Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1891-08-22
TIN ORE IN PLENTY.
An OId-Time Miner Says Deposits
are of Unusual Richness in
the Black Hills.
rapQements Being Made for the
Reduction of the Raw Article
at the Dump.
The United States Will Be Able
to Supply the " orld
With Tin.

.InsiGe of three years the United States
Gill be aide . supply the world with tin. -
Tins said Jeff McDermott, q man who
has been miner for thirty years, who
has drilled for all metals, and who is
known throughout the entire northwest as a
man of unfailing judgment in all matters
ra,.aining % minerals, to a Chicago re-
porter, a u, -,
continued. lis 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 S3J,0C0,CC)
or S35, CC0,Cc0 which tie United States
annually pays to Great Britain for her tin.
The Black Bills tin ore is vastly superior
10 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 it was irst
announced that the Black fills contained
an iuexhaustible store of tin the mining
capitalists of the country were inoredul-
Gus. After great difficulty, however, the
DISCOVERIES of the mine induced party of
capitalists to take an interest in the mat
ter. There was nobody in America at that
time who knew anything about tin, and
the capitalist had eight or ten experts in
tin from the Cornish mines come to this
country to pronounce upon to value of the
metal. Their judgment was so favorable
that a large company, composed of Eng
fish and Americans, was at once or
ganized.
This company alone has now over So.
C0O.O00 invested, and over LOO mines
L oil e 81, H. ~.
sessment work Is regularly done, and for
many of which patents have been taken
out. Seven or eight of these mines have
been sunk to depth of 500 feet, and the
most promising ones will be drilled tJ 6
depth Of from eco to 7C0 feet 1t costs
slG0 foot to drill the shafts, but the
yalne and richness of the ore increases
with every foot drilled This is a very
deep metal. The mines are all within &
radius of twenty to twenty-five miles
from Harney's Peak, one of the highest o.
the Black Hills
The company Of which have spoker
is building a large plunt, for the reduc
ton, separation, and concentration Of tint
ore. There are always over 10000 tom
of ore on the dumps, which Will be rapid
Nv reduced to pig and block tin when III,
Plan. is completed A ton of tin is worth
abou $40, and 10 every t6n Of orC
there mc about leo pound. of tin
The plant that is now in course of con
slrucjion will handle over 500 tons OF ore
day.
Manufactured tin will become vastly
cheaper in this country when these mine
gre thoroughly developed. Uhe increased
cost Of labor IN this country oyer that o
Wales will be overbalanced 81 the su
perior richness of the ore. The tin pro
ducers of Wales will have to find market
outside of The United States when th
duty on tin ore is levied in 1898, and ever
if no such duty were to be levied | an
sure that the foreign tin-producers vii
soon be totally unable to compete will
American pl oducers. They are, however
making the most of Che time left then ant
are Cutting the American market Will
their product.
The various companies establishing
plants for the production OF tin in tn
Black Hills will contribute toward tn
erection of large structure at tn
Worlds Fair, made entirely of America,
block tin. "