Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1892-07-30
THE CHARGES DENIED.
The New York Secretary of the Harney
Peak Company Replies TO the
"Open Letter."

- AFCw OEk ocCE6thTy Oh the nhTney
Peak Company Replies TO the
"Open Letter"
In the Deadwood Pioneer of the oath
inst. is reported by one Of its eastern
correspondents, and interview with
Charles III. Deshler, secretary OF the
Harvey Peak Company, in which the
open Letter" is discussed, and the
or:ginators and signers of the same are
severely scored. The interview, as it
appeared in the Pioneer, reads as fol-
lows:
IL have not as yet had any informa-
ton regarding the matter of the attack,
but suppose that will soon be fully In
formed regarding il. / assure you that
there is nothing whatever in the attack
| on the management. We have never
sold property 70 the company at a cents
advance over the actual cost to us, and
We defy anyone TO show that we have.
IL this talk Ii The bosh Of disappointed
| people who have worthless property TO
| dispose OF, and are mad because we will
not purchase it; or else 10 is due TO the
inordinate jealousy of the people Of
Custer. That town is 80 jealous Of Hill
City and the latter's prosperity that
they are not TO be held responsible for
any statements they may make in mat
ters relating to that town and its inter
ests. The whole trouble is that we do
not see it TO develop our properties in
the immediate vicinity of Custer in the
same manner and TO the same extent
that we are developing those at and in
the immediate vicinity Of Hill City.
We have erected our reduction mill at
Till: City. The Custer people wanted
IL at their place so as to boom the town,
and are mad because they could not
have everything their own way
The properties in the immediate vi
cinity OF Custer are not so promising as
those at Hill City but Of course we shall
work them later on, however we do not
propose to, and never have thought Of
building concentrating works at or IN
the vicinity of Custer. Thetin ore from
the Tin Reef Ruby group, Tendertoot
group, Car, Darwin and other mines in
that vicinity will be transported TO Hill
City over the B. &. NJ, with whom we
have an arrangement of which | will
speak presently. We are at present doing
the assessment work on the mines NAM
ed, and others in the immediate vicinity,
but do not intend to doany development
work in that region at the present for
business reasons.
I'VE bnild our concentrating works,
and are doing our development at Hill
City for more reasons than one; the
chief ar,ong which are the fact that at
that point, and near there, we think we
have our great body of ore the fact
that at that point we can get more
water for our concentrating works than
at any other and the further fact that
from that point the spurs of the b. &,
Nj. are being run out into the Hills.
This will enable us TO transport the ore
from our other mines to Hill City, and
have the precipitation all done at one
point-a thing we cannot do at Custer
or elsewhere. The B. 4 NJ. comes in
over our survey, which we secured at a
cost ofoverS $40, 900 and as consideration
for our allowing them TO come into the
Hills over our route. they agreed to
transport our ore at price satisfactory
10 MS. and To be enabled 10 do that salts
factorily. to build spures out from Hill
City.
"Now that is all there is to this mat
ter. We are conducting our business
on purely business principles. and do
not ask the volunteer services of any
malcontents or others. Our enterprise
has made that country what it is. But
this does not seem TO be taken into
consideration by the people of that
country"
On being further questioned Mr..
Deshler admitted that acting on purely
business principles" the business man
agement had more than once shut the
mines down." When asked for furth-
er explanation. he said; This was
when We found we were developing the
country against our own interests. For
instance, on one of my visits to the Hills
some years ago l saw that piece of
property lying alongside of ours was
necessary for the successful development
of our property. We need it to build a
concentrating works upon. 1t was in
the hands of one Of the hoard OF specu-
lators who tiocked to the Hills at that
time, expecting to make fortune out of
our developments. He put fancy
price upon the property, something like
$4,000. saw there was but one thing
to be done, and / Immediately called
everybody out of the mines and an
nonnced that | quit working them for
| business reasons did not attempt to
deceive or mislead anybody. told
them the exact truth, and left them to
surmise the cause of our quitting work
The result was that all these hapgers-on
and small spectators were the sickest
lot of fellows you ever saw. They left
the Hills on the same train did, COM
pletely disgusted with everything there
They had Invested what little they had
| and saw that il WAS all lost. In about
three months after that we got the prop
erty We needed to develop our other
properties for less than SS,000."
"Was this property purchased by the
company or by the management? was
asked. and Mr.. Deshler replied;
"By neither. 1t was purchased by
individual members of the company.
who turned it over to the company at
just what il cost them"
Mr.. Deshler refused to be more spe-
cific as to the property purchased at this
! particular time, by whom purchased,
what sum was paid or at what price it
was turned over to the company.
While the view which the CHRONICLE
took of the "Open Letter" in its COM
ment last week, is unchanged, we, as
well as many others here and abroad,
are not little surprised that the secre-
tary's reply should he Of the above
character. Not only an unfair criti-
cism Of the signers of the document in
question. it is q reflection cast upon
Custer. and her people, in manner that
does not well become a leading officer
ofas great corporation as the Harney
Peak Tin Company, and altogether un-
nessary 20 the defense of the members
of the local management charged with
crooked dealings.
Regarding the denials with which the
interview Is introduced we have nothing
to say. No names have been mentioned
in the "Open Letter" The charges
made therein, while specific enough
In themselves, are not directed against
Highest Of all in Leavening Po