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Show TIN QUEEN. Woman Who Controls a Mine of the Metal in Black Hills. (Denver Republican.) Mrs. J. MCDermott, who is at the St. James hote- from Orville, S. D., spread an elaborate disDlay of tin ore at the chamber of commerce headquarters headquar-ters of the Black Hills visitors to the festival yesterday, and announced that It came from her mines at Orville, which she believes to be the richest in the world. She is a characteristic Irish woman, who went from Denver into the Black Hills fifteen years ago and endured the privations of the frontier life to which she was subjected, and witnessed the scenes of what was one of the wildest and woolliest gold camps in its early days. She dresses in silk when on tours of pleasure, but says 3he has appeared many times in prospector's garb. She can pan gold or tin better than many a miner. She Is versed in the vernacular of mining and withal exhibits marked common sense and recognition of the niceties of life wnlch have been her protection during a somewhat remarkable remark-able career. "I am a millionaire in disguise," she said, "but 1 have the tin acres and I have the nerve to stay with it. If the idle capital that is in the banks were invested in Black Hills tin prospects it would earn millions. "I was offered $150,000 for my property proper-ty once, but I refused it. The day is coming I believe, however, when it will all be developed and worth a hundred times $150,000. It needs capital to introduce in-troduce mills and then it will pay. My husband and I have had a great deal of money. I put through a $10,000 mining min-ing deal once myself. We have put a great deal of our earnings back into the ground on these prospects. We have tin claims covering in all 410 acres. They are right at the town of Orville, on the Burlington railroad. The average value of the ore from the best developed one of these claims is 5 to 7 per cent of tin. Think of that when it is considered that the average value of Cornwall, England, tin ore f!-om the greatest mines In the world of that metal is only W per cent. The casiderite or most valuable part of the i I ore in my mines carries 76 to 78 per I cent tin. "I went to the Black Hills in 1885 and have stayed there because I believed be-lieved I could get rich. My husband is in Alaska and I am attending to our joint business matters in the Black Hills. I cannot stay in Denver as long as I would wish for the reason that I have business at home demanding attention at-tention nd fun and frolic are second- j ary matters with me." Mrs. McDer-mott McDer-mott is called the "Tin Queen of the Black Hills." |