Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1885-08-15
have watched it for years have come to
the conclusion that there is
The Black Hills.

Judge Bennett in Boston Advertiser
The Black Hills cover an area Of coun
try almost, If not quite, rs large as the
state of Massachusetts, have an eleva
| ton Of from two to eight thousand feet
above the level Of the sea are covered
with heavy growth of excellent tim.
ber with numerous large and beautiful
streams Of water. rapid and clear, and
valleys marvellous rich and productive
and a climate healthy and salubrious.
The first settlement in these beautiful
hills was made in the spring Of 1875
To-day they contain a population OF
over 10000 people. numerous large and
thrifty towns and villages, with churches
and school houses and one academy
daily and weekly newspapers, national
banks, extensive commercial and manu-
featuring interests. Already there are
four fine Touring mills, with all the
latest and best improved machinery,
grinding -four from the wheat grown in
the valleys, and three more in course of
construction.
But aside from these grand and varied
resources which are sufficient Of them
selves TO make rich and prosperous
country, and overtopping and surpass-
ing them all, are the minera. wealth
and mining interests. The mines Of the
Black Hills are, in many respects, the
richest and most wonderful on the con-
tinent. In other mining regions vein
Of gold or silver bearing ore FIVE or ten
feet wide is considered very cxtraor-
dinary, but here they are found from
forty to two hundred feet. Literally
speaking, there are simply mountains Of
it, and virtually inexhaustibIe. The
ore. generally speaking. is what is term
cd free milling, and can be reduced at
comparatively small cost. with wood
water and labor abundant, all which
make mining, when prosecuted honest.
ly and intelligently, the safest and most
remunerative business in which capital
can be employed. There are or mines
in the Black Hills the largest mills and
most perfect machinery and appliances
for saving gold in the world, and mining
and milling are cond, cted on q larger
and grander scale than ever before
dreamed OF. Think Of one mill alone
with it's l2O st:lspps, pounding out from
three tO five hundred tons Of ore per
day. | will say, without knowing ex-
actly, that there are over ! 500 stamps
there to day, making musical .he hills
and gulches, giving employment to
thousands Of men, and contributing to
the worlds wealth at the rate Of 81 ,OOO,-
600 per annum.
Official statistics show that for the
year 1881 Dako,a's product of gold bull
lion was greater than that Of either
Idaho, Colorado or Montana, though
the mineral regions of these territories
and states are much greater in extent
than that OF Dakota, and have been
prospected and worked four times as
long. The Black Hills have scarcely
been prospected, except in few dis
tricts, and mining there is in it's infancy,
as it is not yet five years since the first
stamp dropped on Black Hills ore.
The silver mines have up to within a
year past been almost entirely over.
looked or neglected. But recent work
and development prove some Of them
to be very rich, and l predict that the
time is not far distant when our silver
product will equal that Of any other
state or territory. These statements are
not overdrawn or colored in the least
but simply facts, susceptible Of verifca.
ton at any time.