Omaha daily bee., 1902-06-30
MINING IN THE BLACK HILLS
sustin Group in Blacktail Gulch Sold for
Twenty-Five Thousand Dollars
HIGHLAND 0lltF MIL TO RESUME WORK
Operations Begun on FnirvIew Mine
at Mystic and Town IL Growing
dakota Mining and MILL
ing Company Elects.

CENTRAL CITY, s. D.. June 2s.-(spe-
cial)-Negotiations which have been mend
Ing for some time for the sale OF the Gustin
group Of mines in Blacktail gulch were
closed last Friday afternoon. by the pay
ment Of $500 to bind the contract and on
Saturday the balance of the purchase price
was paid over to toe owners Of the ground,
s. V. Noble and assoc iates.
This property is one which has been for
q number OF years a good producer. having
been worked in a small way by its former
owners, and always paying we'll. but as
they had been unable TO put up a reduc-
tion works OF their own, its ore has oeen
milled in custom plants.
The parties buying the ground are H.
7. Watson and r. T. Saunders, the men
who sold the famous Speafhsh ground to
its present owners, who have been heavily
Interested in mining operations in the
Black Hills for a number of years, and who
have succeeded in almost every venture.
The price paid for the Dustin property
was $4,000, only two payments being made
on 1t, the one Of 81, 800 paid last Friday,
and the other of 1872, 500, paid Saturday
last.
. The Gustin group adjoins the Deadbroke
eompany's ground. and is looked upon as
zone Of the best pieces Of property in the
gulch. 1t is thoroughly developed, so It
will not be necessary to hunt for ore, sew
eral good shoots having been exposed by
former workings in the mine.
The ore is a free-milling proposition,
but one that will cyanide to a good ad-
vantage. so the new owners will at once
begin the erection of a 100-ton wet-crush-
ing cyanide plant upon the ground, and
as soon as 1t Is completed will be ready
to mill ore.
The min Is situated in the midst of
good paying properties, such as the I'm
perial. the Kicking Horse and the Dead
broke groups, and its ore Is Of the same
general character, and much better than
the average ore that is being treated to-
day at a profit.
The selling Of this property, and the
commencement on 1t of operations on an
extensive scale. will probably be the cause
OF inducing the Elkhorn Railroad company,
which runs within a mile of the ground.
to extend its road up the gulch, and should
Il do so. there will be as much ore shipped
from this district as from any in the Hills
along the line of that road.
MIL Ready to start Up.
DEADwOoD, S. D., June 29.-(special.).-
The Highland Chief mill, in Spruce guI;h,
which has been idle for sometime unSer-
going repairs and improvements, will start
dropping it's stamps again in a few days.
The plant at the present time has a capac-
ity of fifty tons a day, but there is a prop
osition to increase it to 100 tons, and this
may be done, should pending negotiations
go through all right.
These negotiations look to the consolida-
tion of the Important interests in North and
South Spruce and the enlargement Of the
mill, and It is now more thar likely that
this will be done, and with the resources
that such a combination could command,
begin a thorough and more systematic de-
,yelopment OF the district.
AT the present time brt little work has
been done on the lower contact on either
branch Of Spruce, the development. of the
district having so far been confined to the
upper contact, from which some very fine
smelling ore has been taken and shipped to
the Deadwood smelter for treatment, with
the average better than SIS a ton gold, and
some shipments which have gone very much
higher.
The last run of the mill was made on ore
taken from the Champion group, and the
only group in the district that can be said to
have received any development on the lower
contact.
This development consists Of a 40O-foot
tunnel, the greater part of which is In
ore. but as yet the ore body has not de-
Veloped into anything very big, the last
twenty or thirty feet only showing that ore
exists In quantities, for the shoot is be-
ginning TO widen out and the values In the
ore becoming higher. and the indications
ell pointing TO the fact that the deposit will
become quite extensive after IT has beer
gone in on a little further.
The ore at this point is much richer
than that taken from near the mouth Of
the drift. and appears TO be growing better
with each days work.
On other groups many small shoots OF
ore have been opened up on the lower con.
tact, all Of which carry fair values, but az
yet they have not received development
enough to give any idea Of their extent
although the showing is one which should
induce development. for the ore taken from
the lower contact Is a much better cyanId.
ing proposition than that taken from the
upper. and the ground is easier worked.
Consolidation a Good Thing.
II may be said that the district, IL what
work has been done on the upper contact
Is omitted. has received no development
whatever. for there are several known ors
bodies on different groups of claim which
with a little more work on them, will de-
velop into good propositions.
Snoulo the proposition TO consolidate bS
carried out 1t will prove to be one OF tn,
best things that has ever happened In the
district. for then ground will be developed
the working OF which cannot help but de.
yelop adjoining ground. and under the ar.
rangement proposed all the work that viii
be done will be with this object in view.
When the Highland Chief mill is agar
In operation, under the agreement Of cen.
solidation, II would handle. with its In,
creased capacity. all or nearly all OF tn,
ore which would be mined In these opera,
lions, and assist materially in the develop,
ment OF the district, for most Of the worl
would be made to pay for Itself.
There is quite a quantity Of good smeIt.
Ing ore being shipped daily from the dis.
trict but all Of II is coming from the uppel
contact. and but little attention has beer