For a chronological list of events and innovations concerning Homestake Mine, visit the Timeline page.
The Black Hills of Dakota Territory was an untrodden and untamed mountainous region of which civilization knew little when General George A. Custer's Military Expedition explored the area in 1874. Yet, within four years, one of the world's major gold deposits had been located, the Homestake Company organized, and machinery installed to mine and treat the ore from the hard ledges in the ancient rocks. Truly, the Homestake was a contemporary of the roving Sioux, the grizzled prospector, the plodding ox team and the hardy pioneer.
Those olden days may be gone, yet the adventursome spirit of the searching prospector remains. Today, it is revealed at Homestake where constantly improving mining and milling methods, skills and tolls have enabled this fixed-price-product industry to survive in an era of devastating inflation.From the initial achievements in overcoming the difficulties of exploration in remote and hostile country, and surmounting barriers imposed by distance and primitive transportation, mining at Homestake rapidity grew to economic importance in South Dakota — a position it retains today as it continues to pour healthy corpuscles into the blood stream of the entire State.
From the preface to the 1966 edition of The Homestake Story: A South Dakota Enterprise. (Find this book in our Bibliography of resources available at Rapid City Public Library.)
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