The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1891-12-25
AMERICAN TIN.

AMERICAN TIN,
RAPID CITY, SOUTH DAKOTA, Dec. LIST,
Twelve of Is years ago, when it was a
mooted question about there being gold
and silver in the Black Hills, took the
old Deadwood stage from Cheyenne and
went up there. visited the Homestake
mine, got samples of ore. and sent them
to the Sun with letter vouching for
the truth of the rumors that there was
gold in the Hills.
To-day / write the Sun, vouching from
my own personal knowledge that there
are immense quantities of tin ore, from
IS to 95 per cent in richness, covering
a tract of 200 square miles of rock lying
around Harney's Peak In this country,
called the Harvey Peak tin country,
situated between Rapid City, Custer and
Hot Springs there are thousands of pros
pectors. There are already 1850 tin
mine claims staked out. The whole
country is as excited as found it IL or
10 years ago when gold and silver were
being prospected around the Homestake
mine. Claims are being jumped, and
fights take place, but about one thing
there is perfect agreement-that there
are immense tin deposits here.
The Harvey Peak mine, known in law
as the Harvey Peak Milling, Mining and
Manufacturing Company, of which James
Wilson is president, with Welsh syndi-
cate and Welsh money behind him, con-
sists of perhaps 500 mines. This COM
pany have patents covering about $4,000
acres. Before and since they secured
their patents hundreds of other pros
pectors have staked out mines on the
same grant. There are the Sow Boy
tin mine, the Aetna" the ''Tender-
foot" and many others.
Work has commenced in earnest on
the Tenderfoot mine, which is controlled
by the Harvey Peak Mining Company.
This outcrop is Is miles from Harney's
Peak and nearly 40 miles from Rapid
City. In this mine is 270-stamp mill
and several hundred miners.
How is the tin found ? 1t is always in
solid rock. 1t takes the hardest labor
and costliest machinery to get it out.
The rock has to be crushed and then
smelted till the tin runs out. 1t will take
brains, money and time to open these
mines. The Tenderfoot mine has been
prospected for 900 feet and rich tin ore
is found all the way down. Prof. G. G..
Haslet, professor of chemistry, in the
college at Nelegh, Neb,, brought out
samples from this and other mines,
melted the ore with the blowpipe, and
found tin 92 per cent. pure.
What is the Harvey Peak Mining Com
pany doingP Its great struggle seems
to be in protecting itself; in fighting and
buying claims and water rights. To
mine these mountain rocks requires vast
amounts of water. Water rights are
scarce Then again, the owners of big
mines don't seem to want to develop
them until they are disencumbered of all
claims.
There is no patriotism among the
mine owners. They are working for the
possession of mines. They are mining
for revenue only. The wall of the poll
ticians don't reach them.
How about railroad connections
There has been scrub race between
the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy
and the Fremont and Elkhorn Valley
1.-THE Chicago and Northwestern syetem)
to get to these miues. They are both
here now. They will have tracks to all
the big mines in the spring. The G. b.
& @. is now built from Chicago to Hot
| Springs, Custer and Deadwood, west Of
Harney's Peak, and the Northwestern
runs from Chicago to Chadron, Buffalo
Gap, Rapid City and Deadwood, east OF
Harney's Peak. The c., B. & Q. has
also laid track hundreds of miles west
ward through Newcastle, Moorcoft, and
Gillette, to Sheridan, and will lay tracks
in the spring to Billings on the North
ern Pacific. The Northwest has built
westward from Chadron to Douglass,
Fort Fellerman, and Fort Casper and will
go on eventually to Chico, California, and
unite with the Oregon branch of the
Southern Pacific and then reach San
Francisco.
Why don't TIN ore come out of Black
Hills ?
''Well, tin is not 50 valuable as gold
1t can't come over mountain peaks on
the backs of donkeys as they sent out
the ore from Aspen, Col. Railroads had
to be built, and great stamp mills are
now being transported to the Rocky
peaks. Streams have to be damned
reservoirs made, and millions must be
be spent before the tin can flow to the
market. 1t took five years to develop
the Lake Superior copper mines. Til
mining and copper mining are almost
identical. Both ores come in mountains
of rock"
When I asked Mr. Wilson, the presi