Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1889-10-05
CUSTER TIN.

and now proclaim the fact of the exist
ence of extensive tin deposits in the
Black Hills, are reproduced on account
Of the interesting character of the infor-
nation therein contained:
A young man who drank out Of a tin
cup. while every n else at his table
slipped wine from a delicate glass. at
tracted a great deal of attention i'm "A
famous Madison Square cafe a night or
two ago. The cup was lighter even
than the flmy glass fabrics with which
the lookers-on compared it, glistened
with a lustre whittier, apparently, than
that of silver, and was finely chased and
engraved with the words, Cluster CITY,
1889" The man who drank from it was
George Crouch, the veteran who served
under Garibaldi in Italy, and has since
served in America under many a banner
that betokened enterprise and advance
ment. He is still, in spirit, habits and
appearance a young man. Il like that
cup said Crouch, because | myself
found at Custer City, Oak, the nugget
of pure tin out of which it was made.
A nugget almost like it was sent Col.
lngersoll. Didn't know we had pure
tin in this country? Why, my dear sir,
we have pure tin and pure gold, and
pure silver and pure copper, in such
quantities that We will soon supply the
markets Of the world with them all, as
We do now with gold and silver. SEN
ator Hearst, over there, can tell you
how much copper a single Montana
mine which is not half developed can
produce when the time comes. And |.
who have just come back from the tin
belt of Dakota, fancy | know a little
only a little, but still enough TO make
you all open your ~eyes-about American
tin mines"
Il thought" struck in a ~bystander,
"the Dakota tin mines were in the
hands OF an English monopoly and rep
resented simply another good thing
snapped up by a British syndicate"
by no means" said Crouch. You
see that short, thick set man oyer there,
with something Napoleonic in his APP.
pearance, brown-bearded and mustach-
ed, quick almost to nervousness? Well,
that is a well known New Yorker, the
retired dry-goods millionaire, James
Wilson, who was the pioneer in discov-
ering the TIN belt Of Dakota, lust as he
is now a leading spirit in its develop
ment. They call Wilson The BLACK
ShISl W vi llillo OuI lllGTs, lIlt
g~listening metal out OF which my drink
ing cup is made, by its location in the
Black Hills, furnishing the miners with
that rather picturesque simile. ID. ).
Appleton, the millionaire publisher and
head of the famous house of ID. Apple
ton q Co., is another we'll known New
Yorker who owns largely in the new
tin belt. So is Henry Clausen, the
brewer, and his great brewing brother,
George Ehret. SO is Mr.. flanagan,
the big brewer, who is now in LONDON.
That doesn't look like an English mo-
nopoly,' does it? These men w many
of the tin mines absolutely" \ X =
A metal importer who sat by and who
seemed to begin to realize the vastness
Of the problem presented by the state Of
affairs SO tersely stated by the veteran
miner-who employed John Mackey
his first day in a mine, and who is
known wherever pick and shovel rattle
on the Pacific coast as George" and
not Senator Hearst-said: I'VE NAV
supply the world with gold and silver.
and after a while we may supply our
own demand for copper, though | must
be permitted to doubt that: but this
talk of producing SO much tin from the
new tin belt in the Black Hills that
American raw and manufactured tin
can compete with the Cornish in Corn
wall itself, is to my mind all rot"
1t need not be forgotten that when
American mines produce SO much tin
and copper and manufacture so much
tin-plate, and so much sheet-steel and
sheet-iron, which now come in as manu-
featured tin under cover of an infini-
tesimal veneering Of that metal it need
not be forgotten that in that contingency
the metal importers business will be as
gone as was Othello's occupation. The
building up, of native mines to a point
of independent production will scarcely
receive n great amount of favor from
the metal importers. Copper will vet
have uses to which, on account of its
price, it cannot now be put. Tin will
never be too cheap or too dear for "the
poor mans dinner-paiP' to be made out
of it.
The entire production of the worlds
tin miEes. which are found only in
Cornwall, Spain and Australia, is not i
present contingencies ever more than
five days in advance of the demand.
Were the supply shut off for five days
the demand would overtake and quickly
pass it. Every year, in tin bars, blocks,
pA8o anu grain VI SIduuIdlCu I'LL, We
import into this country $50, 900, 900
worth of this rare and most useful
metal. Oftin-plate, at a cent of duty
per pound, we import $l7'000,000 worth,
paying on it aggregate duties of nearly
$4,000. 900. The New Workers and their
English brethren who are developing
what some experts say are the most
valuable tin mines in the world, regard
one cent per pound as a pretty low duty
on tin plate. But they regard the value
of their own ores and the extent of
their OWL mines as SO great that they
don't care in reality whether any duty
at all is kept on tin-p,ate. They expect
to compete with foreign tin in all the
markets of the world. What is more,
they have no stock for sale either in
this country or in London, and have,
since they first began to realize the full
value of their mines, absolutely refused
to part with any oftheir property.
A number of experienced Cornish
mining captains are now engaged in
developing the Harvey Peak tin region.
The most important mines in the vicin-
ity of Hill City are being worked under
the able superintendent of Capts.