Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1888-03-17
American Tin Plate Industry

| American i'm Plate lnduStrY'
The following article from the London
Industrial Review, of recent date an
bearing under the caption of The Tin
Fields Of the United States" will be
perused with deep interest by CHRONICLE
readers;
Returning to the consideration Of the
tin deposits of Dakota the first question
that has TO be answered--for it has been
put with some degree Of confidence by
more than one espOndcnt-is Can
American tin, even assuming it TO be
produced in large quantities. find mar
ket, considering that the principal APP
| piCation of tin is in the manufacture Of
tinplates, and that the seat of the tin
! plate manufacture is South Wales ?"
We have already predicted that ere long
the Black Hills Of Dakota will render
the United States independent of out
side supply for her tin, and we are now
compelled to add the prediction that the
days Of the importion of tinplates into
America are also numbered, for the
Chicago Journal ofCommerce announces
that a corporation Of the leading firms
Tn Chicago-including 7. ID. Armour, n
| X. Fairbahk, Adams & Westlake, the
Chicago Stamping Company, Norton
Brothers, llibbard, Spencer Bartlett q
| Co., &. II. Mccormick, and others-has
been organized, with II capital Of G2OO,-
| 600, to establish q tlnplate manuiaCtory
| in Chicago, and it would be deluding
ourselves to suppose that the industry,
once established, will be limited to a
single works. 1t cannot be pretended
| that South Wales has any advantage
| over Chicago in obtaining any desired
! quality of black plate and the timing OF
| them will certainly offer no insuperable
difficulty. Many of the firms mention
| ed rs shareholders in the Chicago Til
plate Manufacturing company use such
immense quantities Of tinplate In their
! own business that their own consump-
| ton alone would make the company
great success, and the observation Of the
Sioux City Journal-America must make
her own tinplate. We have the sheet
| iron and sheet steel, and pig tin ; there
fore, marry the two industries and give
us the third-fairly represents the feel
! ings Of all Americans who have taken
the trouble to search for the truth con
cerning the rich tin deposits Of Dakota
around Harney Peak.
1t is the certainty of the Black Hills
! district becoming a great mineral pro-
| ducing country that has caused such ac-
| tiyity on the part of the railway com
! panies whose lines take that direction,
and that the SURVEYS which they are
now making will be given practical
effect by several new lines into tie coun-
try, there can be no doubt. From such
facts as these, and from some forty tons
of Dakota tin ore which we have seen
in London within the last few days, it is
evident that there will be an unlimited
supply of mineral to keep many mills
constantly occupied as soon as tin smclt
ing commences The lIarney Peak
people have doubtless been excessively
Shrewd in their dealings to secure con-
troll of all that was worth having in the
| district; and their activity appears TO
continue unabated, for a Land Office
| notice in the Custer CHRONICLE, just TO
| hand, states that on Jan. q the Harney
| Peak Tit Mining and Milling and Manu-
| featuring company, by James w. Fowler,
| their agent, made final proof on the
| Rams Horn, Cowboy, Mohawk, Legal
Tender, and Cassjterite lodes, and Swan
Zey placer claim aear by" Now, either
| the Cowb boy and Mohawk alone--to
Judge from samples of several hundred
weights each which we have seen from
| them-would be ample to Justify the
establishment of gigantic company
ct these are by no means the most
valuable of the cOmpanys possessions
they have secured the same control of
the Dakota tiK deposits as the Dutch
Trading company secured with regard
TO tin deposits of the Netherlands In
dies and if the Harney Peak organlza-
ton DO not earn similar profits 1t will
certainly not be the fault of the mines.
Having mentioned the samples
which, by the way, have never been
equalled by any exhibited in London in
proof of the wealth Of the mining region
| 1t may be well to say a few words con-
corning them, although we reserve de-
! tailed notice Of them until we have the
| assayer's certificate before us They
were taken from the mines by the COM
mittee already referred to, Prof. NJ. {.
Vincent, f. G. S., +. r. G.. S., having
superintendent their packing and ship
ment. They average D cwt. samples,
and there is a single stone that will
| probably show 5 per cent to s per cent
OF tin all through that we should esti
mate weighs about p tons. A more
| suitable expert for the business than
Prof Vincent could scarcely have been
selected, for, having already had ex-
perience in the tin deposits of the Malay
peninsula, of Australia, and of Germany,
his opinion will be generally accepted
as reliable-it will be free from the
narrowness of the Cornish mine cap
tains, who are familiar only with hand
| ling few feet Of mine, and from the
mere theory of the Mining School
Student; his report, therefore, supported
| by the assayers certificates, will be
indisputabe. We hope shortly to give
such an abstract of Prof Nincent's re-
port as will make the commercial value
of the Dakota tin deposits as well under
stood by the readers of Industrial Re-
view as the most skeptical could desire.