The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1897-02-24
DEADWOOD THE GOAL.
There Will Be a Rush There Next
Summer.
Untold Riches Awaiting the Man With
Pick and Some Capital.

| Deadwood, :. d., Is getting ready to
make n new record this year In the produc-
ton of gold.
last few months and the extensive scale on
which preparations have been made TO de-
telop them leave no doubt that the output
for 1897 will rise millions above tho total
for any year since gold was found In the
Black Hills.
This region always has been good deal
,f wonder to the few experienced mining
men who understood 1t, yet IL is now only
On the eve of being developed. In the old
iays-"thc palmy days Of placer mining"
-Deadwood was the center of mining ex-
element as feverish as any part of the
country ever saw. Then the placers were
exhausted, Wild Bill and kindred spirits
passed from earth immigration that was
not all attracted by the glitter of gold dust
waiting TO he cleaned up flowed into the
surrounding country, civilization followed
and Deadwood ceased to be a synonym for
The dime novel idea Of a mining camp.
For the past ten years most people east
OF the Mississippi river probably have
thought of Deadwood only as a relic of it's
former greatness, "a has been" in mining
ShSAoiss 4hth vi lndilNtfy anu
and capital nevertheless have gone right
ON taking the yellow metal out of the
earth. Now the world is just waking up
70 the fact that In the wild and reckless
and feverish days when Deadwood was
made famous the treasure hidden I'm these
hills was only sampled. There is warrant
for saying that the history OF the Black
Hills mining region has only Just begun
Tho t,lasar rpfntn.r I'm, n.oIxx.1~I
wood and Gold Run gulches in the old days
was as productive as placer mining ever
was anywhere. Each man at work i'm the
placer diggings used to average better than
ten ounces of pure gold every day, and a
daily clean up" of 30 ounces was nothing
unusual. In time the placers were ex.
hausted, of course, and the men who grew
rich on their product or remained poor
only because they squandercd their profits
retired to the east, died or drifted to other
camps.
A few fingered to look into the sources
whence the glittering grains and the splen.
did nuggets of the placers came. They
have found profit i'm the work and lots of it.
Gold mining has gone right on, but with.
out much noise Now the mining world,
as a whole has just walked TO realize that
the Black Hills region is almost virgin
soil; that for every thousand found i'm the
placer diggings million was hidden in
the surrounding hills The old timers
those who are left and have the means
arc coming back now on almost every
train. All of which indicates that it takes
time and confidence TO develop mining
camp as well as any other center Of in.
dusty
Gold mining in the Black Hills has been
confined, up To this time, 10 a district not |
much bigger than n good sized wheat farm |
In the Red River valley. The total output |
for 1896 was in round numbers 81, 600, 900. |
Although rich finds have been made, like |
the Holy Terrsr, the 81. Elmo, the Sunny. |
side, the Tea Lodes and the j. II. in Pen. |
nington county and the recent discoveries |
In the limestone formation of Custer coun |
ty, practically all Of this output came from
Lawrence county, of which Deadwood Ia
the county seat. Most of IL was, i'm fact,
produced in the Whitewood district, which
Is strip of territory only three miles one
way and two the other.
The largest and most productive free
milling gold mines in the world are found
N this little strip of earth. The veins are
we'll defined ana vary In width from few
eet to nearly 100 yards In the Home.
stake mine, for instance, at the 800 foot
evel, the vein is nearly 500 feet wide. The
ihief producing free milling mines of ths
district are the Homestake, the Caledonia.
he Deadwood Terra, the Father DE Smet,
he Highland the Golden Star, the Old
Abe, the Big Missouri, the Durango, the
fierce and the Hawkeyc. These mines
'roduce annually about $4,000, 900 worth
Il gold. Their total output since 1873 has
cen more than $50, 900, 000 and there Is
low enough ore in sight in these mines to
roducc probably $50, 900 900 more Out.
ido Of this littlc district, or the Homesakc
elt. as it is called, most of the ore Is re.
FACTORY in character
The further development OF this region.
lready SO rich in promise and in actual
waits on the building OF ore
plants. There is labor in Jlenty.
scarcely day passes that does not prinQ
len looking for work. Yet there Is no
istrcss. In fact tho town has already
ontributed $3.50 for the relief of the fam
ne stricken people ef India But the ore +
eduction facilities are not equal to the dc.
iand. The local mills have bccn running
} their full capacity, and In the last six
lonths moro than $500 tons of ore have
zen shipped from the Ragged Top district
lone TO the mills in Omaha, Kansas City,
urora, Ills, and Denver because IL
'uld not be taken care of at Dcatiwood.
was all siliceous ore which will run well
p into the hundreds of dollars ton.
Dcadwood expects the mills though,
nd looks forward TO 1897 as "A year that
Ill put the Black Hills country well ur
nonp the leading gold producing districts
III. wurld.-Chicago Times. Herald.