Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1889-09-07
TIN Galore.

| ONcT buS slRHdlurc vi D. W. W. iui
nishes that paper with lengthy anC
interesting account Of the tin resources
of this region, from which we extrac
the following:
"Tin. tin, walk in," says the old play
adage. "Tin, tin, walk in," is the key
note TO the thought and energy of tn,
central Black Hills region.
"Go to England and dig deep enough
and you will find tin. Go off across tn,
seas far enough, TO Japan and Australia
and you will find tin. Here it is al
about you, rubbing your boot-leather in
the soil scratching your elbows in the
ledges, knocking off your hat in ths
caves and cleffs. There is tin in the
Black Hills, miles of it, the best kind
tin by the ton.
1T is interesting to see the Cornish
men among these hills, and to hear theii
not unpleasant brogue. They are here
looking for tin, or rather, since it has
already been found in such abundance
they are here to get it out of the rock
They know tin. You might almost say
they know nothing else.
1T was two of their number who, in
1877 sent the first tin ore from Iron
creek, near Iron Mountain, to be melted
and tested. 1t was found to be the
genuine article. The other metals
however, engrossed attention for the
time, Late IN 1883 Major A. J. Sim
mons, of Rapid City, was digging for
mica Of which we have picked up en-
ough by the way, lying loosely about, TO
keep our base burners in shape for a
year or more-when he found what was
supposed by the miners to be silver ore.
1t was readily melted out, and identified
later as pure tin.
ut was difficult to get capitalists to
come long and arduous distances to look
at the deposits, but now they hare been
on the ground and vast aggregation of
wealth is already enlisted in the tin
mining 1t is undoubtedly to be the
largest industry, gold mining, perhaps
excepted, of the Black Hills. The tin
is very pure and is easily reduced from
the rock. From to 10 per cent metal
lie tin is gotten from the ore, the
maximum in England being per cent.
Moreover, it lies here, to a large extent,
upon the surface. You kick il up in
the rocks at your feet; while in Corn
wall, England, the mines lie deep down
in the bowels Of the earth.
The organization OF the Harney Peak
Tin Mining Company, with its large
territory and vast capital invested, may
be suggested as indicating something of
what is anticipated in the tin industry
here. And this is but one of several
corporations so interested. 1t was
formed in 1884 with 20 per cent of En-
glish capital, the protective limit, Lord
Thurlow being at the head of the
British syndicate. The four-fifths re
manning are in the hands Of New York
millionaires, namely: James Flan-
nigan, Henry Clausen, Louis May, Geo.
Appleton, &. ID. Deshler, James Wilson,
and William Remsen.
1--WE get these facts through private
interview with one of the officials of tho
and they can be taken as au-
thentic. The monthly pay roll is at pres
ent $25, 900; $400, 900 has already been ex-
pended in purchasing claims, and $780,
900 in developing and patenting the
same. Prominent mines haye been
tested to the extent of 500 feet of ore.
with cross-cuts. Mills are to be erected
with a capacity of 500 tons daily.
Cornish miners have been imported
we met their whiskered faces and heard
she burr of their rich speech at many
points in the hills-to test the quality
and extent of the deposits. They
declare it very rich and nearly mex
We have in our possession |
several nuggets picked up by our own
hands at the mines (under scrutiny, of
;ourse,) which are almostsolid tin. The |
Eta mine is one vast hill of rich tin. !
rne Cowboy mine is valued at $3.50 900.
Three captains, as they arc called, or
'uperintendents from Cornwall, are al |
'eady in charge. The effort at present
s secure machinery to do here what |
heap labor accomplishes in England. |
The first ton and first ten tons of tin |
,ver produced in America have already
been sent out. We were shown the |
huge weighing scales where the heavy
blocks Of tin ore were registered prior |
% their expectation to the Paris Exposi- |
ion. 1t is to be hoped that by the time
he Columbus Exposition is held in !
Chicago, in 1892, the metallic tin indus
'ry of the United States may be well |
lnder way. With tin bearing leads of
i've by thirty-two miles in the Black |
Hills, why should we not produce our |
,wn metal?"
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