Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1897-03-20
Mining Items,

Mining Items.
The Homestake Mining company has
announced its regular monthly divi.
dend. No. 224, of 25 cents per share,
aggregating $3l ,25o, payable on the 25th
inst. Its dividends since January LIST,
foot mp 500, $50, and the aggregate Of it's
dividends to date is So, 1Sl ,250.
Jim Sutherland, who has been max.
ing his home at nil City for the past
two years, came up yesterday and will
return today. He has a number of good
locations around Hill tity which he is
holding for the boom. which is sure to
come. lie feels confident that there is
just as good ore in the limestone range
of the central Hills as there is in the
northern Hills.-Pioneer.
The work Of development is being
continued at the Island mine near Four
Mile, with encouraging results. Much
Of the ore now being taken ont is of
good grade, and it is the intention to
ship a car load to an outside reduction
plant for treatment in a short time,
! The owners of the property are much
pleased with the present appearance Of
the mine, which continues to improve
in its development.
One hundred pounds of ore taken
! from q claim on the lime belt, neal
Pringle, was recently sent to an outside
reduction plant for a commercial test,
and Welded, as we are reliably inform
ed 81 80 in gold, or at the rate Of $50
per ton. a Deawood paper erred in the
statement that q car load Of the ore was
shipped out, as thus far, there has not
been a car load of ore shipped from any
point on the lime belt in the southern
Hills.
Resin Otis, Of Squaw Creek, came in
Tuesday on q business mission. Mr.
Otis informs us that there is consider
able excitement in the locality where
he resides, IA miles east Of this place,
over recent gold discoveries on the lime
belt. Tests made Of the ores have
ranged from $500 TO $3.50 per ton A
large number of claims have already
been located, and the prospect for n
lively gold camp in that section in the
early future is regarded as being fairly
promising.
The Deadwood Journal says: THE
Standby mill will begin operating again
in the neal future. B. IL Coleman,
" no has had charge Of the silver mill at
Galena, will have charge ofthe standby.
The standby mine attracted consider
able attention during the early mining
activity in the Hills and n sixty stamp
mill was erected on the property, but
owing to litigation and other causes it
never paid. Work has been performed
in the mine the past year and the new
owners are confident it will nov pay
nice dividends to run the mill. The
mill, which has been run by a water
wheel, will be supplied with steam
power.
IL. D. Reynolds came in early in the
week from his prospective gold bonanza
on the lime belt, west of this city, with
samples Of the orc taken from the same,
which were assayed by the Pitcher
Brothers, and gave a return Of $500 per
ton. This return was very encouraging,
showing, us it did, a marked improve
ment in value over former tests Of
the ore taken several feet nearer the
surface. Mr. X. feels confident that he
has a true vein of ore, and is hopeful Of
opening up a valuable mine by further
development. and everybody Is earnest
ly hoping he may more than realize bis
most sanguine expectations. Prof.
Chance examined the ore taken from
this claim, while here on Tuesday, and
was quite favorahly impressed with its
appearance, expressing the opinion
that, from the indications presented, the
property fully justified thorough devel-
opment.
A Deadwood exchange reproduces a
fairy tale, taken from the Sturgis Adj
vertiser, to the effect that the Fort
Meade military wood reservation south
and west of Sturgis is rich in free gold
and credits the discovery to Jay and
Robert Hicks, the murderers of old man
Meyer, who found the lead while they
were fugitives, They had broken Jail
at Sturgis and were hiding in a long
cave on the reserve when Jay noticed
free gold in the rock and began picking
it out with n pocket knife. The boys
were recaptured and Jay was hung
Robert being sent to the penitentiary
for life. Editor Dawley says he receiv-
ed a letter from Robert last summer
telling of the gold and how Jay had
gathered quite a quantity with the point
Of his knife, but had lost it in a haht
with the officers afterwards, and gave
directions for finding the place. The
editor says the place has been found and
free gold is detected in large quantities,
but a visit &c the land office revealed
the fact that the land is not open to
entry, by reason Of the law that makes
it q reserve.
ANOTHER RAGGED o sTAKED,
The Deadwood journal, in Il recent
issue, says: Fred T. Evans. Jr., who
has just made an inspection Of the coun
try lying between Ragged Top and the
Wyoming state line is very favorably
impressed with that section. The only
unfavorable thing he noticed was that
the entire region is covered with claim
stakes from the Spearish river to Wyo-
ming. This will bar out many pros
pectors who would have gone in there
with the opening of spring and opened
claims, who now will be compelled to
purchase claims in order to get a foot
hold there. During his visit he met
prospecters on snowshoes driving claim
stakes through four feet of snow. OF
course the claims were not being locat
ed on account Of surface indications. but
on general principles, for speculative