Press and daily Dakotaian. (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1880-1889, 1884-06-07

A VALUABLE FIND.

GAO V1SGOLJs
AvALuABLE FIND.
Recent Discovery of Tin in the Black Hills
Deadwood Pioneer.
|. The recent discovery of tin IN mex
haustible quantities in tue Black Hills
region. if Prof. Bailey's statements are
correct, will revolutlonize the present
trade in tin with England, and prove
vast source cf wealth to this country.
This useful aeA AIi6ks become more and
more rare, and its price has increased rap.
idly with the growing scarcity until now
it is hard tUsfind any pure tin in man.
ntactured form. Half century ago
pure tin utensils were not uncommon.
Gradually they disappeared and plated
TIN took their place, and now mere tin
wash on any iron body is what passes for
the real metal Fifty years ago tin
kitchen utensils could be secured and
polished. Any such operation now soon
rubs off the tin wash and exposes
the sheetiron. Rust soon sets
in and the utensil is soon worthless. All
sheet-tin for kitchen ware is simply
shoet-iron timed by immersion in o
liquid bath OF tin and zinc, and the i'm.
mersion constantly grows feebler and
thinner. It may thus be laid down as
rule that all pretended tin roofs, spouts,
coffee pots, and house wares are frauds,
and the excuse for the fraud is based
upon the costliness of tin, growing out
of its scarcity.
This point is we'll taken, for the cele-
brated tin mines OF the world are rapidly
being exhausted. The great deposits
have been. those of Cornwall, and the
Saxon and Bohemian Erzgebirge, smaller
veins have been known in Brittany,
Finland, Spain, Mexico, Bolivia and
New South Wales. These latter are
substantially exhausted. The Saxon
aud Bohemian mines now produce an in.
significant quantity, and those of Spain
and South America still less. Cornwall
has been the great source of supply for
1000 years, not only for this country,
but for the world. We are taking an.
nually about S45,Ooo.OOo worth of metal
in its different forms, but the deposits
have decreased in quantity and the ex.
pense.of working the mines has greatly
increased, for tin mining under the most
favorable circumstance is very expensive.
We are rapidly approaching the time
when Great Britain can no longer fur.
nish US tin. At such times it always
seems as if nature were ready for the
emergency. When one locality gives
out sRother is discovered. when one sub
! stance is exhausted another which can
be substituted for it is always found in
great quantities.
Tins Is peculiarly true with reference
to the supply of tin, for, if Prof. Bailey'e
q q No IL u,l1
region is able, not only to supply this
country. but the whole world with tin
for centuries to come. The center oi
the district appears to be Harney Peak
itself the principal mass, and from this
point it spreads over an area measuring
twelve miles by seven or eight. The tir
bearing rock. he says, can be quarriel
from the surface instead of bang due
for and followed underground, and he
has seen veins OF it measuring more thar
fifty feet in width, which will averag,
much better than Cornwall. The strean
tin, which can he obtained by sluicing
: will yield about seventy.five per cent. O
pure tin, and of this he says:
! The stream tin alone is so abundan
! that all the companies that could posi-
bly, work it could go on for twenty year!
: without exhausting it. Yet this is bu
the waste, you might say, of the mail
: deposit-the mere scraps that water ane
frost have detached, little bit at time
/ from the great mass aud source of th
ore, which is Harney Peak itself, NOR
than mile high, and the surrounding
!, tin bearing rock which, as 1 have alreai.
! said, extends for miles. It is lmpossibl
!, to imagine this great body of ore eve
being exhausted. AS to profit, the rich
. ness of the ore, compared with that G
). any other tin.bealing district of th
= = world, settles that question conclusively
Here, then. is an inexhaustible suppl
= of tin, not alone enough to supply on
: own country but England and Europ
. for centuries to come. 1t will furnish
: us pure tin, or at the least the mate
. . rial for solid tin plate instead of th
!, washed stuff now so commonly in use
. 1t will revolutionize the trade with Enc
land, for as Cornwall gradually disal
!. pears the demand upon us will increas
: until we shall eventually be the exporte
: instead of the importer from her. Whe
: developed with proper labor, machiner,
and capital these mines will be moi
valuable than the gold and silver mine
4 of the country combined. The deman
q for tin is constantly increasing, and il
@ consumption is enormous, even in il
n present washed form. This deposit
r believed to be rich enough to meet a
!. the demands which will be made upon
q and to supply the country with the res
i article instead of washed iron.