another column, were in Wichita last Saturday. The Beacon office men still retain their scalps.

Winfield Courier, November 9, 1876. We learn this (Thursday) morning that the "blood thirsty" Sioux will camp on Sand Creek, twelve miles north of here, tonight. Where is that "blood curdling war whoop" that Allison predicted would resound through the valley?

Arkansas City Traveler, November 15, 1876. Last Friday afternoon sixteen wagons, loaded with ninety-six Sioux Indians, including about one dozen squaws, passed through this place and camped on the Walnut. They were under charge of Col. A. G. Boone, Major E. A. Howard, and Dr. J. W. Daniels, who accompanied them to the Territory to select a location.

Col. Boone has been fifty years in the Indian service, and was the party who extinguished so many Indian titles in Kansas. Dr. Daniels was acting commissioner for the United States. Major Howard, their former Agent, is disbursing agent.

The Indians were not pleased with the country between here and Wichita on account of the scarcity of timber and the flatness of the prairie lands, and expressed themselves in favor of a hilly or mountainous place for their future home.

In the evening, accompanied with Messrs. Haywood and McLaughlin, Indian contractors, the Mayor, Mr. Brown, and our worthy Representative of the Legislature, we paid the camp a visit, and were cordially received. In the officer's tent we were introduced to the famous chief, "Spotted Tail," and in the camp met "Red Dog," "Young Man Afraid of his Horses," "American Horses," and others, among them two Cheyennes and four Arapahos.

They were all large, powerful men, and wore a look that one would not like to meet alone on the prairie.

From Dr. Daniels, we learned that "Spotted Tail" is only a nickname, and that the great chief's real name was "Bear Legs.@ "Red Dog" derived his name from his coming into camp on all fours, being so badly wounded and covered with blood that he resembled a red dog. "Young Man etc.," explains itself. He was the owner of a number of horses, and was always so uneasy for fear they would be stolen, that he was given that name.

The Sioux expressed their desire to see the Osages, and an effort will be made to meet them on the trail as they go to Cheyenne Agency. The Agents did not want them to see the Pawnees, as they are deadly enemies, and the sight of them would be apt to make them discontented.

"Spotted Tail" is said to be an intelligent, shrewd man, and one of the most remarkable full blood Indians living. He seldom says much and depends solely on his own judgment. On his person he wears several medals from President Grant and other distinguished men. We

noticed small boys with them that wore hair piping, costing from $50 to $300, and some ornaments of no meager value.

The company went from this place to the old Kickapoo Agency, thence to the Cheyenne Agency, and from there to the Sac and Fox Agency, then to Muskogee, and then home by the way of the M. K. and T. Railway.

We have not learned what has been decided on, but think they will be located not a great distance from the State line.

There are about 25,000 of them in all, and it is expected from 10,000 to 15,000 would be brought down in case they are satisfied. In that event, a post of not less than five companies of soldiers would have to be stationed along the line, which would give consumers sufficient to raise the price of wheat, oats, and corn equal to that at Wichita or any railway town, and would be the next best thing to a railroad, and that, too, without any tax on the people.

Arkansas City Traveler, November 15, 1876.

W. J. HOBSON, of this city [Wichita], was awarded the contract for transporting the Sioux and their officers on their tour through the Indian Territory. Eagle.

Arkansas City Traveler, November 15, 1876. The Sioux Indians and Commissioners will have a rough time of it in the Territory during the storm. The freighters, too, will fare hard, as many of them were not prepared for exposures.

Arkansas City Traveler, November 22, 1876. W. J. Hobson, of this city [Wichita], to whom was awarded the government contract for carrying the Sioux Indians on their tour of inspection through the Indian Territory, received a letter from Col. A. J. Byon, who has the outfit in charge, dated Arkansas City, Nov. 11, and reads as follows.

