Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1888-02-18
Black Hills Tin

The following extracts concerning in
vestment in Black Hills tin mines, taken
from an article recently appearing in
Iron Age, one of the most popular and
influential trade journals In America,
will be read with interest by CHRONICLE
patrons:
Attention is again called TO the
American tin question by the organlxa-
ton at Chicago on the 9th ultlmo, OF the
Consolidated Tin Mining and Milling
company, to work tin mine in Dakota.
This is the second company that has
been formed at Chicago within year
for the purpose of developing the TN
mines of the territory, the first being
the Tin Mountain company, composed
of representative citizens, whose opera
tions nave 50 far advanced that their
works are now completed and producing
concentrates at the mines, which will be
! shipped to Chicago and smeted there
Both of these companies were organ
lied after thorough and intelligent
examination by competent mineralogists
of the nature and extent of the deposits
which it was proposed to work, and not
merely upon assay 5 of mineral OF doubt
! ful origin offered by mining adventurers.
So much mystery as surrounded the
operations of the original investors III
! Dakota tin mines and SO general is the
belief that the tin of that region is a
myth, that we are pleased to have the
opportunity To lay before our readers
authentic information on the subject,
which has been placed at our disposal
by two gentlemen who have recently
visited the Dakota tin deposits for the
express purpose of investigating their
extent and the progress made in devel-
oping them. One of these gentleman j.
+. II. Long, practical chemist and
mineral expert, and the other is ;. A.
Richards, who is a well known iron
manufacturer and metaiiurgst. both
residing in Chicago. They visited the
tim district in December last, and are
enthusiastic in their reports concerning
it.
a deposit in Warren gulch six miles
west from Custer City was most thor
oughly examined and specifically de-
scribed az typical lode. This consists
Of mass of ore from the sides of which
the earth has eroded. leaving the forma-
ton exposed, standing ten to twenty
feet above the ground, extending > 400
feet in width, being of irregular shape.
It's general appearance is that of a dyke
Assays were made upon the spot from
selected ores, and the results varied
from twenty five TO forty per cent me-
talic tin. A careful saMpling was then
made to secure a general average, and
the result showed fourteen and one-half
per cent metallic tin. From this par
.; L., a , ln / %
and run by cars on an inclined plane to
the mill site below, it being estimated
that 100000 tons of ore could be taken
| from this one deposit without the use of
| hoisting machinery. There are other
deposits in the district of similar torma-
ton, but most of them are less accessible
than this and hoisting machinery will
have to be used in mining, but the
quantity of ore is great beyond dispute.
| Enough samples or ore and specimens
of tin have been brought 10 Chicago and
placed on exhibition there by Messrs.
Long and Richards to convince the most
incrcGuous that American tin is not
fiction but an indisputable fact. The
quality of the ore l. better than that of
Cornwall, as upon analysis it proves to
be free from tungsten, bismuth arsenic
and titanium A small per cent of sill
yer is however found with it, not en-
ough TO pay for extracting, but enough
it is claimed, to give the tin peculiarly
bright luster.
The operations of the Harney Peak
Tin Mining Milling and Manufacturing
company have in the past had such an
important influence on public opinion
relative to the value of Dakota tin de-
a rnfp -
TO them in this connection. Notwth-
standing the reports that the investiga-
tions made by this company had been
attended with unsatisfactory results,
they have within the past two years
been gradually but quietly seeking to
gain the control of all the most valuable
tin lodes in the Black Hills. They now
own over 100 tin lodes and placer claims,
With water rights, and have bonded
over 100 more. Within the past month
they paid $4,000 f5r one group of claims.
Altogether up to the present time they
are known to have expended over
81 ,OOOO 900 in acquiring mining property.
On such claims as it is necessary they
are paving the annual assessment of
800 to the government, which amount
ed to large sum of money last year.
These actions by the Harvey Peak com
pany give rise to the suspicion among
miners that the condemnation of the
Eta, and the shutting down of the
works there, which cast such gloom
over the prospects Of the owners of tin
! claims, were but part of comprehen-
| sive scheme to deprcss the value of such
claims, TO discourage attempts of other
capitalists to develop the tin resources
of the district and to enable the control
of the most valuable mines to be secured
in their own interest. They have been
most savagely assaulted in the English
financial papers, and the attacks on their
SO called chimerical schemes have been
reprinted on this side of the Atlantic,
but it is worthy of note that the com
pany are not appealing to the public to
purchase their stock. They evidently
have an abundance OF capital, and their
managers know what they are doing
better than the critical outsiders.
Soon after the occurrence of the late
fire in Sturgis, the leading property
owners of that place met for the purpose
of organizing a board of trade, through
,l g l.,