THE BIG HORN COUNTRY.

Otago Witness, Issue 1341, 11 August 1877, Page 3

THE BIG HORN COUNTRY.

There seems to be no longer any doubt that the Big Horn country will be fully explored the coming summer, as expe-i ditions are already fitting at Rawlius, ! Laramie, Corinne, Omaha, Grand Island, and Sidney, to go to the headwaters of the Big Horn" river, and prospect the country. It was Father De Smet, we believe, who first told of gold deposits in the Big Horn country, and from that day to the present moment that region has been looked upon as fabulously rich, in gold ,and silver. Numberless expeditions have been fitted out having for their objective point the Big Horn mountains, but none of them ever found the promised land. Like the fable of Captain Kidd's buried treasures, the failure of one party only makes others more anxious to discover the truth or falsity of the supposed goldfields. We trust that all of these parties will succeed in reaching the enchanted region, and that the Indians may not give them any excuse for leaving until the .character of the country and its value are fully established. The discovery of really rich mines in the Black Hills gives much encouragement to the belief that the wonderful tales told by the Indians and trappers are not idle boasts. It is probable that the soldiers will keep the Indians so busily employed in looking after their own safety, that they will have little time to devote to scalping prospectors ; and once in the mountains, the danger would be in a great measure lessened. These expeditions may not find gold, but it will be the means of opening up the country to settlement, for where a country presents the agricultural and pastoral advantages that the Upper Big Horn valley is known to possess, it cannot long remain unoccupied. So that whatever may be the result of the expeditions now forming for exploring that region,, the final result will be beneficial to Montana, as the settlement of the Big Horn would open up a new and short thoroughfare from Montana to tKe Union Pacific, which would shorten the distance to the East at least 500 miles over the present route by Corinne, and that, too, over a much better country. If good mines are discovered, it would be the best _ thing, i that could possibly happen our Territory, j as a railroad would be certainly built from Cheyenne to the mines, and there would be a good prospect of its being con- ! tinned to the business centres of Montana. — Helena Independent.