Russell Noble is the editor for the Canadian Mining Journal, Canada’s first mining publication.
Historic U.S. gold belt offers new opportunities for Canadian miners
With a name like “Holy Terror,” one can only speculate what the founders of this mine in The Black Hills of South Dakota were thinking when they named it in the late 1890s?
Even to this day, visitors to the Keystone area of the historic mining communities in the famed Black Hills still wonder where the name came from and why was the mine tagged with such a menacing monicker?
Sketchy historical documents and old wives’ tales* spell out some of the myths behind the name but nevertheless, the mine is real and the name lives on as a legally registered claim with the U.S. Bureau of Mines.
The Holy Terror Mine is located in the Keystone Mining District of the Black Hills, about 35 km southwest of Rapid City and is one of no fewer than a dozen high-grade mines that formed a chain along the historical Keystone gold belt. Mining in the Keystone district dates back to 1874, with the most notable deposit being the famous Homestake Mine which produced nearly 40 million ounces of gold, making it the richest, deepest and most successful gold mine in U.S. history.