Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1909-09-25
RARE METALS.
TIN, Tungsten. and Tantalum Deposits oi
South Dakota--by Prank L. Hess.
tFrom Bulletin No. $50, Contributions to Eco
nomic Geology, 1908, Part II
TIE-GENERAL OUTLINE.

| fFrom Bulletin No. $50, Contributions to Eco
nomic Geology, 1905, Part IL
TIE-aENEEAL OUTLINE.
Soon after the discovery of tin at tht
Eta mine, in 1883, number of compa
MES were formed to mine the metal
These companies were finally .consoli
dated into the Harney Peak Tin Mining
Milling and Manufacturing Company
with English and American capital
$3, 900 900 of English money is said to
have been sunk In the enterprise, bu;
the amount of American money is un.
known. Offices were established at Hill
City, and q great number of claims, said
to be about l,100, averaging 10 acres
each, with o total area of 9 by Is miles
were purchased over . length Of 80 and
a breadth of 10 or IL miles. Apparently
all operations and expenditures were on
the same extravagant scale. Mills were
put up about mile east of Hill City
and at the Eta mine, near keystone, at
a cost of many thousand dollars. The
Eta mill alone is said to have cost
$235, 900.
Shaft houses, boarding houses, or
other buildings necessary for large oper-
ations were put up on the Eta, Matteen,
Gertie, Cowboy. Addie, Mohawk, Coates,
and other claims, work was undertaken
on considerable scale, and thousands
of tons of pegmatite were broken down.
This was easily done, as the pegmatite
may be drilled and blasted without
difficulty. Lying between the schist
foli@, it breaks with excellent, smooth
walls, and the high dip of the dies
makes stopping easy.
Five thousand tons Of ore which had
been hauled from the various prospects
was put through the mill in 1892 and
yield only one fourth of per cent of
tin. This result was in great
contrast with the estimates made by
various men who had examined the
and was attributed to loss
through unadjusted machinery.
The company went into the hands of
a receiver in the summer of 1894. At
the time the properties were visited
september, l9OS,) they we're still under
the control of the court. A large pro-
portion of the claims were allowed to
lapse, as they were not considered worth
During the entire operation of this
company probably less than 5 tons of
tin was produced, far less than
the weight of the gold coin put in the
venture. DIR. A. R. Ledoux, the receiver,
10 letter dated February l3, 1909, states
hat a settlement out of court has been
effected and that careful testing of the
may be undertaken during
I9O9
Since the collapse of the Harney Peak
Tin Mining, Milling and Manufacturing
Company little tin has been taken out
If the placers, both at Niger Hill Tin
on) and in the southern field. One
linton Company - has
,ndeavored to work the lode deposits at
linton, and several companies have at
empted to work the Gertie claim at Hill
Jity. Litigation has made an already
lifficult situation worse, and little in
he way of production has been accom-
>l;obad ~ aifbar nlaoa
IN DEPOSITS IN THE
SOUTHERN BLACK HILLS. |
Gertie Claim.
The Gertie claim is located about half
mile south of Hill City, on the west
ide of Spring creek, short distance,
possibly 100 feet, above the floor of the
'alley and few hundred feet west of
he Burlington Railroad and a public
Dad. At the time visited (September,
$685. it was being operated by E. c.
'ohnson, who has been connected with
he property for a number of years. The
iertie was formerly one of the claims of
he Harvey Peak Tin Mining, Milling
nd manufacturing Company, but title
vas allowed to lapse and it was relo-
ated by Mr.. johnson.
The basis of the location is in two
learly parallel pegmatite dikes. One of
hese, whose southeast end is close to
he Gertie shaft and which is known as
be vertical dixie, is from few inches
o or 5 feet wide and has high and
variable dip with strike of
7. 25 degrees W. Although the strike
f the dixie is the same as that of the
chist, it seems to have sleeper dip, 80
hat it probably cuts the schist. Mr..
ohnson states that the dixie can be fol-
owed for three-quarters of mile. Some
has been done on the dixie,
nd here and there crystals of cassiter-
te may be seen. In one prospect hole
he dixie was offset between Sand feet,
lmost horizontally, about 80 feet below
be surface. /
About 20 feet southwest of the south
ast end of this dixie is the other one,
Thich reaches maximum width of
bout feet. 1t may be followed readily
Or about $50 feet. and Mr.. johnson
links he has found its continuation
bout quarter of mile to the south
asst. The dixie dips at an angle of As
egrees s. IS degrees w. and follows
be schistosity.
The Harney Peak Tin Mining, Mill
~ and Manufacturing Company sunk
n inclined shaft more than 400 feet
long the dixie, ran drifts each way, and
topped great quantities of pegmatite,
,ost of which still lies in the slopes and
J held from the levels By fast-decaying
fmbers. The Gertie Mining and Mill