Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1886-01-23
SATURDAY. IA NUARY 90, 1856.
The Black Hills.

Inc ex tension OF the sioux Jlty ana
Pacific line into the Black Hills country
brings that country and Sioux City into
interesting relations. 1t is a great u
try, q rich country. The full extent of
Its II have only recently begun
to be adequately appreciated. Enough
is now known TO make it certain that it
10 hardly possible to exaggerate the i'm
mensity and variety Of the resources of
the great region comprehended under
:he name of the Black Hills country. |
1t lie q mineral region of surprising
richness. The richness Of its silver
mines 10 universally known but rich
~ are these silver mines-some Of
which, like the Homestake, rank the
most valuable in the woodland rich as
are other and yet undeveloped argenti-
ferrous deposits, it is a positive injustice
to the Black Hills country to consider il
az only fortunate in deposits Of the pre-
cious metals. Such a character might
suggest the lodes Of Nevada and some
parts of California. The fact significant
Of the real fortune of the Black Hills is
that its deposits Of the precious metals
are only n item in the long and
splendid schedule Of It's true resources.
Besides silver in Astounding quantity
the Black Hills have lead, copper, tin,
and many other minerals, and great
deposits Of coal. Most remarkable have
been the recent discoveries Of their
stores of tin, stores which are now
demonstrated to be practically inex-
haustible. These tin mines are better
than gold mines; their product is more
needed by the world than gold, and
they signify an addition to wealth
paralleling or exceeding that Of the
famous Cornwall mines which from the
days of the Carthagenians have had a
monopoly of the tin supply of the world.
In mineral resources alone the Black
Hills have basis for a development and
aerowth in wealth which it would be
rash to set bounds to-. They have the
minerals in Astounding quantity, and
near the surface of the earth, and they
have also the fuel for purposes of re-
duction and manufacture. The only al.
ditional requisite is that Of means of
transportation witch the Black Hills
country has hitherto had, have been
only the toilsome and %extravagant
methods Of pioneer freightage. 1t has
been cut off from railroad communities
ton in several directions by physical
barriers and by the impossible barrier
of the great Indian reservation of Dako-
10 west of the Missouri river. 1t is a
marvel that the country, width such
miilstones chained to its neck, should
be able to make even the slowest pro-
gress. No country less marvellous dow.
cred with natural wealth could have
done 30. But despite these barriers and
clogs the Black Hills are to-day already
the seat Of a rich, prosperous and pow
erful community. They are peopled by
population nearly as great as that Of
the state of Nevada, and are the scene
Of busy civilization, including many
growing cities and towns and villages,
to say nothing Of the outlying mining
camps, all Of which create a trade and
involve necessities for supply which, in
the aggregate, are very great. This
large sum of accomplishment, though
based primarily on the mineral re.
sources of the country, has a still wider
basis. The cattle interest of Black Hills
is q great and valuable one, and besides
the thousands of cattle on the ranches
Of that country, there are fertile valleys
and districts which afford permanent
fields for various branches of agricul,
ture. The farmer, the rancher and the
miner have q joint field, and that a vas,
one, in the development of the Black
Hills. The result of their work, there,
fore, is not the mere transitory phantasn
ofthe squatting miners camp, o of q
bleak cattle range, but it has all the
characteristics of stability, of sure-footed
and broad based prosperity. And what
has been done, moreover, has been the
work of only a few years since the In.
dams were driven from exclusive pos
session Of the country, and despite AT
isolation from the outside world which
would have been fatal to almost any
other region. 1t is to this notable
settlement and development and civil.
sation in the Black Hills, already ia