Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-06-20
A. VALUABLE N
Recent Discovery of Tin in. the Black
Hills.

leSluil, il lIot. odiloy ) Sttleiilolleo alS
correct, will reyolutionize the present
trade in tin with England, and prove a
vast source of wealth to this country.
This useful metal has become more and
more rare. and its price has increased
rapidly with the growing scarcity until
now it is hard to find any pure tin in
manufactured form. Half a century
ago pure tin utensils were not uacoln-
mon. Gradually they disappeared and
plated tin took their place, and now a
mere tin wash on any iron body is what
passes for the real metal. Fifty years
ago tin kitchen utensils could be scour-
ed and polished. Any such operation
now soon rubs off the tin wash and ex-
poses the sheet iron. Rust soon sets in
and the utensil is O o worthless. All
sheet-tin for kitchen ware is simply
sheet-iron timed by immersion in q
liquid bath of tin and zinc, and the i'm
mersion constantly grows feebler and
thinner. 1t may thus be LAID down as
q 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, grow
ing out of its scarcity. s
This point is well taken, for the cele-'
brated tin mines of the world are rap
idly being exhausted. The great de-
posts have been thoseof Cornwall, and
the Saxon and Bohemian E%rzgebirge,
smaller veins have been known in Brit
any, Finland, Spain, Mexico, Bolivia
and New South Wales. These latter
are substantially exhausted. TheSax-
on and Bohemian mines now produce
an insignificant 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
takingannually about S45, 1000 006worth
of metal in it's different forms, but the
deposits have decreased in quantity
and the expense Of working the mines
has greatly increased, for tin mining
under the most favorable circumstan-
ces is very expensive. We are rapidly
approaching the time when Great Bri-
tian can no longer furnish us tin. At
such times it always seems as if nature
were ready for the emergency. When
one locality gives out another is discov-
cred, when one substance is exhausted
another which can be substituted for
it is always found in great quanti-
ties.
This is peculiarly true with reference
tothesupply Of tin, for, if Prof. Bailey's
statements are. correct. the Black Hills
region is able, not only to supply this
country, but the whole world with tin
for centuries to come. The center. of
the district appears to be Harvey Peak,
itself the principal mass, and from this
point it spreads over an area measuring
twelve miles by about eight. The Till
bearing rock, he says, can be quarried
from the surface instead Of being dug
for and followed underground, and be
has seen veins of it measuring more
than fifty feet in width, which will Az
erage much better than Cornwall. The
stream tin, which can be obtained by
sluicing, will yield about seyenty-fiTa
per cent. of pure tin, and Of this he says:
The stream tin alone is so abundant
that all the companies that could posi-
bly, work it could go on fortwenty years
without exhausting it. Yet this is but
the waste, you might say, Of the main
deposit-the mere scraps that water
and frost have detached, . little bit at
a time, from the great mass and source
of the ore, which is Harvey Peak itself.
more than a mile high, and the sur
rounding ~tin-bearing rock which, as
have already said, extends for miles
1t is impossible to imagine this great
body Of ore ever being exhausted. rs
to profit, the richness Of the ore, COM
pared with that Of any other tin-bear-
ing district Of the world, settles that
question conc1usiyely.
Here, then, is an ineXhaustible supply
Of tin, not alone enough to supply oul
own, country but England and Europe
for centuries to come. 1t will furnish
us pure tin, or at the least the material
for solid tin plateinstead of the washed
stuff now so commonly in use. It will
revolutionize the trade with England
for as Cornwall gradually disappears
the demand upon us will increase until
we shall eventually be the exporter in.
stead of the importer from her. When
developed with proper labor, machin.
cry, and capital these mines will be
more valuable than the gold and silver
mines Of the country combined. The
demand for tin is constantly increasing
= and its consumption is enormous, ever
in it's present washed form. This de
posit is believed to be rich enough t.
meet all the demands which viii b'
Z made upon it and to supply the conntf,
, with the real article instead OF NaShet