Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1884-05-17

in the New York Herald of the lst
The district described is located not II
miles from Custer and the same forma
tion extends to and through our city
limits:
Everybody knows or thinks that tin
is a base, plebeian metal, and that to
eat from tin plates or drink from tin
cups is to live in abject poverty Ye,
tin costs as much as copper and is used
in smaller quantities than any one look
ing to a Tin store would imagine The
alleged tinware Of every kitchen is re.
ally iron plated with tin, the latter
metal being spread as thinly as possible
its service being to keep the iron from
rusting or from i'm parting tastes to W hat
ever is put in or upon it, How grudg-
inely tin is used for this purpose every
housekeeper knows to her SORROW, for
after few months use a tin pan or plate
begins to show spots of rust, the day of
destruction being hastened by securing /;
the rust, or the iron under it, discolors
almost everything it touches, imparting
metallic taste, as the once bright
utensil is regretfully given to the poor
or the goats
Sparingly as tin is used, however, the
aggregate consumption is enormous. 1t
is very easy TO discover how much is
consumed in the United States, for, as
all of it comes from abroad, government
statistics are the sole source Of informa-
tion. Last year we imported nearly "a
000, 900 pounds Of block tin, worth more
than S6,000,000, and Of tin plate and
other manufactures Of tin we received
SOC, 100000 pounds, worth nearly $2O,-
00O GOO The great demand has melted
enterprising Americans for years to
search for tin deposits in this country,
but until recently the ore does not seem
to have been found in paying quantities
A number Of prominent gcologists
have recently examined the tin deposits
Of Georgia, Dakota and California, and
Of the Herald has been
SO fortunate ~ to encounter one of them
on his way east. This gen,leman--Pro-
fessor &. +. Bailey, late of the chair of
analytical chemistry in the University
OF Nebraska, and now the geologist of
Wyoming Territory and melnb'r Of
the American Institute of Mining En-
gineers be remembered in connec
ton with MANY government scientific
expeditions III The wcSt, bat lie said he
had gone to lIaruey Peak, which is the
centre Of the Black Hills tin district
merely TO satisfy his personal curiosity.
which had been aroused 10y stories rs 10
the quantity and quality Of the ore. He
satisfied himself that the tin bearing
erea is large, the deposits abundant, and
promising, if indicious!y worked. to be Il
great and steady source OF supply and
profit.
"What is the nature ofthc lin bearing
district?" asked the reporter.
"The Black Hills" said the professor,
"is mountainous region, solitary un-
ique, complete in itself 1t is an oasis
of rock and forest in an immense sea Of
grass. The hills form an irregular
clipse, extending about 100 miles from
northwest to southeast, and about forty
or fifty miles wide. They take their
name, which is translated from the
Sioux, from the dark foliage Of the pines
with which they are covered. In nj.
most every direction extend treeless
plains for hundreds Of miles. The hills
are the result Of a tremendous uplift, Of
which Harney Peak, 7,442 feet in height,
is the focus. Harvey Peak is an intru-
sion of granite, and forms the core or
axis of the great uplft. Immediately
surrounding this peak is region of
metamorphic states and achists, border
ed by the various members of the sedi-
mentary rock, up TO the cretaceous, ly-
ing in rudely concentric rings or belts of
varying width and dipping away on all
sides Of the elevatory axis"
"In what rock is the tin found?"
"In the granite region. The granite
occupies an area measuring about twelve
miles by seven or eight, the principal
mass being Harvey Peak itself As u
line Of separation from the eneissic
rocks. the granite is decided and dis
tinct; it's grain is exceedingly coarse,
each constituent being highly crystalline
and aggregated by itself--that is, the
quartz, feldspar and the mica are found
in large masses Of crystals. This pc
culiar formation has led to the locating
Of numerous mica claims, which are
worked with fair profit, and the devel-
opment Of the mica claims !e.! to the
discovery and investigation of the tin
ores, which occur in the same rocks
The tin is found in the class Of rock
called greisen, which in this region
differs from the typical variety found at
vaulry, France, in having albite instead
Of quartz with the mica, but in the other
characteristics Of crystalization and
naturalization resembling that of Vaul
ry and that occurring in the tin dikes of
New South Wa,es. This greisen is quite
uniformly impreqnated by the tin, the
crystals OF ore varying in size, tho, @