Hold On

The Denver Netas publishes the followihg letter from Fort Lwamie, Wyoming terrítoryí I think a few facts uiay deter stfriie' persona from going where thousands will ñn nothiug but disappointment. I arrived here yefiterday from the "hills," and, like many others, found 1 had made a great rnistake in going there. Persons going to tho hills with the expectation of flnding gold without digging hard for it will be grievously disappointed. As a general thing, the diggingtt are deep - from fifteen to thirty feet; tho country is ilat (the gölphes have but HtÜe fullj, and great expense is attafciied to openlifg claims in most localities. Very littlo prospecting has been done, and but little gold has been taken out; at Custer Oity rüining ie èntii-ely ignored; and town lot speculation and hottse building have taken the place of mining. Everybod.jr owning claims there is on " the sell." A very few claims in any of the gulches are showing paying prospecta. There is water only about three months in the year, and a claim must be first-class to pay expenses. It will take three months to open a claim at Custer. Deadwood creek, ninety miles north of Custer, is probnbly about as good aa anything fottiul there yet, and in this gulch there seems to be a seoond deposit gold, in about two feet of earth, and it prospecta tolerably well. But below this is from six to eighteen feet tliat contains but little gold until bed-rock is reached, and fclien live dollars to tlie pan will not more than pay for working. Tlie new corners Ure veïy muoh eïoited, but the oíd minera are nearly all anxious to Sell. If thero are any ruines in the Black Huls tbat will warrant a stampede like the present one, I have failed to flnd them. And that is the honest verdict of all the parties with whom I have talked, vho know anything about mines. Thoy may yet discover ricli diggings, but tliey certainly have not got thein now, and the chances for another California are not good. It makea one's heart sick to see the poor devils who aro going to the mines minus money, blankets, grub, or even guns. They may be met by dozens, begging their way; and the weather for the past month has been cold, windy and extremely disagreeable, and there are no ranches beyond Fort Laramie where these impecunious tramps may find shelter. Flour and groceries have been obtainable at prices quite reasonable at the mines, and this has proved a most fortúnate fact, for but few had taken in more than enough grab to last them on the way. Coro is 18 per 100 pounds. Freight froru Cheyenne has shot up from three to six cente to twelve and twenty cents per pound. I don't see how those blanketless and penniless fellows will finJ grub unless ground hogsand prairie dogs are plenty. On an average, about forty persons leave Cheyenne' every day, and these are not a tenth part of the arrivals at the huls. At the present rato of immigration there will be from 20,000 to 25,000 per sons in the hills by the lst of July, and judging by my own observations, nine tenths of tñem will be disappointed anc disgusted - a starving crowd, as most o them have their last dollar invested in their outfit. If the mines should turn out good, a year henoe is soon enough to go there. My advice to tho majority is, that i they can get a good chance to make board and clothes, they had better give the Black Hills a wide berth, for before another sixty days passes a chango wil teke place, and an army of disgusted anc foot-sore gold seekers will turn home ward.