Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1903-02-21
THE PLANT Ar MYSTIC.
Although Run Perio Ideally, 10 Said to
Have Proven all That Ia Claim
ed for il.

Although Run Perio o1icaliy, is Said to
| Have Proven all That Ia Claim
| ed for it.
In our issue Of the 18th of January
we made the inquiry in regard to the re-
duction plant at Mystic, in which We en-
ployed the following language:
What is the matter with the Mystic
plantp 1t has been starting up every
month for the last two years and still it
don't start. Mr.. +. Ii. Long Is the man
ager, superintendent, chemist, assayer
and engineer, and likewise the inventor
Of what has been proclaimed to be the
best process of saving gold extant. But
| the process don't seem to proceed. 1t
has been represented as a combination
Of electricity, cyanide, and chlorination,
but it don't seem to chlorinate, 1t don't
seem to combine and it don't electrify.
Can anyone tell what is the matter with
the Mystic plant?
This has attracted the attention Of Mr..
Long, who has responded in the follow
ing letter, which we cheerfully publish
entire. The explanation is almost salts
factory but not quite. For the reason
that if he had consulted few more of
the mine owners of Custer county, he
would have found no difficulty in OBJ
tanning all the ore that was needed for
his plant. Yes and for two more plants
just like it. If his process will save the
gold contained in the ore, which is still
an open question as he has tried but very
little of it. The following is Mr.. Longs
letter:
CHICAGO, ILL.,, January 80, 1908.
EDITOR CUSTER CHRONICLE, Custer, S. d.
DEAR SIR An article from your pa
per was brought to my notice short
time since with reference to our propo.
sition at Mystic, which carried some
what OF vein of humor. l do not take
any exception to the reading, as little
fun mixed in with business is a good
thing. Still laying joking aside, the
Plant at Mystic has proven all claimed
for it, and although run periodically, it
has really been no fault of the methods
employed or the practical part of it, that
the mill has not been in constant opera
ton. The trouble has been entirely
lack of ore for steady work, and under
these conditions, the only resource was
to shut down.
Before the various combin atoms of
property took place in the northern
Hills, we were able to obtain consider
able ore, and these conditions kept the
plant in operation. The combinations
referred to were such as the Hidden For
tune, Horseshoe, Columbus, etc., which
In effect tied up the smaller propositions
and shut off our supply of ore. For in.
s,sa ho
old Horseshoe Co. low grade material,
also some of their higher grade, the lat
ter from the Lucille ground, which was
very refractory and is nov worked at
Rapid. We paid the Horseshoe people
extraction, both gold and silver, and
charged them at first $500 per ton for
treatment; later on low grade ore, we
paid them ninety per cent. 100 per cent?
extraction on gold and silver and charg-
ed them $400 per ton treatment. or
course the sources Of these supplies are
now cut off.
We also treated arsenical concentrates
for the Terror people at the time Mr..
Trenlove was manager. These were
Keystone concentrates worth about SIS
and carried about twenty-five per cent.
(22 per cent? arsenic. We paid them
on ninety.four per cent. (94 per cent?
extraction and charged them $3.50 per
ton for treatment. At the same time Of.
fered to take these concentrates regu-
larly, provided they would give us suffi-
cient tonnage to keep one of our con.
verters running day and night, (that is
rs tons, "a hours) and also we agreed to
make price satisfactory. The tonnage,
they could not give US, as they were at
that time only producing about twenty
five tons per day.
| Before this period we tried to obtain
sufficient ore from the southern Hills.
We had one car only from Wood & Nc
Laughlin (your city which we treated,
paying them on ninety-five per cent (95
per cent? extraction and charging them
$500 per ton treatment. The ground
from which this ore was sent was subse-
quently sold to the Noble outfit land
understand our certificate was the means
Of closing the trade). The property is
now called the Saginaw"
still went further to obtain ore for
regular shipments from near Custer, |. Q.
went over to Mineral Ridge and inspect
| ed all those dumps and asked why they
could not ship the ore already mined up
to Mystic, obtaining money therefor, to
60 ahead and continue development.
Their answer was "that they bad no
money to haul and pay freight" then
made an offer to advance money to load
and haul provided the owners would
guarantee me that the ore would run an
average of $1,000 per ton. This they
would not do, at the same time they
were claiming to me that the ore would
run anywhere from $500 to $4,000 per
ton. inferred of course they did not
want to disturb the dump, preferring to
take their chance of selling the property
to some one, instead of proving up on it,
which under my proposition they could
do.
So you see we have done the very best
we could to keep the mill working, and
failing, thought it advisable to shut down
until we found opportunity to own
ground and supply the ore under these
conditions. or course you know as well
as myself that 10 make . mill pay, 1t
must run night, days and Sundays, !. @.
in constant operation.