Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1881-11-26
CUSTER COUNTY MINES.

period Of about three years has now
elapsed since the attention of prospcctors
and mining experts was first drawn to
that portion of the Southern Hills con-
tiguOus 10 Custer In that time large
number Of prospects have been struck
and Oh some work enough has been
done TO prove their value. but on the far
greater number the discoveries them
selves know as little to-day about the
value OF their claims as they did when
the discovery stake was set i'm the
ground. Our great trouble was, that
| about the time that we first ascertalned
| that good prospecting quartz existed
here, the day of excitement over Black
Hills quartz had gone past, only the fay
end Of the boom was left for us to profit
| by. No one was speculative enough to
assist in the development of mining
property. and the erroneous and damag-
| my belief had become fixed in the
minds Of nearly every one that the ex-
| tent Of paying quartz in the Hills was
bounded by Lead City and Central. In
the face of all these obstacles il is not to
be wondered at that the prospectors
here became almost totally discouraged
and that hundreds abandoned their
claims, although firmly pursuaded that
they would pay il in the proper hands
with capital to back them. Some Of
the most persistant, however, held on,
and where they were fortunate enough
30 have funds sufficient to carry on the
work, continued opening their mines
and have in almost every instance
shown up Il mine that will pay to work.
a little more !hAn year ago it seem.
I'd as though we were to have a boom,
and The expectation of every one was
raised to The highest pitch, but then fol-
lowed the collapse of the Grand juno
ton sale, and down went the thermome-
Ter o; public faith TO below zero. A heavy
burden Of debt on some Of our best prop
thing they cou;d get, and the rc-;ii; was
that the sales since then. either con.
summated oT under way were at low
figures, and the diScoVerers are perhaps
worse off than they were before they
made what they considered lucky
strike. Still. although the first owners
have made 40 money the county itself
has improved greatly. In the first
place the junction, our largest and most
famous mine, has been bought by
strong company and the 40 stamp mill
is nearly completed. A three mile
iiune has been constructed and thou
sands Of dollars have been expended
amongst uS Ia their construction, so that
today it is no longer prospect but
mine, which gives every promise of be-
coming as noted as ANY mine on the
Lead City belt.
The Pennchscct has passed throucl,
IN eXpcriancc very similar to the juno
lion. and has conc out of it with the
positive proof established that it will
aet only pay but will pay big, and that
it is in every sense of the term big
thing. The company operating it are
conservative butsamply able to carry
out any scheme Of improvement they
may decide upon.
The Gold Star Mining and Milling
company have been the most cautious,
and there Is good reason to believe the
most successful of any, they made their
own locations, worked their mines slow
ly and carefully, and tested the rock be-
fore taking another step. Becoming
satisfied that they had good mine a
20-stamp mill was erected and another
yest made of their ore. This final test
is what has been heretofore the down
fall Of the hopes Of several of our mines,
pany has not only done great thing for
itself but has proven concnsiyely the
cause Of our previous failures. The
Gold Star mill was one of the most COM
plete, if not the very best 20-stannp mill
ever brought to the Black Hills, and
would save gold if any ordinary stamp
mill could DO it, but the company were
convinced that much of the gold here
was coated with some substance which
would prevent amalgamation and conse-
quently saving of gold, they, therefore,
added to their mill blanket tables and
arastras, and the result Of their last run
proves their wisdom. Their cleanup
was over $500 to the ton and Of that
amount over one-half was taken from
the arastras.
This of itself is sufficient to show what
has in most cases become Of the gold
from our mines which have used simply
the battery and plates. The gold will
not amalgamate, and the plates do not
catch it. For the past year, as one after
another of our mines failed on their test
runs, it has been urged BY many that
the gold was not saved, but as that is so
customary cry when mine fails to
pay it has generally been set down as
the old story. This, however, gives
credibility to the assertion and accounts
for the fact that our prospectors, men
| Al -,