Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1888-02-04

| prOutS from Tin stOne yieluing' IoJIy
pounds of tin to the ton it seems really
marvellous that the mere announcement
! of forty per cent. 500 pounds to the
| ton should have failed to attract any
serious attention. and even long after.
| ward it was rather by accident than
otherwise that the idea Of commercially
dealing with the tin was developed. 1t
| may be mentioned in passing that the
Black Hills contain precisely that COM
bination SO dear to the hearts of Cornish
tin miners-granite, with slate as the
adjacent formation. There are the
granite masses with the slate against
them precisely as in other profitable
tin mining districts. The district was
known to be auriferous and its gold
mines have since returned enormous
dividends, yet the Eta, which has
since been regarded rs the the pioneer Of
tin, would probably have lain idle but
that it yielded some handsome plates
of mica for which a ready market could
be found. Tin specimens were obtained
| by German miner who settled in the
! district, but either from carelessness in
ascertaining whence they were pro.
cured, or from insufficient technical
knowledge he secured u series Of claims
on the granite boss-Harney Peak and
attempted to sell them on the faith Of
his tin specimens in New York.
This granite appears TO contain no
tin-the tin being entirely found
in the slate formation. which com
pletely surrounds Harney Peak
proper, which is granite-so
that when New York capitalists
send their inspector to verify the Ger
mans statement previous TO purchas-
ing, they receive the rather discour-
aging report-"No trace Of tin in any of
the claims"
As the Germans veracity and social
position was beyond question, atten-
tion was turned to other rock forma-
tions in the district, and large guam
tity of Eta ore was miled, for tin, with
an amount of success surprising all ex-
pectations. AS large financial sup
port was given III New York, it was
judicious to close the mill
until an approximate estimate could be
obtained of the extent of the tin de-
post, and the impression was encour-
aged rather than otherwise that tin
mining had proved commercial
success. The owners of the Eta for
weeks declined to entertain any offers
ofnewly discovered claims until they
had obtained the best practical and
scientific knowledge then available as
to the character of the formation, and
as to the evidence af their being true
tin-bearing veins. Then commenced
bonding and testing in good earnest on
Il large scale, which extended over
three years, and still continues. When
20 ~ l,a
within the company's operations is
larger than the whole county Of Corn
wall, it will be readily understood by
practical mining men that the capital
to be employed must be on broad and
liberal scale.
The whole course Of procedure, so far
as we can see from the published state
ments, presented nothing remarkable
either as regards magnitude or mode Of
action, except that it was to be pur
sued by company and not by private
capitalists In the case of ivory, the
late Mr.. Lund, of Fleet, street, held the
entire market in his own hands for
many years buying all that came in;
and in the case Of manganese, we opine
that the late Mr.. Ferne worked upon
a scale that would have dwarfed the
iiarney Peak project, and although the
Ehrenbreitstein people ultimately in
terfered with his monopoly, we doubt
either producers or consumers
have been materially benefited by the
change. We we'll recollect that at one
time Mr.. Fernie controlled, by the pay
ment Of pretty handsome annuities,
some forty mines Of concession in the
Pyrenees, though it did not suit his
purpose to work an ounce of the con-
tained peroxide Of manganese, and this |
was by no means the only idle prop
erty which he held. Fit were intended
to conduct the Harney Peak business
upon the same system We can only
state that il is the system most likely |
to give the best commercial results, |
and can easily understand tho misrep-
resentations used by present tin i'm
porters and producers from old sources
to hold this property in check, to pre-
vent its becoming dangerous compet- !
itor. This, however, should not be
permitted TO interfere with its develop
ment, either with American or with |
English capital. AS the district is
highly interesting from an industrial
ani commercial point Of view, as well |
as from scientific considerations, we
purpose giving a series of articles con-
corning it.
At Random.