Omaha daily bee., 1899-06-19
MINING In THE BLACK HILLS
Colorado Capitalists Taking an Interest in
the Phonolite Deposits,
EXPRESS GREAT FAITH IN OUTLOOK
Copper Deposits Beginning to Attract
Attention - Belief They Are
Among the Richest in
the World.


the World.
DBADWOOD, s. D., June 1S.--(Special) y
For some reason it takes a long time to get
outside parties interested in Black Hills
mining propositions. The principal reason
is perhaps that there have been too many
unwarranted booms here which have given
the country a bad name. The latest induce
ment to outside capital in the Black Hills
is the phonoite ore, which has only recently
been discovered. 1t commences to appear
that the talk about this belt, located west of
Deadwood, has done some good. About
fifty Colorado capitalists have visited the
district since the first discovery early in the
winter and a number of options have been
taken l.. NJ. Thompson Of Denver and
Cripple Creek, Colo, is the first man from
that state to commence active development
work along the veins of ore on the belt. He
represents Colorado company and $4,000 or
"a 900 will be expended in exploiting the
ground before deep work Is undertaken. An
assay office has been fitted up at Golden
Gate, in Deadwood gulch, not far from the
group of claims
This week another Colorado syndicate sent
a representative here who spent few min
utes looking over the phonolite formations
as represented in the office of the Deadwood
& Colorado Investment company in
this city, which convinced him that there
was considerable of truth in all that had
been said previously about the phonoite belt,
He telegraphed to his company in Denver
to send the prospecting outfit wagon and
all. This company will devote some time
prospecting the different promising places on
the belt and as it is one of the leading
H.,
pace for mining operations, it is considered
a good thing for the Hills. There are at
present a dozen strangers in this city who
take daily drives out into the phonolite belt,
and they keep their business very closely to
themselves. They are representing Colorado
capital for the most part and are here get
ting pointers on the country. One prom
inent Cripple Creek man expressed great
astonishment this week when told that many
of these claims on the phonolite belt had
been staked twenty years ago and had been
held since that time by the original locators,
for the most part and had not been de-
veloped at all to speak of. He said, "Wait
till Colorado capital comes i'll here We
will wake things up
Colorado Men Interested
This phonolte district is bound to at
tract attention this year. The little devel-
opment work that has been done thus far
on few of the ore veins has brought out
results that have been astonishing num-
Der Of surface assays have been obtained
from the phonolitc quartz which have been
better than the average of the first surface
workings of the Cripple Creek mines Nearly
every Colorado man who has visited the
Hills in the last six months has had the
same to say about the lack of enterprise
shown by the Black Hills people in develop
ing the mining resources of the country. 1t
is practically impossible to arouse any en-
thusiasm in the phonolite belt among the
business men of either Lead or Deadwood,
and some of the most prominent business
men are making sport of the matter 1t is
an interesting fact to know that the phono-
lite ore was first discovered by a Cripple
Creek mining man and the first real devel-
opment work has been commenced by a
Colorado syndicate.
Looking Up Copper Properties.
The Black Hills will receive attention
from now on from the east by reason of the
rich discoveries of copper ore which have
been made in the last few months in every
mining district in the Hills. The old theory
that the copper deposits were simply on the
surface, left there by glacial action, has long
since been exploded and it is the opinion of
the best copper experts who have been over
some of the copper ground of the Hills in
the last few weeks that the copper ore is to
be found in true verticals, some of which
are very large. There are at present about
twenty companies at work in the different
parts of the mining districts opening up
copper propositions. Some of the results
that have been obtained are difficult to be-
lieve. Copper ore as rich as 20 per cent has
been found in a number of localities and
there are several large veins that will ay-
erage 10 to Is per cent Of that metal. Nearly
all of the copper veins are followed by par
allel veins of gold bearing ore which, in
themselves, are paying propositions. This
combination of gold and copper ores will
be very rich making a fine smelling propo-
sition. When it is considered that the divi-
dend paying mines of the great Lake Su-
ore with an average of about per cent, a
Black Hills mine which runs from 10 TO Ii
per cent, with practically an unlimited
amount of the ore in sight, should attract
the attention of capitalists mining man
who has a reputation as a copper expert
in the Lake Superior mining region, told
your correspondent that he confidently ex-
pected to see some of the largest and rich
est copper mines in the world opened up in
the near future in the Black Hills There
need to be but one good copper mine and
one good strike made in the phonolte belt
west of this city to start one of the great
est stamDedes to the Black Hills that the
country has ever seen.
-