The Bad Lands cow boy. [volume] (Little Missouri, Dakota [i.e. N.D.]) 1884-1886, 1884-08-21
Our Black Hills Trip.


Our Black Hills Trip.
Il There are so many points Of interest
in the Black Hills that it seems we have
entered upon q hopeless task in attempt
ing to describe them all: Before we; fin
ish, however; we must speak Of Bear
Gulch's tin and gold mines. s5;S
Bear Gulcl proper is almost west Of
Spearfsh Gid almost touching the
Wyoming line. Its about 5000 feet
higher than Spearfsh, and The road is as
far from being boulevard as anything
VIC can imagine. Granite and quartz
formations are constantly cropping out
in the read-bed, making it very rough.
There is constant ascent all the way,
except an equally as bad descent on the
opposite slope Of the hills. All the way
there lisa dense forest Of lofty pines,i
which furnished a delightfully."- cool
shade. We pass Potato and Beaver creek
camps, noted as the scenes Iof successful
sluice mining, and final yafriHa at Bear
Gulcll camp and the Niger Hiii mining
property Here we stopped for dinner,
and were Hospitality entertained by Mr.
st. John. The leaders Of our party,
Messrs. Johnston and Grassfeld, Of
Spearfish, were old miners here and were
thoroughly competent to show us all the
points Of interest.
The best and most property belongs TO
the Niger Hill mining company, and
but for the difficulty and expense of
shipping in machinery, would vie with
the Homestake system5in its bi-weekly
output. At present the mines are un-
worked. Sand creek, Just over the Wyom-
ing line, may be seen. from the summit
of Niger Hill, and has also furnished
profitable sluice mining. Gne Of the
largest nuggets taken from Sand creek
weighs about $500, and is now owned by
Mrs. Chapman. The lodges Of gold ore
here present about the same external ap-
pearance as those of the Homestake sys-
tenn, and our description will be confined
mainly to the tin mines recently dis.
covered here. 5ss;s. Il,
These mines were discovered by acci-
dent, through ice-mining. Everyone
has heard Of the notorious black sand,
the curse Of sluicers. It is very coarse
sand, or fine gravel, of great specific
gravity, and would be caught by the riff,
fles in the sluice boxes as readily as gold
dust, This occasioned much difficulty
to the miners, both in panlling and re-
to2rting, and has probably: caused more
dubious language than any other one oh
stacle. No one knew or seemed to care
what was the composition Of this black
sand until some genius had it analyzed,
and the mining world was electrified BY
the discovery that it was about so per
cent. pure tin. The diBcoyerYM tin ore:
running from 3 to SO. per- cent. followed
Immediately upon this, the discovery Gre
ating intense excitement. s
The value Of this find can best be de-
termined by analogy. All, or virtually
az, the tin in the world now comes from
tile G0rirrseltr mines in England. At
present these mines alp L.sps vpe-. =. NJ.
at great depth and three miles out under
i the English channel. The expense of
mining is consequently very large. The
iOTein the Cornwall mines runs from J Il {
to | per cent, and gigantic fortunes
have been made in these mines. They
have at present a monopoly of the tin
trade Of the world. y .:: I: :ls
A glance at the difference between the
Cornwall and Bear GuIch mines will
show how vastly superior are the latter.
In Bear Gulch the ore crops out on the
surface, and there are Mountains of it.
It is easily mined and reduced, the only
difficulty, as hitherto mentioned, being
that the roads are poor, making trans
portation high. THIS difficulty is far
more than counterbalanced, however, by
the high grade OF tile Bear Gulch ore in
comparison with that Of Cornwall. There
is none here that assays less than 3 per
cent, and from this up to 80 per cent,
That these mines will soon be developed
is beyond all question. Here is one Of
the best openings for capital that can be
found in the United States. 5y;Ss 81.
All the claims have now been located
and we found Afr. Chapman busily at
work on one. An assay Of his dump
averaged 6 per cent. tin, and much Of ii
runs enough gold to pay all cost of re,
duction, leaving the tin clear profit. Mr..
| Chapman has several claims, and showed
us over all of them. On one is a deer
shaft, which We descended, and at the
4 |bottom found large snow drift. I'M
mediately the snow-balls began flying al
short range, and it was sport whose
novelty we fully enjoyed. Standing in 8
temperature Of 80 degrees we could easily
throw snow-balls at some Of the party
sWeltering under. a July san at a temper
| ature Of 115 degrees. Mr.. Chapman tool
/ us to his different claims and finally K
his house, where his wife displayed tht
| $500 nugget to our wondering eyes. Mr
a Chapman is good mineTalogist, and hal
all the appliances for assaying his owl
ore. He has had his experiments con
firmed BY other assayers, and there is n,
donbt Of the commences Of the tin fin,
md that at no distant day the Unite,
States will draw its supply Of tin fron
the Black Hills instead Of Cornwall.
4 81 81 TO be continued 8 ISL;
Only q few weeks remain ere the lee
islatfvc convention of this district vii
n have nlacad ifs rnilifi afncs IL nnr,,sn,s