Etta, also known as Etta Camp and Etta Mine, is a

ghost town Ghost Town(s) or Ghosttown may refer to: * Ghost town, a town that has been abandoned Film and television * ''Ghost Town'' (1936 film), an American Western film by Harry L. Fraser * ''Ghost Town'' (1956 film), an American Western film by All ...

in Pennington County,

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who comprise a large porti ...

, United States. It was a successful mining town, known for its discovery of the largest

spodumene Spodumene is a pyroxene mineral consisting of lithium aluminium inosilicate, Li Al( Si O3)2, and is a source of lithium. It occurs as colorless to yellowish, purplish, or lilac kunzite (see below), yellowish-green or emerald-green hiddenite, pr ...

crystal A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituents (such as atoms, molecules, or ions) are arranged in a highly ordered microscopic structure, forming a crystal lattice that extends in all directions. In addition, macro ...

ever found.

History

Etta was in existence before the nearby town of Keystone. It was first started by the Harvey Peak Tin Mining, Milling, and Manufacturing Company as a mica mining camp. However, the ore was revealed to actually be cassiterite, a

tin Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn (from la, stannum) and atomic number 50. Tin is a silvery-coloured metal. Tin is soft enough to be cut with little force and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, t ...

ore; this discovery caused dozens of new mines to spring up all over the Black Hills. Most of these mines were not successful because there was not a large amount of tin in the area."A Thumbnail History of Keystone."
Keystone Area Historical Society. Keystone Area Historical Society, n.d. Web. 1 Sept. 2013. The company built a mill and smelter in 1883. During the mining operations, a large lump of tin weighing 1,200 pounds (540 kg) was melted from hand-picked cassiterite deposits; the miners described it as being as "big as a small boy." This tin was displayed to potential shareholders in

London, England London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major s ...

in order to raise support for the company. However, the company dissolved after a lawsuit, and the mine ceased operation until 1898. That year, the mine began producing

, a

lithium Lithium (from el, λίθος, lithos, lit=stone) is a chemical element with the symbol Li and atomic number 3. It is a soft, silvery-white alkali metal. Under standard conditions, it is the least dense metal and the least dense solid ...

ore, and became well known for its huge crystals. The largest spodumene crystal in the world was found in the mine. Until about 1900, Etta had the only post office in the Keystone area, and by that time, its population was 24. In the 1920s, the mining operations flourished. The mine shut down in 1959, and the town was eventually abandoned.Chenoweth, Henry
"Etta - South Dakota Ghost Town."
Ghost Towns. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Sept. 2013. All that remains are the foundations of the smelter and mill, as well as the mine itself.Parker, Watson, and Hugh K. Lambert. ''Black Hills Ghost Towns.'' First ed. Vol. 1. Chicago, IL: The Swallow Press Incorporated, 1974. 88. 1 vols. Print.

Geography

Etta is located in the

Black Hills The Black Hills ( lkt, Ȟe Sápa; chy, Moʼȯhta-voʼhonáaeva; hid, awaxaawi shiibisha) is an isolated mountain range rising from the Great Plains of North America in western South Dakota and extending into Wyoming, United States. Black ...

of Pennington County. It is approximately one-half mile south of Keystone, and can be accessed using the Glendale road and turning south from U.S. Route 16A.

References

{{Pennington County, South Dakota Ghost towns in South Dakota Former populated places in Pennington County, South Dakota