Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1884-10-04
SATURDAY. OCTOBER 4. 1884.


Denver News: Having made an ex-
animation during the months Of July
ard August, of the district in Dakota
where tin ore has been found, | am pre-
pared to say to your readers that there
can be no doubt now Of the existence Of
tin ore in that country. The first dis
covery of it was made at the Eta mine,
in the Harvey district, a few miles from
Custer City, in the Lower Black Hills,
and was made in the shaft on that claim
at a depth Of seventy feet.
The mine itself was opened and work.
ed as a mica mine. and large quantities
of mica were taken from the mine and
shipped to markets in the eastern cities,
but at that depth the mica became ex-
hausted and The kidneys in abundance
began to make their appearance in that
shaft, and men who were at work there,
who had formerly worked in the mines
in Cornwall, asserted at once that tin
ore in predictions proved correct
samples of the ore were sent to the
United States assay office. The returns
from there were Is per cent pure tin
Samples we're sent to Prof. Bailey, of
Cheyenne. He pronounced it tin, and
he also made a visit to the district to
examine it for himself, and he is now
engaged in collecting a sample ofthe ore
IN be placed on exhibition at the export
ton here in Denver, which ought to
convince any one of the fact that the tin
is there in abundance.
Prof. Riotte, Of New York, made a
test of the ore and his verdict is tin.
Prof. Phelps, of London, in England
made an analysis Of 1t, and pronounced
it tin of the finest quality.
Prof. Hulst, of Milwaukee, made a tes'
of it, and pronounced it tin, and to ge,
nearer home With my authorities, Mr.
Won Schultz, of Denver, tested it, and
he pronounced it tin, and the samples
he had ran very high i'm that metal, and
best Of all, the samples Of tin can be
seen here in Denver that came from the
ore found there.
The ore is found in a hard white spar
and i'm true assure veins or lodes lyin,
between wall rocks Of a mica slate for
nation. The pressure OF the ore is frs,
determined on when the tin kidneys
first made their appearance in the spar
and then the stuff called mica schist be.
gins to appear, and what is called tin
wood also come in. Wherever these in.
dications ppear the books on mineral,
ogy tell us we may look for tin ore in
quantity and i'm a few Of these veins ]
speak of, these indications arc very
prominent.
There are not only hundreds but
thousands of Fl -snre veins of spar in the
district that carry mica, and there has
been an enormous quantity Of mica
shipped from these mines to markets in
the east and London. In England one
mine that I know of has shipped 1900
pounds Of mica within three years past
that brought an average price Of SAFE
per pound.
But not more han one vein i'm forty
miles shows any indication of tin, and
where the prospects for mica are good
for nothing. l differ with a former
writer, who stated that this district
where the ore is found is sixty miles in
length. I claim it is not more than
thirty miles in length by fifteen in
width, and is in Custer and Pennington
counties, Dakota, in the lower edge Of
the Black Hills.