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

L --s-~ .-
Our Tin.
The London Industrial Review in
recent issue presents the following rs
tional and unbiased review of the til
resources of the Black Hills:
THAT the United States will within
period that may be measured by month
rather than years become lndepend
ent Of all outside supply for her tin wa
unhestatingly stated in the Industria
Review in July last, when through
persistent publication Of falSehoods
! either from ignorance or something
less excusable) in New York and Lon,
don, the directors of the Harney Peak
(Dakota) Tin company deemed it adj
visable to appoint a special commits
sion to proceed TO the property and
verify all that had been stated concern
ing it. The more active opponents OF
the llarney Peak project are, perhaps,
deserving of pity rather than censure
since they may have inadvertently V
erred through lack of knowledge of as
certained facts and want of that busi-
ness tact which experience alone can
! give
Before referring to the Harney Peak
project in particular, it may be neces-
sary 70 mention few facts concerning
| h present p )sition on Of the territory OF
! Dakota, which is just now making
great effort to establish its claim to be
elevated to the rank Of state. The
advance sheets sent out by the com
missioner of immigration show that in
June the territory had a population Of
| 56S, ,447, or four times that of 1880, and a
| railway mileage Of 4,20S miles, or six
| times that of 1880. The amount ex-
pended for school purposes in 1886 was
| 100 per cent, greater than in 1880 (only
| 'wo states or territories have a less per
centage ofiliterate persons to the en-
tire population than Dakota The ter
ritory raised in the year 1887 more than
one-seventh of all the wheat produced
in the United States. producing more
than three times as much corn in 1887
as in 1863. and almost 100 per cent more
bushels of grain in 1897 than in 1885.
such il record is truly marvellous, vet
we predict that from the development
! Of Dakotas unparalleled tin resources
the development and progress of the
next five years will be vastly greater
! The local press have, indeed, much to
justify them in declaring that the
! Black Hills district is the most won
! derful tin region discovered upon the
! face Of the inhabitable globe" and that
the Black Hills contain an immense
and ineXhanstible supply Of rich tin ore
which will keep thousands at work for
an inestimable number of years Be-
| sides that, the tin comes in such a
| form and SO near the surface that it
can be reached more easily and cheaply
| than tin is reached in Cornwall or any
other country devoted TO a similar in
| terest. In Cornwall 10000 miners are
said to be employed, and in the Black
| Hills 10000 miners at work in the i'm
mense tin districts would hardly more
than chip the rich ledges containing
| tin. Indeed it is most probable that
| it is to the prodigal distribution of tin
ore in the Black Hills district coupled
with the fact tina. the value of the dis
trict was equally ignored by American
and British spectators almost without
exception until all the claims worth
having were located that we may at
! tribute the noisy opposition with which
the believers in Dakota's stanniferous
wealth have had to contend.
elegantly than is usual amongst dipo-
matists-which British capitalists de-
sire to have answered without equivo-
cation is--Are the owners ofthe Hafney
Peak tin claims rogues or fools? We
think they are neither. They have
shown what some may consider IA slight
excess of business tact, but just as "all
is fair in love or war;" SO we would say
"all is fair in business" provided false
hood and dishonesty be equally avoided.
Let US see what has really been done in
| the matter, promising that all We have
written in the Industrial Review CON
cerning Dakota's tin has been based
solely upon United States government
report, and the published statements
of the supporters and opponents OF
United States tin mining, both parties
being equally unknown to us. As an
tiquity is not claimed for Ameaican tin
mines. we are not required to unearth
the Phoenicians TO ascertain whether
| King Solomon used Dakota tin to brew
Tyrian purple, or to demonstrate that
Black Hills tin was successfully
wrought by Roman miners for account
of Roman capitalists in the city which
had not then been even dubbed Holy
but we believe we have been shown Da-
kota tin by private prospectors many
years earlier than the date now named
as that of its first discovery. This
however, is quite immaterial. The tin
is there, and only requires systematic
and energetic working to make it re.
munerative to all concerned.
In the official report Of the United
States geological survey Of 1883 and
1884 it is stated that in June, 1888
specimens of"a very heavy, dark col
ored ore" from the Eta mine were sen,
by Major Simmons to General Cash,
wiler, at San Francisco, and that il
there upon examination proved to be
cassite,ite THAT is the true tin stone
worked in CORNWALL assaying forty pc,
cent, in metallic tin" As Cornishmer
would not hesitate 10 work and carr