Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1888-04-07
TIN.

The Morning Post, q prominent Lon
don journal, commenting upon the
marked change of sentiment upon the
rart Of the New York Engineering and
Mining Journal, which was SO clearly
indicated in u statement recently made
By that paper, wherein it was claimed
that it could be confidently expected
that in u few years the Black Hill;
would produce all the tin We require fol
| home consumption, and even be able tC
export it, says
This is Il very remarkable statement
coming from an authority which has
hitherto denied the existence OF tin in
commercial qualities IN Dakota. and
has aided and abette,l the attacks made
in this country by wilfully ignorant or
v~enaIly Interested persons upon the
American ownefs OF ~If@rney Peak and
the adjacent regions. ln the autumn OF
last year an English expert was appoint
ed to visit and examine the Harvey
Peak tin region with a view to ascertain
the extent and commercial value of the
deposits This mission was entrusted
to Professor NJ. G. Vincent, Of the ROYAL
Geological and Geographical Societies
The result of his Investigations las not
yet officially been made known.
As an evidence of the determination
Of the owners to secure practical man
agement, and to remove all doubts in
England Of the bona hdes of their as
sertions, as well rs to refute the ISLANDERS
of their enemies, no less than forty tons
of ole, taken from numerous lode2
within an area covering forty miles
around Harvey Peak was extracted ant
shipped direct to London. In order t.
prevent the charge that the samples hac
been picked and were of insignificant
size, immense blocks Of solid ore, weigh.
ing from one to two and a half tons
each were sen entire. Thus, one speci.
men, taken from the Excelsior lode
weighs 5,40U pounds; another from the
Eta weighs 1880 pounds; others from
the Addie, the Sarah, the Gertie, the
Tin Reef, etc, weigh respectively 1900
4,600, 1000 and 1850 pounds. From
these massive samples and many Others
assays are being made by ii leadin.
London assayer. 1t is positive that the
Harvey PeaA property is capable o.
supplying vtSi quantities OF ore before
1t becomes II, r>ssary to sink shafts anC
carry III the laborious and expensive
methods now in use in Cornwall. In
deed, up to the present time a very
limited portion of this incalculablt
mineral wealth has been laid bare by
the owners Of the property, who have
silently permitted interested parties t
throw discredit upon the discovery
whilst they gradually obtained posses
sion of the most valuable tin lodes il
Dakota, and now substantially contro
the entire Harvey Peak region. The
new tin fields are not confined to on
mountain ridge or range, but extend OF
both sides of the high granite mountain,
which form the crest of the Black Hills
1t may be mentioned en- PEASANT, tina
these mines contain precisely that com
bination SO eagerly welcomed by the
Cornish tin miners-granite, with slate
as the adjacent formation. The abus,
and misrepresentation to which the
Harvey Peak tin regions have been sub
jected in certain quarters, have haC
many parallels in the history of mining
We need only to cite the comparatively
recent efforts which were made to throw
uOuDb uIOu VIC tAlSltlICt Ol ltle VdluaDl
tin deposits Of Australia and Tasmania
These libels were persisted i'm even
when the annual yield Of Australian
metal nearly equalled that of the county
of Cornwall, and it is only necessary tc
recur to the fact that an influential En-
glish mining journal, through supposed
reliable correspondents, declared that
the deposits of Australia exist only in
the imagination of spectators, and can
never compete with English tin either
in price or quality" at the very moment
when Australian tin was selling in sid
ney at a lower rate than Chyandoul
could be sold in England, to understand
the desperation with which certain self.
constituted guides t?) of English fin.
ancial opinion cling to their Harvey
Peak tin Thesis. Additional evidence
of the truth will soon be forthcoming
and Professor Vincent's report, accom-
panied by the certificates Of assayerS
whose statements admit Of no dispute
will o speedily settle the question 0,
facts.