Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1886-02-20
CUSTER CHRONICLE

The following extracts taken from a
letter from T. II. White to the New
York Mining Record, will be read with
interest, coming, as it does, from a man
Of the acknowledged ability of the
Deadwood correspondent:
There has been a great deal said
about the tin mines and tin discoveries
Of the Back Hills. In the frs, place let
me say there is no doubt as to the dis
covery of tin, and it is very probably in
paying quantities. The paying quaint
ties depending on several contingencies,
chiefly the percentage of tin ore in the
rock or veins, next as to facilities for
mining, concentrating, etc, all of which
can be easily determined by competent
e Cassiterite, or oxide of tin. min
ers tin stone is found in Pennington
and Custer counties fifty miles south of
Deadwood in Harvey Peak mining dis
trict also sixteen miles in a bee line
west of Deadwood, in Rawlins mining
district, Lawrence county. Already
there have been several tin mines
patented, principally some Of the Eta
group Of mines IN Pennington county
owned By the Harvey Peak Tin Mining,
Milling and Manufacturing company of
New York, who have some sixty loca-
tons. This company are at present
erecting large concentrating works on
the property for the working of tin ore
and have let a contract for the construc-
ton Of the mill, also have considerable
machinery on the ground. Some sam
plies Of tin stone mixed with rock taken
from the Eta mine assayed for me by
Johnson, Mathey & Co. of London, as
sayed 43 per cent tin and l.75 per cent
silver.
The tin mines and veins Of Rawlins
mining district in Lawrence county are
separate and distinct from those Of Har-
ney Peak district, there being several
miles of a limestone country lying be-
tween the two districts. However, the
form Of action is similar and the same
character Of ore. The ore occurs in
mica schist with granite walls for the
country rock, though some Of the veins
in Rawlins district have one wall slate,
the other granite and are well defined.
There has been considerable stream tin
ore shipped out of the Hills from the
last named district, having been saved
or collected by the placer miners in
their sluice boxes, and purchased by
\ \ The tin ore Of the Black Hills
differs from any tin ore that | have seer
before occurring more massive or in
larger pieces in the rock. The largest
crystals Of tin ore about the size of com
mon quartz crysta's | remember seeing
excepting some stream tin from some
districts in CornwalD came from the
Balswidden mine in the st. Just mining
district near Lands End, Cornwall, En-
gland. This ore being a rosin color in
crystals, but the tin ore of the Black
Hills is massive and angular, occurring
in all shapes and sizes from Il pin head
to mans head, color graylsh black. One
feature about the tin ores of the Black
Hills is that it is a very easy ore to con-
centrate; easier than any tin ore that |
have seen elsewhere, there being very
little wolfram, no mundic or mixture of
copper or such as is common in most
Cornish mines, consequently it will not
have to 60 through burning process 80
common in Cornwall. The waste rock
being granite and mica schist, the speci-
fc gravity of which is 20 and the speci-
fc gravity Of tin ore about 6.S it makes
a very easy ore to concentrate, / have
doubt that in the near future it will
lots of Concentrations to work the
tin ores of the Black Hills, consequent
ly it will be a great field for concentration
men.
A Millionaire's Bride.