Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1885-02-07
Scraps Of Tin.

Suo'Ci mining uiStilCt, anu lIlat III Is
folly to look for it here. Now then Mr..
editor, with all due respect to the gentle
men who have made these assertions,
and to all other w~iseacres who believe
them to be authority on the question,
permit me to fatty contradict the asser-
tion, and to say also that there is tin ore
here, and, In my Judgement, when we
have as much development done here
AS has been done else here in the Black
Hills, We will have larger Tin mines. and
more of them, then in amy other district
in the Hills.
When l left here last summer on my
return to Denver, took with me con-
siderable ore from prospects within "A
miie and 4 half of Custer, and | had the
ore assayed by several of the best AS
savers in Colorado, and also in the east
ern states, and also assayed it myself,
and all of Us came to the conclusion that
the ore l had ran from 10 to 10 per cent
in tin OF The best quality. For the ben
eft of the skeptical on this point | will
say that | am prepared to prove my as
sertions, or they can write to the assay.
ers in Denver and learn the truth Of my
statements.
Now then let US GO a little farther in
this matter and perhaps then certain
parties will haul in their horns IA little
and be willing to acknowledge that the
prospects for our getting good tin mines
here are equally rs good, if not better,
than in any other district in the Black
Hills. | have studied quite a number
of works on mineralogy, and during the
last six months have made a specially of
the study Of tin ore in particular. Now
then all the work that | have consulted
on the question agree that tin ore is only
found in a micaceous district, and gener-
ally speaking, what is known as stream
TN Is found IN the water courses or in
the deposits OF gravel. That the mica
o district extents over a good por
ton of the Southern Hills. it is known
to cover an extent of territory Of 10 by
10 mics in extent, and all OF this terri
tory is, properly speaking, a micaceous
formation and totally different from the
limestone formation that surrounds it
on all sides. This district has been.
away off in the far off distant ayeS of
time, disturbed to a great extent by
volcanic action, a subteranean force has
split up the earth into hundreds and
thousands Of tiSsure veins as We can well
see at this date, and these veins, gener-
ally speaking, are true lissure veins in
every sense OF the word, and Custer Is
in the centre of this district. Those
veins carry silica TO Il great extent, and
silica being closely allied to tin, it nat,lr
ally follows that where the one is, vou
may look for the other one. In other
words, wherever you can fad mica there
yon can look for tin, and if you look far
enough and long enough YOU will fad
1t, and If you Will examine closely all
the veins of spar that carry mica, that is
If they are true ~fisslre, and look for the
mica that is partly decomp0sei, or as
some term 1t. burut mica. YOU may rea-
sonably expect To find tin crystals.
There are several kinds Of crystals, b, (
only II that carries tin. 4 good tin
crystal carries from 20 to IS per cent OF
metallic tin, a tin garnet does not carry
any at all, yet both are found i'm the
same vein. You will find in the same
vein what Is known rs tourmaline, it
carries no tin, but where it can be OBJ
tanned in quantity is valuable as Il color
ing matter and used by dyers in their
business very extensively. TIN crystals,
although they carry from 70 to IS per
cent OF tin, are not what we are after, as
they are not found in sufficient abun.
dance to make it profitable to work
them, but the tin crystals come from the
ore itself or what is known as casit.srite.
This ore carries from 8 to 80 per cent Of
tin and is found at great depths in the
assure veins, the upper groupings are
only an indication of what is sure to be
found underneath, and the greater num
Der of crystals you find on the surface
or in the groupings the better success
you will have when you go down to the
ore.
Now then a word Of advice TO tie
miners and ~prospeotors of Custer dis
trict and l will close. All Of you are
here to make money, | do not think any
Of you came here for your health alone.
IL you want to make your mines or pros
rests of any value, or if you want to sell
them to capitalists or induce capitalists
to buy Of you, il is demonstrated be-
yond all doubt that you must prove it
to the entire satisfaction of these CAPT.
taiists that you have a mine Of the metal
you tell them you have. You will know
when you find the tin crystals whether
it will pay you to go deeper for the ore.
If you find any crystals at all ard your
vein is we'll defined, both walls in sight,
my advice to YOU is, go down to the ore
before you try to sell it. The day for
selling prospect holes is past long since.