Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1909-12-04
WE M csT COOPERATE.
A Few Suggestions for the Establish
ment of an Ore Testing Plant IN
Custer Clty-Attend the Meet
ing Next Monday Night.

ing Next Monday Might.
EDIroR CHRONICLE:
The enterprising firm of Hebert and
Pitcher have been planning for some
time the erection of an ore testing plant
in Custer for the benefit of the miners,
mine owners and the public at large.
For the purpose of feeling the public
pulse in this matter meeting Of the
citizens was called to gather at Hebert's
hall on Custer Avenue last Tuesday
night to consider the proposition. 1t
seems that a sufficient notice was not
given and there were go few that gath
cred on that occasion that it was thought
best to postpone the meeting and come
together again on next Monday night at
7:3c o'clock.
1t is urged and it is to be hoped that
this call will meet with hearty re-
sponse on behalf of the citizens of Gus
ter as it is lin my opinion) the most inn
portant proposition that has ever been
brought to the consideration of our peo-
pie since the town was started.
Perhaps am not warranted in such
strong expression, l think l am. Let
US analyze the subject for moment and
see. Custer is thirty-five years old, as
it was in 1874 when H. N. Ross (whom
we all knew discovered the first gold in
the Black Hills, and he found it in what
is now the townsite of Custer. 1t was
the discovery of gold that brought the
people here that are here and it has
been in the anticipation of the develop
ment of the gold mines which has kept
them here and still keeps them here.
Rightly considered the development of
these mines by which we are surround.
ed was trust assumed by our people
and how have We kept that trust. l
contend when that part of our history
showing how recreant We have been,
how stupid we have been. Ofcourse in
the beginning it was the placer mines
that engaged the peoples attention.
That as is always the case was soon ex-
hausted and then came the prospecting
for gold bearing quartz. Much work has
been done and many hundreds of prom
ising locations have been made. The
assay of the ore from these mines show
some Of them to be very rich and most
all Of them ofa paying grade. Have we
made them pay? No. And why not?
Simply because we did not know how,
and there was not enterprise enough in
us to investigate and find out. Now
deny this who will, it is the unvarnish-
ed truth. What have we done2 The
story of our stupidity is soon told. We
have erected twelve quartz mills on
twelve ofwhat was supposed to be the
best mines in the county and every one
a failure. And why was this? Simply
| because we have acted the part of hen
with her head cut off. We have insist
ed and through all the years we have
continued to insist that a square bolt
was just the thing TO fit a round
hole. In other words We have in
sisted that the free milling process
was Just the thing to save refractory
gold and We have found out after thirty
years that it won't do it. Bright kids
aren't we, to have learned so much In
thirty years? And when we found it
out did We bestir ourselves to ascertain
the proper process to adopt to treat our
ore and save the gold that the assay
proves is contained in the rock No.
Have you prospered and grown rich and
built city here as you should have
done in rich mining camp? No.
What excuse have you got to offer for
this neglect of duty except to confess
that you have been recreant to your
trust and blind to your own interest
Are you willing to make amends and dc
now what you should have done al
least twenty years ago? That is the
question, and you are up against it good
and strong What is your answer?
1t is proposed now to put up mill tc
test our ores. 1t is thought that amalga
nation, concentration and cyanidinl
will solve the problem in a practica
manner and on working scale. Thinl
what this means. 1t means that tht
owners of mines all around us can bring
in a wagon load of ore and sell it to tn,
milling company just as the farme
brings In load of oats and sells it t,
the merchant. Not one or two but ther,
are hundred mines within a radius o
ten miles from Custer that should b.
yielding profit and keep 200 teams run
ming steadily.
One year of this kind of work woulc
so advertise this district that capita
would flow in, mines bought and mill
be put upon them to 60 on pounding ou
fortunes. Cy are you dead sure of al
this ? Dead sure Of nothing. No mai
has any business in a mining countr
that looks for a dead sure thing. Yo,
don't find it in any other business, VIII
should you look or ask for it in mining
only say that the circumstances poin
to this, the indications are good, and
is sanctioned by reason and good busi
ness sense. l have said that the reasol
this prosperity has not been brough
about is because of our stupidity an
this is true in general sense. Bu
there is a particular reason and it
this. Every fellow has waited for tn
other fellow to act and there has bee
no cooperation among our people. On
man can not do these things unless h
is capitalist and we have none of tina
, gentry in our midst. But the thing
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