"Getting on well. Have not taken a second pull, or broken a ham string since we left Wichita. Teams look well, with plenty of hay and corn. Everybody feeling good. Splendid weather and roads in excellent condition. All we ask is a continuance of the same. They are still voting for Spotted Tail down in these parts. We passed two hundred wagons loaded with wheat for Wichita between here and your place. Arkansas City is a nice little place with very clever people and the promise of a good future.@ Wichita Eagle.

Arkansas City Traveler, December 6, 1876.

INDIANS!

St. Joseph, Mo., Dec. 2. Spotted Tail, now chief of the Sioux nation, and the 96 Sioux braves sent to examine the Indian Territory, with a view to the removal of the Sioux nation there, passed through the city this p.m., homeward bound, in charge of Col. A. G. Boone and Dr. J. W. Daniels, a Sioux commission and disbursing agent, and Maj. Howard. They have been five weeks from home.

A St. Joe Herald's interview says the delegation took wagons at Wichita, 424 miles through the Territory to Muskogee, on the Missouri, Kansas and Texas road, driving twenty-five days.

At Okmulgee, two chiefs of the Creek nation made speeches, and Spotted Tail replied. The Indians say nothing, being under bonds to those at home to say nothing until the return of the commissioners. They say they see that the Indians are placed with the country, and think if the right men are sent to treat with them, the whole of Spotted Tail and Red Cloud agencies, 12,000 in number, will move to the Territory without any trouble in the spring. The Indians liked their trip.

Arkansas City Traveler, December 6, 1876. JOE RICKELS is making a good salary picking his guitar for a restaurant in the Black Hills.

Arkansas City Traveler, December 20, 1876.

Senator Ingalls submitted a resolution requesting the Secretary of the Interior to report to the Senate immediately what effort the Government had made to remove the Sioux Indians from their present reservation to the Indian Territory.

A few weeks since one hundred of these Sioux passed through Wichita, stopping here for a few days. They went to look at the country, and we believe they report that it is in all respects satisfactory to them; at least Colonel Boone, who had them in charge, intimates as much. He has gone to Washington.

There is considerable opposition in this State, also upon the part of Kansas City, to the removal of these Indians into the Territory; not that any trouble is anticipated, but from the fact that such a policy tends to the postponement of the opening of the Territory to settlement.

As far as Wichita and her interests are concerned, we are not averse to the proposed change for many reasons not necessary to mention at this time. So long as we continue to be the head of wagon transportation for supplies to agencies and forts, we can afford to be patient over the impatience of others adversely affected. Let 'em come. Eagle.

Arkansas City Traveler, December 20, 1876. The officer in charge of the Sioux Indians reported the cutting of timber in the Territory to the Commissioners of the Interior.

Winfield Courier, December 28, 1876.

Gen. Crook denies that Sitting Bull is a leader among the Sioux. He says that newspaper correspondents gave him his high reputation and that in fact he has never been more than an insignificant warrior with a few thieving followers.

Arkansas City Traveler, January 3, 1877. Front Page.

Miners in the Black Hills.

General Crook's annual report says: The miners in the Black Hills did not violate the Sioux treaty till long after the Indians had ceased to regard it, and they have not suffered as much from the Sioux since they went to the Hills as they did while living on the border.

He also calls attention to the fact that his command, of less than one thousand, fought and beat Sitting Bull's band in the battle of the Rose Bud several weeks previous to Custer's disaster. He seems to think the Government has treated the Sioux nation with unparalleled liberality, which they have repaid by raids along the border of their reservations, limited only by the endurance of their ponies.

Arkansas City Traveler, January 3, 1877. The Black Hills Territory is to be constituted by act of Congress, and miners are to be invited to take possession. They need very little invitation, however. Most of them will invite themselves if the Indians will only hold off.

Arkansas City Traveler, January 3, 1877.

O. P. JOHNSON, AN INDIAN SCOUT OF CONSIDERABLE RENOWN, dropped down from the Centennial last week. He expects to join McKenzie's command, and go north after Sitting Bull. O. P. has seen considerable service as a scout, and is recognized as one of the best in this section. At one time he was with Custer during the trouble in the Territory, and later acted with Gen. Miles.