What to see in America . frighten the first settlers; but now that the roads arewell marked they have lost their terror. As a matter of factthey are infrequent. Wind Cave and Hot Springs are on the borders of the BlackHills, which are probably the most interesting portion of thestate. These Hills are an outlying group of the name was given them by the early settlers because thedark needles of the yellow pines make them appear black asseen from a distance. The region round about for hundredsof miles is a monotonous rolling country that offers a striking contrast to this medleyof c
What to see in America . frighten the first settlers; but now that the roads arewell marked they have lost their terror. As a matter of factthey are infrequent. Wind Cave and Hot Springs are on the borders of the BlackHills, which are probably the most interesting portion of thestate. These Hills are an outlying group of the name was given them by the early settlers because thedark needles of the yellow pines make them appear black asseen from a distance. The region round about for hundredsof miles is a monotonous rolling country that offers a striking contrast to this medleyof craggy uplifts and ir-regular valleys. HarneyPeak, the monarch of theBlack Hills group andthe loftiest elevation inthe state, attains a heightof 7242 feet. It is easilyreached by trail from theattractive summer resortof Sylvan Lake, threemiles distant. SylvanLake is only five milesnorth of Custer, andtwelve miles west ofCuster is Jewel Cave, aHmestone cavern of con-siderable extent and Panning fob Gold mUch beauty. On the. South Dakota 329 slopes and mountains of the Black Hills grow forests of pine,and in the vales are pasturage and occasional cultivated fieldsand rude farmhouses. The discovery of gold in the BlackHills is usually attributed to a government exploring expedi-tion which spent the summer of 1874 in the region ; but evenat that time a good many prospectors were roaming aroundthere entirely independent of the troops. The prospectorsfound gold, and so did the troops, and both told stories ofwealth in the Hills that promptly brought a rush of thefloating population of the frontier and of numerous otherfortune seekers from the older Eastern states. The factthat they would be trespassers on the choicest huntingground belonging to the Sioux Indians was no seriousdeterrent either as a matter of justice or of danger. Effortson the part of the gov-ernment to keep theminers out met with littlesuccess, and the difficultywas finally solved, twoyears later, by the pur-chase of
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Keywords: ., bookauthorjohnsonc, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookyear1919
