Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1891-08-27
TIN ORE PLENTY.
An Old-Time Miner Says Deposits
are Of Unusual Richness in
the Black Hills.
Arrangements Being Made for the
Reduction Of the Raw Article
at the Dump.
The United States Will Be Able
to Supply the " GRID
With Tin.

'Tnside of three years the United States
will be able to supply the world with tin. ="
Thus said JEFF" McDermott, man who
has been miner for thirty years, who
has drilled for all metals, and who is
known throughout the entire northwest as
man of unfaIling judgment in all matters
pertaining to minerals, to Chicago re-
porter.
The tin belt in the Black Hills, )" he
continued, SIS the richest in the world,
and when the reduction plants which are
now being built are in full operation there
will be kept in this country the $50, 000,0
or s35 100000 which tie United States
annually pays to Great Britain for her tin.
The Black Hills tin ore is vastly superior
to that produced in Wales. 1t yields 5
per cent. of pure tin, while that OF Wales
never runs above % per cent.
when about five years ago 1t was first
announced that the Black Hills contained
an incxhaustibe store of tin the mining
capitalists of the country were incredul-
Gus. After great difficulty, however, the
discoverers of the mine induced party of
capitalists to take an interest in the mat
ter. There was nobody in America at that
tine who knew anything about tin, and
the capitalist had eight or ten experts In
tin from the Cornish mines come % this
country to pronounce upon to value OF the
metal. Their judgment was so favorable
hat large company, composed OF Eng
ish and Americans, was at once or
Eanized. c asrl..z ,,--.-----s
This company alone has snow over 81,
CC0,CO0 invested, and over LOCO mines
have been sunk, on all of which the as
sCssment work is regularly done, and for
many of which patents have been taken
out. Seven or eight of these mines have
been sunk to a depth of 800 feet, and the
most promising ones will be drilled to a
depth of from geo to 700 feet. 1t costs
500 a foot to drill the shafts, but the
yalne and richness CT the ore increases
with every foot drilled This is very
deep metal. The mines are all within a
radius of twenty to twenty-five miles
from HaIney's Peak, one of the highest of
the Black Hills,
The company Of which | have spoken
is building a large plunt, for the reduc-
ton, separation, and concentration of the
ore. There are always over 100000 tons
of ore on the dumps, which will be rapid
ly reduced 10 pig and block tin when the
plant is completed. A ton of tin is worth
about S4O0, and to every ton of ore
there are about 100 pounds of tin.
The plant that is now in course of con-
st1uction will handle over 500 tons of ore a
day.
Manufactured tin will become vastly
cheaper in this country when these mines
are thoroughly developed. The increased
cost of labor IN this country over that of
Wales will be oyerbalanced by the SUI
peIiCr richness of the ore. The TN pro
ducers Of Wales will have to find markets
outside of the United States when the
duty en- tin ore is levied in 1898, and even
if no such duty were to be levied anu
sure flat the foreign tin-producers will
soon be totally unable to compete with
American pr cducers. They are, however,
making The most of the time left them and
are Cutting the American market with
their product.
The various companies establishing
plants for the production OF tin in the
Black Hills will contribute toward the
erection of a large structure at the
Worlds Fair, made entirely of American
block tin"