Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1886-02-06
A Metropolitan Maligner Adversely Ad.
vortises the Southern Hills.

vorttses the Southern Hills.
The Deadwood Pioneer or the Sist
ult.. in answer to paragraph in the
Rapid City Journal, wherein the pre-
diction was made that the former place
would become an ex-metropolis before
the close Of another year, does not con.
fine itself to the question involved.
being merely question az to the rcla-
tive prestige and commercial Importance
OF the two rival points, who both seem
To be well settled in the con ,lusion, that
their respective towns must forever he
the metropolis of the Black Hills, but
must avail itself of the opportunity to
give its readers an advertisement Of the
Southern Hills, which aiming, as il does,
to present the dark side of the subject
to the total exclusion ofthe bright, must
be pronounced bv all 1t readers who
have .he general welfare and progress
of the Black Hills at heart, to be entire.
ly subversive Of the best interests of the
Black Hills, being as narrow contracted
in its inception as the brain from which
it emenates. 1t is fact which has been
clearly demonstrated that the low
grade ores Of the Black Hills can not be
protitably handled on small scale. Is
it not fact that the Homestake did not
yield a margin Of profit when operated
upon the scale that has thus far pre-
vailed in the Southern Hills? Does It
not occur TO you, that even in your own
mineral belt, famous throughout the
world for fabulous mineral outputs, that
the living proofs Of this fact exist on all
SIDES? Is it not fact that number of
idle mills are now standing almost with
in easy reach Of your eye, living monu-
ments to the folly of attempting to sue
cessfully Operate low grade ores on a |
small scale? Would not your vapid
be rs applicable to your own
district, as they would be to the Southern
Hills? When the number of failures
on the great belt are taken into consid- |
e alton, which far exceed the number in |
all the Southern Hills, it mnst be fairly |
that this writer is not dis |
posed to treat the subject squarely, and |
that his il-timed assertions are un-
worthy Of the respectful attention Of |
any community. That the mines of the |
Southern Hills have been subjected TO |
every test, and found To be utterly |
worthless. is by the writer clearly i'm
piled, and that for all future time, so far
as mineral producing district is con-
cerned, must remain a positive blank.
1t is not intimated that in no single |
instance has there been a mine opper-
ated in the Southern Hills upon a scale
Of magnitude that would be required to
the profitable handling Of the
ores of the Homestake. The fact of |
there being large bodies of ore in the
Southern Hills, that in assay value, ex-
ceed the Homestake ores, is not ir any
way referred to !; but the wording of the
article, from beginning 10 end. is mis-
leading and ridiculously inconsistent
with the solid facts in the case. While
we do not condemn our contemporary
for espousing the cause Of his own town,
in employing all honorable means to
retain its supremacy, and the coveted |
title of metropolis" we certainly think |
that the practice of under estimating
and disparaging other districts should |
be discontinued, and for the general
welfare, and future development Of the
whole country, be hereafter dlscoatin-
ued.